Students in Crisis: Training Faculty to Assist Students in Distress
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Flaherty, Marissa ; Lamos, Elizabeth
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Abstract
Objective: We discuss different mental health trainings for faculty and highlight the experience of implementing trainings in an individual medical school. While resources like formal mental health treatment and individualized plans are important, training all faculty who interact with students will improve identification of students in need and implement faster interventions. Methods: Through reviewing the trainings that the University of Maryland School of Medicine has used to train faculty, an operationalized approach to implementation of these trainings is presented. The components include a needs assessment, choosing trainings, implementation, review of efficacy and gathering feedback. The faculty were offered three different training opportunities, an education grand rounds presentation, the Red-Folder training and Mental Health First Aid Training. The faculty completed pre and post self-assessment surveys tracking self-rated comfort levels with the topic for the latter two trainings. Results: Three mental health trainings were offered. Pre- and post-training data from the faculty who attended two of the trainings were calculated. The average comfort levels were compared pre- and post-training and reviewed for statistically significant changes. There were statistically significant improvements in all domains reviewed in the pre- and posttraining surveys. Conclusion: We outline an operationalized approach to reviewing a medical school faculty's comfort in working with students in distress. Through mental health trainings, the faculty became more comfortable in all domains reviewed and, while a small sample size, the statically significant improvements support continued exploration and expansion.