1. Return to Learn ECHO: Telementoring for School Personnel to Help Children Return to School and Learning After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.
- Author
-
McAvoy, Karen, Halstead, Mark, Radecki, Linda, Shah, Amy, Emanuel, Anjie, Domain, Stephanie, Daugherty, Jill, and Waltzman, Dana
- Subjects
EDUCATION of psychologists ,TEACHER education ,PILOT projects ,HEALTH policy ,AFFINITY groups ,HIGH schools ,STATISTICS ,NONPARAMETRIC statistics ,PROFESSIONS ,SOCIAL support ,MIDDLE schools ,FOCUS groups ,SCHOOL health services ,RESEARCH methodology ,RE-entry students ,COMMUNITY health services ,UNLICENSED medical personnel ,SATISFACTION ,CURRICULUM ,LEARNING ,HUMAN services programs ,SELF-efficacy ,HEALTH care teams ,COMMUNICATION ,INTERPROFESSIONAL relations ,RESEARCH funding ,DESCRIPTIVE statistics ,BRAIN injuries ,SCHOOL administration ,ELEMENTARY schools ,DATA analysis software ,DATA analysis ,TELEMEDICINE ,EDUCATIONAL outcomes ,LONGITUDINAL method - Abstract
BACKGROUND: Return to learn (RTL) after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) presents unique challenges for school professionals. A multidisciplinary team approach is necessary yet training school professionals is logistically difficult. This paper describes an innovative pilot RTL program and its evaluation. METHODS: Utilizing the telehealth/telementoring program Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), this study utilized a multidisciplinary team of subject matter experts to deliver five 1‐hour sessions across 5 cohorts of school‐based professionals (total of 133 participants). The evaluation used a mixed‐methods approach of post‐session and post‐program participant surveys and post‐program participant focus groups. RESULTS: Participants who completed a post‐program survey reported statistically significant improvements in essential aspects of RTL knowledge and self‐efficacy. This included improvements in how to manage a student with an mTBI (44.8% to 86.9%), benefits of early return to school for students following mTBI (31.8% to 86.9%), and the importance of written RTL policies/procedures (55.1% to 97.1%). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that RTL training via a telementoring approach may be a positive and effective way to train school‐based professionals and improve knowledge and self‐efficacy, especially when attending face‐to‐face trainings are difficult. This model has the potential to produce programmatic and systematic improvements for RTL education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF