Virtual Implicit Bias Reduction and Neutralization Training (VIBRANT)

About This Study

Healthcare providers' implicit bias has been identified as a contributor to longstanding health inequities via negative impacts on the patient-clinician relationship and biased delivery of high-quality evidence-based practices (EBP). The implementation of any EBP runs the risk of worsening existing health disparities due to inequitable access, delivery, or benefit of the intervention. Clinician bias can be a critical and unaddressed determinant of implementation for any EBP. Although some implicit bias interventions for healthcare providers are emerging, studies have rarely included mental health professionals. In a previously NIMH funded project, our research team iteratively developed a brief (\~45 minutes), interactive online Virtual Implicit Bias Reduction and Neutralization Training (VIBRANT) for school mental health clinicians with promising preliminary findings. The current study will test the effectiveness of VIBRANT-an implementation strategy for promoting equitable adoption, penetration, fidelity, and sustainment of EBPs. One highly learnable, efficient, and scalable EBP that is particularly well-suited for the education sector is Measurement-Base Care (MBC)-the systematic collection of patient-reported progress data to inform clinical decision-making. The proposed study aims to (1) evaluate VIBRANT's feasibility to promote equitable adoption, penetration, fidelity, and sustainment of MBC, with a validated, brief, interactive online training for MBC; (2) examine VIBRANT's impact on proximal mechanisms of change including clinicians' implicit bias as well as distal youth mental health outcomes (i.e., symptoms and functioning) with Black and Latinx youth, and (3) assess feasibility of research procedures for a future large-scale efficacy trial.

What's Involved

Conditions Studied

Study Locations

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

Inclusion criteria for each of the subjects participating in the study as follows:

1. Participating clinicians must…

   1. Provide school-based mental health services in middle and high school settings for at least 50% of their clinical deployment.
   2. Provide on-going 1:1 mental health services to students (e.g., not assessment only).
   3. Have a caseload (who is receiving on-going care) that consists of at least 20% of Black or Latinx students.
2. Participating youths must…

   1. Identify as Black/African American or/and Hispanic/Latina/Latino/Latinx
   2. be entering into ongoing treatment with a participating clinician in the school mental health setting
3. Participating caregivers must… a. be a primary caregiver to the youth who can answer questions about the youth's daily behaviors and emotional well-being

Exclusion Criteria:

Exclusion criteria for each of the subjects participating:

1. School-based mental health clinicians

   1. Clinician who previously participated in a measurement-based care (MBC) related study with our team and have already been exposed to our online MBC training.
   2. Clinicians who have participated in a previous study related to VIBRANT.
2. Black \& Latinx youth

   1. Youths with a developmental or learning disability that would interfere with their ability to accurately give informed consent or assent and reliable completion of study assessments.
   2. Youths who do not speak English or Spanish
3. Caregivers

   1. Caregivers who do not reside with the youth or would otherwise have adequate daily contact to report on the youth's typical behaviors and/or emotional well-being.
   2. Caregiver who do not speak English or Spanish