When it comes to public health outreach, Terps are a school on the move. Early this semester, an international collaboration between the University of Maryland School of Public Health (UMD SPH) and the Organization for Community Health Outreach (OCHO) proved that point yet again, working to train 13 public school teachers to help guide and protect student mental health in Santa Barbara, Honduras. The project was a part of the Grand Challenges Grants program, a UMD initiative to address societal issues.
Led by SPH Assistant Professor Ali Hurtado — also an extension specialist at the UMD College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR) — the project is part of the university’s commitment to advancing the 2030 United Nations sustainable goals, including in rural Honduras.
Other researchers on the team included AGNR Extension Specialist Alexander Chan and, from SPH, Public Health Science Instructor Darya Soltani and Family Science doctoral student Raya Francis.
“The increased mental health concerns globally, exacerbated by the syndemic of COVID, political and chronic economic stress, have disproportionately affected vulnerable families in low-income countries, such as Honduras,” said Hurtado. “There is a pressing need for immediate, effective, and community-based resilience-enhancing strategies to improve youth mental well-being.”
The team focused on three aspects to advance youth well-being:
- Enhancing teachers' mental health knowledge and skills to serve as trusted resources for middle-school students.
- Offering technical assistance and support to the community of teachers through mobile health technologies.
- Engaging with families by leveraging existing initiatives like “escuela para padres”(parent schools).
The project initially began as a parent-based nutrition education program in Honduras. However, through feedback from students’ parents, researchers realized the need for youth mental health support.
First, the team wanted to ensure that they understood the community’s needs from the community members themselves. The team began their work by conducting one-on-one interviews with local teachers to understand their pre-existing perceptions of mental health and preferences of an ideal youth mental health training program. After analysis of the interviews, researchers used an existing Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) curriculum, modifying it to be more culturally relevant to the region.
“Traveling to Honduras was truly eye-opening, as I became keenly aware of the dire need for mental health resources in the rural communities of the country,” said Mariel Gomez, a family science undergraduate research assistant. “Witnessing the enthusiasm of the teachers to learn about mental health and explore different ways to support their students and community filled me with hope.”
Going forward, the researchers will focus on expanding their work to train more teachers to amplify the reach and impact of the intervention. They also hope to establish a digital platform to assist communication, dissemination of resources and provision of real-time support to teachers.
“Youth mental health issues in Honduras are on the rise,” said Francis. “We hope that our training improves the knowledge of teacher's on what mental health is and how to support their students that might be facing mental health challenges.”
The work in Honduras is one of many ways School of Public Health students, faculty and staff – and people throughout the University of Maryland – are using their expertise to change the world for the better.
Learn more about SPH international work through its Global Health Initiative, and learn more about UMD's aims to change the world through its Grand Challenges Program.