TESTNG PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING AS TRAINING ABOUT ACCOMMODATION IN YOUTH ANXIETY

Abstract

Background: Anxiety and anxiety disorders are common among youth. Accommodation refers to ways in which parents/teachers/schools modify their behavior to alleviate a youth’s anxious distress. Although many anxious youths receive mental health services through schools, limited research has examined accommodation in the school setting and no study to date has examined the instruction of school-based mental health providers in evidence-based practices (EBPs) around accommodation. The present study compared two training conditions: problem-based learning (PBL) and training as usual (TAU) in their ability to increase (a) knowledge of, (b) attitudes/beliefs towards and (c) intended implementation of EBPs.Methods: Graduate students in school psychology (N=110) were randomized to workshops. Workshops used either PBL or didactic (TAU) strategies to educate trainees about EBPs for youth anxiety as they relate to accommodation. Trainees attended a 4-hour workshop and completed self-report measures assessing knowledge, attitudes and intended EBP use immediately before training, immediately after training and at 3-month follow-up. Results: Linear Mixed Models examined changes in outcome measures both across time and between training conditions. There were significant increases in workshop-specific knowledge and in beliefs about and intentions to use EBP from pre- to post-training. However, there were no significant differences between training conditions on outcome measures other than overall knowledge of EBPs. Pretraining instruction in, or attitudes about EBPs, did not significantly predict differential training outcomes.