Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Robin Friedman

Abstract

AbstractBarriers exist to the referral process for mental-health services among elementary-school students from the perspective of school-based mental-health service professionals. The problem addressed in this study was that lack of mental-health referrals can delay or prevent treatment of mental-health issues, causing those mental-health problems to worsen over time. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of school-based mental-health service professionals regarding these barriers to mental-health referrals. Pescosolido’s theory of the revised network model was the guiding conceptual framework for this study. The study was guided by research questions focused on how school-based mental-health professionals perceived barriers to student services and recommendations for addressing those barriers to mental health services. Seven elementary-school-based mental-health professionals were recruited through purposeful sampling and interviewed using a semistructured interview format. Moustakas’s steps to phenomenological research analysis were used to analyze the data and report emergent themes. The six themes that emerged from the data were difficulty scheduling, teachers’ misunderstanding or reluctance, stigma, education, increase availability, and streamline to care. These findings of the study can contribute to reducing barriers to the mental-health referral process among elementary school students. Positive social change may result from improved access to mental health services among elementary school students.

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