Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Statewide School-Based Behavioral Health Program for Rural and Urban Elementary-Aged Students

Abstract

Community and School-Based Behavioral Health Service (CSBBH) was developed through a collaborative process that included schools, behavioral health providers, counties, and a payor. The clinical model within CSBBH relies on a common factors approach. To evaluate the effectiveness of CSBBH to meet the needs of students across a diverse state, clinical model performance and outcomes were examined for 2,584 Medicaid-eligible children aged 4.5 to 11 years in urban and rural communities. First, propensity score matching was used to compare CSBBH to Treatment as Usual (TAU). CSBBH was associated with greater improvement in child functioning and slightly lower therapeutic alliance compared to TAU. Next, the utility of the model for urban vs. rural students was compared. As expected, there were many differences at baseline between children in urban and rural settings. Compared to children from rural settings, children from urban settings were more culturally diverse and had higher rates of utilization of prior mental health services but had lower rates of complex diagnoses. Despite these differences, the service was consistently applied across schools and caregiver-reported outcomes were comparable and positive across groups. Teachers in urban and rural schools reported improvements in hyperactivity, but other outcomes (e.g., prosocial behavior, emotional symptoms) varied. This study highlights the importance of a scalable and sustainable payor–provider collaborative approach to address the needs of children across a diverse state.