New Data from Notice. Talk. Act.™ @ School

According to our survey of over 800 respondents, the program demonstrates overwhelmingly positive feedback.

During the pilot phase of the Notice. Talk. Act.^TM @ School program redevelopment, (formerly Typical or Troubled?®), the program was implemented by 10 schools, including both traditional and non-traditional schools, reaching over 1,000 staff members from different socio-geographical areas in Florida, Maryland, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The pilot implementation was in its first phase from February to September 2019. To evaluate the impact of the program, the school staff members were encouraged to complete pretraining and posttraining surveys, as well as 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up assessments to track data for the program. The program demonstrates overwhelmingly positive feedback from the pilot sites. According to our surveys with over 800 respondents, 90.94% of the trained individuals have used the Notice. Talk. Act. key messages to connect them to appropriate support services throughout the school year. The individuals, on average, also rate the quality of the course, E-learning effectiveness and knowledge gained, certified instructor performance, and level of interactivity and engagement highly: above average or 4 out of 5. In addition, 82.94% of the respondents felt engaged with the interactive activities during in-person training. 86.79% of them indicated that they were empowered to the Notice. Talk. Act. training to help their students.
 
In the 3- and 6-month follow-up assessments, the trained staff indicate a positive increase in connecting with their school mental health teams about a concerning student, as well as referring the student to support services. By applying the learned knowledge, they are also more confident in talking to students who are not able to pay attention in class. The data collected was helpful in identifying and providing the additional resources addressing the following areas:

1. How to talk to parents about mental health concerns,
2. How to talk to students who might harm themselves or others, and
3. How to talk to students who come to school in an unkempt state.

 
In addition to data on program effectiveness, each of the schools voluntarily submitted monthly data tracking mental health related referrals and social-emotional competencies in students for 24 months. During the first 9 months of the full study, we learned that establishing and emphasizing school referral processes as part of the curriculum indicate positivity in staff referring students to support personnel and their ability to communicate a concern to mental health professionals. This results in increases in referral numbers and staff comfort levels connecting with their mental health team. The average rates of mental health referrals at most schools significantly increased in the month after the in-person training received. Although the data for truancy, suspensions, and detention has yet showed no clear pattern, the fluctuation in interaction between staff noticing concerning behavior and student disciplinary action can be relevant.
 
Note: this is the preliminary data from the first 9 months after the implementation of the program. Changes and trends in student behavior and disciplinary action are reflected in baseline data and ongoing analysis, which will indicate feasibility in conducting further research studies, as well as identifying interventions for school staff members to effectively recognize and respond to adolescent mental health issues.
 
For more information about this data report and any related program evaluations of Notice. Talk. Act.® @ School, please contact Chris Seeley at [email protected]