TY - JOUR
T1 - Virtual Mentorship Network to Address the Rural Shortage of Mental Health Providers
AU - Keeler, Heidi
AU - Sjuts, Tara
AU - Niitsu, Kosuke
AU - Watanabe-Galloway, Shinobu
AU - Mackie, Paul Force Emery
AU - Liu, Howard
N1 - Funding Information:
This article is part of a supplement entitled The Behavioral Health Workforce: Planning, Practice, and Preparation, which is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under U81HP29300-03-02, Behavioral Health Workforce Research Center.
Funding Information:
This article is part of a supplement entitled The Behavioral Health Workforce: Planning, Practice, and Preparation, which is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Funding Information:
This project was funded by a Competitive Teaching and Engagement Development grant by the Rural Futures Institute.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Journal of Preventive Medicine
PY - 2018/6
Y1 - 2018/6
N2 - Introduction: The process of identifying effective responses to the challenges of placing and retaining a rural behavioral health workforce remains elusive. The Virtual Mentorship Network was developed to test the feasibility of using distance technology to connect rural students interested in mental health careers with mentors. Methods: In Year 1, college and high school students were virtually mentored using a near-peer approach both live and asynchronously as a cohort over 7 months. In Year 2, college students only were virtually intensely mentored live over 1 month. High school students were asynchronously provided with informational videos produced by mentors. Program benefits were measured using the Mentoring Functions Questionnaire, and an activity satisfaction survey captured student response to the content and delivery methods. Retrospective analysis of Years 1 and 2 mentoring and satisfaction variables mean differences was performed and overall feasibility assessed. Results: Mentoring Functions Questionnaire scores, overall interaction, and reported satisfaction significantly improved in Year 2 over Year 1. Conclusions: These data suggest that distance mentoring is a feasible option, but that the near-peer benefits of virtually mentoring high school and college students together are overshadowed by different mentoring needs expressed for each group. High school students expressed needs for basic information about career possibilities, whereas college student needs are specific to achieving career goals. Shorter mentoring sessions may be more sustainable long-term and focus limited mentoring resources. This project may serve as a professional pipeline model for others who face a critical shortage of mental health providers. Supplement information: This article is part of a supplement entitled The Behavioral Health Workforce: Planning, Practice, and Preparation, which is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
AB - Introduction: The process of identifying effective responses to the challenges of placing and retaining a rural behavioral health workforce remains elusive. The Virtual Mentorship Network was developed to test the feasibility of using distance technology to connect rural students interested in mental health careers with mentors. Methods: In Year 1, college and high school students were virtually mentored using a near-peer approach both live and asynchronously as a cohort over 7 months. In Year 2, college students only were virtually intensely mentored live over 1 month. High school students were asynchronously provided with informational videos produced by mentors. Program benefits were measured using the Mentoring Functions Questionnaire, and an activity satisfaction survey captured student response to the content and delivery methods. Retrospective analysis of Years 1 and 2 mentoring and satisfaction variables mean differences was performed and overall feasibility assessed. Results: Mentoring Functions Questionnaire scores, overall interaction, and reported satisfaction significantly improved in Year 2 over Year 1. Conclusions: These data suggest that distance mentoring is a feasible option, but that the near-peer benefits of virtually mentoring high school and college students together are overshadowed by different mentoring needs expressed for each group. High school students expressed needs for basic information about career possibilities, whereas college student needs are specific to achieving career goals. Shorter mentoring sessions may be more sustainable long-term and focus limited mentoring resources. This project may serve as a professional pipeline model for others who face a critical shortage of mental health providers. Supplement information: This article is part of a supplement entitled The Behavioral Health Workforce: Planning, Practice, and Preparation, which is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.amepre.2018.02.001
DO - 10.1016/j.amepre.2018.02.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 29779554
AN - SCOPUS:85046695622
VL - 54
SP - S290-S295
JO - American Journal of Preventive Medicine
JF - American Journal of Preventive Medicine
SN - 0749-3797
IS - 6
ER -