R03 – Redesign of an Evidence-Based Implementation Strategy to Improve Implementation of Universal Behavioral Health Interventions in Schools

Schools are the most common setting for delivering mental and behavioral health prevention and intervention services to youth. School administrators (e.g., principals) are critical to supporting the implementation of evidence-based prevention programs (EBPPs) and can facilitate schoolwide adoption through implementation leadership behaviors. Implementation strategies can address barriers to adoption and implementation, particularly when appropriately tailored to settings and individual roles. Beliefs and Attitudes for Successful Implementation in Schools (BASIS) is a theory-driven, evidence-based strategy that targets individuals’ attitudes, self-efficacy, and subjective norms (i.e., intrapersonal mechanisms) to enhance EBPP implementation. BASIS has demonstrated efficacy for improving teachers’ and school-based clinicians’ adoption of EBPPs, but its potential utility for school administrators, who are central to EBPP implementation and sustainment success, has yet to be explored. Redesigning BASIS is therefore needed to maximize its relevance to the needs of a new user group: school administrators.  

Guided by the Discover, Design/Build, and Test (DDBT) framework, this R03 will begin redesigning BASIS for elementary school administrators (BASIS-L). Eligible administrators will be those who 1) have never been exposed to BASIS, and 2) led their school in implementing a classroom-based, schoolwide, mental, emotional, or behavioral health EBPP in the 2025-26 school year. This study will first evaluate the usability, engagement challenges, and contextual fit of BASIS for school administrators and identify modification targets (Aim 1). Findings will inform participatory sessions with a co-design school-practice advisory board to discuss and offer additional perspectives on a) evaluation results and b) preliminary BASIS-L redesign solutions (Aim 2). This R03 will result in a BASIS-L prototype that will be further iteratively redesigned and tested in a future study.