Improving Mental Health Literacy in Middle School Teachers Through Emotional Poverty© Training: Signature Honors Project

Abstract

Background: A community-engaged research project with a public middle school in Wilson, North Carolina has been ongoing since 2018. The project, supported by the Engagement and Outreach Scholars Academy (EOSA), was established to address the emotional and mental health needs of adolescents. Phase I of the EOSA project indicated that teachers had limited knowledge in how to manage behaviors in the classroom that manifest due to unmet emotional and mental health needs. This Signature Honors Project will support the design of Phase II which will evaluate the outcomes of Emotional Poverty© training on teachers’ mental health literacy and occur during the 2021-2022 academic year. Objective: The purpose of this Signature Honors Project was to collect preliminary data on teacher response to Emotional Poverty© training. Method: Teachers at a public middle school completed Emotional Poverty© training in January 2021. Training included the participation in book club discussions and attendance to a six-hour virtual workshop provided by aha! Process Inc. A Qualtrics survey was designed in collaboration with the community partner to collect preliminary data on teacher response to the training. Teacher responses to the survey were organized within a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet for analysis. Results: Data analysis from the surveys will be used to inform the design of the EOSA project’s Phase II. Preliminary findings suggest that teachers were receptive to the training. Further data on teacher utilization of the training will be collected during phase II. Discussion: Adolescents can experience depression, anxiety, and other emotional issues that manifest in classroom behaviors. Teachers are on the front line of this issue; however, many of them are not adequately trained to identify and manage students with emotional and mental health needs. Emotional Poverty© training has the potential to provide teachers with the knowledge to develop and implement strategies to support students emotional and mental health needs in the classroom.