EXAMINING THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE DIALECTICAL THINKING SCALE ADULT VERSION AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIALECTICAL THINKING AND WELL-BEING IN SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

Dialectical thinking is the theoretical framework of one of the strongest evidence-based interventions to emerge in recent history to treat psychopathology (Delaquis et al., 2022). However, there are few existing measures of dialectical thinking, and those that do exist were designed to assess dialectical thinking as a cultural thinking style rather than a clinical tool (Spencer-Rodgers et al., 2006). The present study explored the psychometric properties of a novel measure of dialectical thinking specifically designed by Steve Knotek to capture the experiences of school mental health providers at work, the Dialectical Thinking Scale Adult Version (DTSA) (Knotek et al., 2018). The study used a cross-sectional survey design and analyzed data using exploratory principal components analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and hierarchical linear regression to answer the research questions. Responses from 589 school mental health professionals supported the measure’s structure. The DTSA was given alongside a validated measure of workplace well-being and burnout, the Workplace PERMA Profiler, to investigate the relationship between dialectical thinking and workplace well-being in school mental health providers. Regression analyses supported dialectical thinking as a significant predictor of workplace well-being. Results from the present study suggest that dialectical thinking interventions may contribute to the prevention and treatment of burnout in school mental health providers.Doctor of Philosoph

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of a Brief Measure of School and Community Mental Health Supports and Services

This study evaluated a self-report survey assessing school professionals’ perceptions of school and community mental health supports and services. Based on responses from 560 school professionals, findings provide support for the measure’s internal structure and ability to distinguish low-poverty and high-poverty schools. Practitioners and researchers may consider using this survey to understand perceptions of the quality and availability of mental health services, informing the selection and adaptation of school-based mental health supports and services