Elizabeth McCauley, Ph.D., is Acting Director, Child Psychiatry UW/Seattle Children’s and Professor, UW Psychiatry Department, adjunct in Pediatrics and Psychology. Dr. McCauley’s research has focused on the development, prevention and intervention of depression and behavioral health problems in young people. She has developed and/or tested a number of prevention and intervention strategies in clinical, primary care settings and schools. Dr. McCauley has worked with Seattle Public Schools/Public Health-King County for the last 18 years to provide training and consultation to school-based mental health care providers. As part of that work, she has been PI on series of foundation and federally funded projects, both longitudinal and interventional studies, focused on enhancing mental health services in the schools. She is a founding member of the UW School Mental Health Assessment, Research, and Training (SMART) Center.
This planning grant is designed to develop a school-specific adaptation of the Collaborative Care model and associated training materials in order to: (1) Enhance capacity to provide SBMH services by increasing the number of healthcare providers (including primary care providers and indigenous school-based personnel) who can participate in the delivery of mental health services to youth experiencing mood and anxiety problems; (2) Improve SBMH accessibility by reducing stigma via the utilization of primary care providers and indigenous school personnel as points of entry for services; and (3) Increase the extent to which SBMH services reflect high quality evidence-based practices.
BOLT is focused on designing and texting an online training platform and post-training consultation procedures to support measurement-based care / routine outcome monitoring among school-based mental health providers. Both the platform and the training will be iteratively developed using best practices from the field of user-centered design.
The Brief Intervention Strategy for School Clinicians (BRISC) is a 4-session, evidence-based, and flexible “Tier 2” intervention tailored to high school students and designed to fit the school context. This cluster randomized efficacy trial (52 public high schools in three states) will use longitudinal data collection with students and parents; analyses of school records; implementation measures; and clinician and administrator surveys and interviews to evaluate outcomes of BRISC compared to services as usual, as well as moderators and mediators of outcomes and feasibility, acceptability, and costs of BRISC. For more information, click here.
Effectiveness of a Brief Engagement, Problem-Solving, and Triage Strategy for High School Students: Results of a Randomized Study(2023)Prevention Science24:701–714.
How low can you go? Examining the effects of brief online training and post-training consultation dose on implementation mechanisms and outcomes for measurement-based care(2022)Implementation Science Communications3 (1):1-15.
The Cognitive Walkthrough for Implementation Strategies (CWIS): A pragmatic method for assessing implementation strategy usability(2022)Implementation Science Communications2:1-16.
Indicated prevention for depression at the transition to high school: Outcomes for depression and anxiety.(2019)Prevention Science
Mechanisms of change in the prevention of depression: An indicated school-based prevention trial at the transition to high school(2019)Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Pilot test of an engagement, triage, and brief intervention strategy for school mental health(2019)School Mental Health11:148-162.
Emergence of depressive symptoms in school-aged youth(2019)Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology48(3):501-515.
Collaborative care to improve access and quality in school-based behavioral health(2019)Journal of School Health89 (12):1013-1023.
A digital feedback system to support implementation of measurement-based care by school-based mental health clinicians(2019)Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology48 (Supp 1):168-179.
Parental validation and invalidation predict frequency of adolescent self-harm.(2018)Professional Psychology: Research and Practice49:274-281.
Online recruitment using Facebook: Friend request is non-differentially accepted in a diverse, young adult population.(2018)Nursing and Health SciencesAdvance online print.
How do school mental health services vary across contexts and provider types? Lessons learned from two efforts to implement a research-based strategy(2018)School Mental Health10(1):134-146.
Fostering SMART partnerships to develop integrated behavioral health services in schools(2016)American Journal of Orthopsychiatry86(2):156-170.
Student perceptions of the acceptability and utility of standardized and idiographic assessment in school mental health(2016)International Journal of Mental Health Promotion
The Contextualized Technology Adaptation Process (CTAP): Optimizing health information technology to improve mental health systems(2016)Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research42:394-409.
Collaborative care in schools: Enhancing integration and impact in youth mental health.(2016)Advances in School Mental Health Promotion9(3-4):148-168.
Taking EBPs to school: Developing and testing a framework for applying common elements of evidence based practice to school mental health(2014)Advances in School Mental Health Promotion7:42-61.
Taking evidence-based practices to school: Using expert opinion to develop a brief, evidence-informed school-based mental health intervention(2014)Advances in School Mental Health Promotion7:42-61.
Using modular psychotherapy in school mental health: Provider perspectives on intervention-setting fit(2014)Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology43:890-901.
“If it’s worth my time, I will make the time”: School-based providers’ decision-making about participating in an evidence-based psychotherapy consultation program(2013)Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research40:467-481.
Patterns and predictors of mental healthcare utilization in schools and other service sectors among adolescents at risk for depression(2013)School Mental Health5:155-165.
Predictors and moderators of self-harm behaviors in the collaborative adolescent research on emotions and suicide (CARES) study(In Press)Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry