Mental Health Provider Reach and Engagement in a Countywide Training Initiative

Area of Science:

• Mental Health Services Research
• Implementation Science
• Healthcare Professional Training

Background:

• Numerous initiatives aim to increase evidence-based practice (EBP) implementation in mental healthcare.
• Understanding factors influencing provider reach and engagement in training is crucial for effective implementation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the reach and engagement of mental health (MH) providers in various EBP training and implementation supports.
• To identify barriers and facilitators to provider engagement in training initiatives.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods study involving 698 MH providers who registered for training and 13 providers who participated in qualitative interviews.
• Quantitative analysis of registration data and qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews.

Main Results:

• The initiative achieved high reach (66% of county agencies had a provider register), but substantial engagement was limited.
• Providers with higher baseline EBP knowledge and specific professional backgrounds showed greater training engagement.
• Qualitative data revealed diverse provider, organizational, and systemic barriers and facilitators to engagement.

Conclusions:

• While training initiatives can achieve broad reach, enhancing provider engagement requires targeted strategies beyond traditional workshops.
• Future research should focus on developing and testing methods to improve sustained participation in EBP training.