A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial on the Effectiveness of the Building Educators' Skills in Adolescent Mental Health (Beam) Program for Improving Secondary School Educators' Confidence, Behavior, Knowledge, and Attitudes Toward Student Mental Health

Bibliographic Data

ID4307983
AuthorsBridianne O’dea (0000-0003-1731-210X, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, corresponding author), Belinda Parker (0000-0001-8856-1774, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia), Philip J Batterham (0000-0002-4547-6876, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia), Cassandra Chakouch (0000-0001-6587-1104, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia), Andrew J Mackinnon (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia), Andrew Mackinnon (0000-0003-0831-9801, UNSW Sydney), Alexis E Whitton (0000-0002-7944-2172, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia), Jill M Newby (0000-0002-6473-9811, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia), Mirjana Subotic-Kerry (0000-0003-4821-182X, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia), Aimee Gayed (0000-0003-1502-6716, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia), Samuel B Harvey (0000-0001-9580-3743, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia)
Year2025
Volume76
Issue2
Pages178-194
Publication date2025-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Teacher Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-4871 • E-ISSN: 1552-7816
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00224871231208684
OpenAlexW4388297528
LanguageEN
References cited53

Secondary school educators are well placed to recognize and respond to mental illness in adolescents; however, many report low confidence and skills in doing so. A confirmatory cluster randomized controlled trial involving 295 educators (Mean age: 40.10 years, SD : 10.47; 76.6% female, 2.7% Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander) from 73 Australian secondary schools (22 in rural-regional locations) evaluated the effectiveness of a new professional development training program that aimed to improve secondary school educators' confidence, behavior, knowledge, and attitudes toward student mental health. Relative to the control, training participants reported significantly greater levels of confidence in recognizing and responding to student mental health issues, perceived mental health knowledge and mental health awareness, and mental health literacy, at post-intervention (10-weeks post-baseline; d = 0.26-0.35) and at 3-month follow-up ( d = − 0.21 to 0.41). Findings indicate that the Building Educators' skills in Adolescent Mental health (BEAM) program improves important training outcomes for educators in the domain of student mental health

Cluster randomised controlled trial · Intervention (counseling · Medical education · Mental health · Mental health literacy · Mental illness · Psychiatry · Randomized controlled trial · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Clinical Psychology · Community Health and Development · Early Childhood Education and Development · Medicine · Psychology

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