Rural Interprofessional Workforce Development in Behavioral Health during COVID-19

Authors: Kenny HF, Carver JG, Harrison J*, Weller BE and Chapleau A

DOI: 10.23880/mhrij-16000245

Volume 8, Issue 1

Abstract

Rural communities experience substantial disparities in behavioral health outcomes and a paucity of providers. Individuals in rural areas with behavioral health needs require specialty trained providers and digital tools to bridge the digital divide and improve access and hence outcomes. To meet this need, the authors implemented two federally-funded interdisciplinary workforce development programs to train emerging professionals in behavioral health for rural and medically underserved practice demands, and in this descriptive study the program implementation is reviewed in detail for potential replication in other rural areas. Needed program adaptations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by pivoting to remote behavioral health training and iterative improvements were made to the digital application measuring individual trainee goals and knowledge translation. Program components and adaptations could be implemented in rural areas to decrease the digital divide between clients with rural behavioral health needs and their providers and to increase familiarity for social workers in providing digital interprofessional behavioral health.

Keywords: Rural; Social Work; Interprofessional; Behavioral Health; Outcome Measurement; Goal Attainment Scaling; Goal Scaling Solutions

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