Interdisciplinary Children's Behavioral Health Workforce Development for Social Work and Nursing

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Apr 20;20(8):5601. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20085601.

Abstract

This paper will begin with a review of child health inequities globally, in the United States and in the State of New York. It will then describe a model training program that was designed to educate social workers and nurse practitioners to create a workforce able to address child behavioral health inequities in the United States (US), specifically New York State. Behavioral health care refers to prevention, care and treatment for mental health and substance abuse conditions as well as physical conditions caused by stress and life crises. This project uses an interdisciplinary training program for nurse practitioner and Master of Social Work students to address workforce shortages in underserved communities in New York State. It will present process evaluation findings to highlight the program's initial success and will conclude with a discussion of the data that are still needed and the challenges of obtaining this data.

Keywords: behavioral health; children’s mental health; interdisciplinary education; nurse practitioner training; social work training; workforce development.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Child
  • Child Health
  • Health Workforce*
  • Humans
  • New York
  • Social Work*
  • Students
  • United States

Grants and funding

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant #MC1HP42066-01-00 and title of Behavioral Health Workforce and Education Training for the grant amount of $1.92 million. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.