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Sparking collaboration and instilling core competencies through training a statewide workforce in Infant Mental Health: Report from the field
Author(s) -
Dealy Jennifer,
Robinson JoAnn,
Eaves Tanika,
Maderia Heidi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
infant mental health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1097-0355
pISSN - 0163-9641
DOI - 10.1002/imhj.21921
Subject(s) - workforce , mental health , core competency , workforce development , training (meteorology) , psychology , medical education , nursing , medicine , applied psychology , psychiatry , business , political science , marketing , meteorology , law , physics
Fostering collaboration and instilling core competencies across the diverse Infant Mental Health systems and understanding their training needs are crucial endeavors to support the delivery of evidence‐based care and treatment continuity for infants and their families. This paper details the Connecticut Association for Infant Mental Health's use of a comprehensive infant mental health training series as a vehicle to achieve these aims. The training series, and the steps taken to execute and evaluate it are described to provide a framework for future collaborative training initiatives. Evaluation efforts were designed to address knowledge sought and gained and included pre and posttraining tests, participant reports of their training goals and needs, and interviews with trainers regarding the series’ strengths and limitations. Findings suggest significant improvements in participants’ knowledge of training content across trainings. Participants indicated a desire for trainings on working with the whole family and their plan to integrate skills from the training into their work. Recommendations from trainers and evaluators are provided to spark future trainings and collaborative efforts.