Collaboration between school- and community-employed professionals is critical to the success of SMH programs. Despite its promise, the success of SMH programs can be jeopardized by ineffective collaboration between school- and community-employed professionals. Strategies to overcome marginalization, promote authentic interdisciplinary teamwork, build effective coordination mechanisms, protect student and family confidentiality, and promote policy change and resource enhancements should be addressed in SMH improvement planning.

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The purpose of this study was to test a three component framework for enhancing quality in school mental health (SMH), focusing on quality assessment and improvement (QAI), family engagement/empowerment, and modular evidence-based practice (EBP) implementation in three established SMH programs. The study involved a 2-year, multisite (Delaware, Maryland, Texas) formative evaluation with clinicians randomly assigned to participate in either the QAI (target) intervention or a Wellness Plus Information (WPI, comparison) intervention. As hypothesized, clinicians who participated in the QAI condition demonstrated significantly greater implementation of quality indicators and greater implementation of EBP as compared to clinicians in the WPI condition. However, contrary to original hypotheses, findings did not reveal differences between the conditions in knowledge or attitudes toward EBP, clinician self-efficacy, or student psychosocial outcomes. Implications for future research on quality improvement in SMH are discussed, with an emphasis on the need to examine the impact of increased implementation and resource support to SMH clinicians.

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