Institute News
The Institute for Innovation & Implementation Leads Multi-School Effort on Telehealth
June 2022
COVID-19 forced a dramatic rise in telehealth as patients and providers sought to connect without risk of exposure in doctor’s offices, hospitals, and other healthcare settings. The shift to telehealth was greatest in the field of behavioral health and continues to hold enormous potential for children, youth, young adults, and their families seeking behavioral health care and the clinicians who serve them.
This niche of pediatric behavioral healthcare is the Institute’s strength. The American Academy of Pediatrics invited the Institute to bring their subject matter expertise to the Supporting Providers and Families to Access Telehealth and Distant Care Services for Pediatric Care project funded by a multimillion-dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Through this project AAP and their partners are shaping the future of pediatric telehealth by improving feasibility, usability, equitability, and outcomes measurements as well supporting practitioners in delivering more effective, equitable, and valuable care to children and adolescents, including those with special health care needs and other vulnerable populations.
The Institute, led by the project investigator Michelle Zabel and project director Jennifer Lowther, facilitated a multi-university, multidisciplinary effort to create instructional videos, a recorded expert panel webinar, and nine interactive online learning courses on using telehealth to support mental health care in pediatrics. The Institute team provided expertise in adult learning theory and instructional design, and facilitated involvement of subject matter experts from UMB’s School of Social Work and School of Medicine, as well as from Harvard and The Johns Hopkins University. The following faculty and staff were involved:
UMB School of Social Work
- Michelle Zabel, MS, The Institute/Project Investigator
- Jennifer Lowther, MSW, The Institute/Project Director
- F. Tony Bonadio, PhD, The Institute
- Dennard Brown, The Institute
- Margo Candelaria, PhD, The Institute
- Jill Carter, MSEd, The Institute
- Kaitlyn Decker, The Institute
- Deborah Harburger, MSW, The Institute
- Brook Kearley, PhD, The Institute
- Goldie Morton, PhD, The Institute
- Melissa Schober, MPM, The Institute
- Rochon Steward, MSW
- Kate Sweeney, MSW, The Institute
- Angela Weeks, PhD, The Institute
- Jacob Whiteford, MS, The Institute
UMB School of Medicine
- Deborah Badawi, MD, Pediatrics
- Marc Fishman, MD, Psychiatry
- Sharon Hoover, PhD, Psychiatry
- Wendy Lane, MD, Epidemiology & Public Health
The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
- Maria Trent, MD, MPH, Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
- Hoover Adgar, MD, MPH, Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
Harvard University School of Medicine
- Christopher Bellonci, MD, Psychiatry
Available resources include online learning modules, short videos, virtual office hour recordings, tip sheets, communication toolkits, and more. Visit www.AAP.org/telehealth to learn more!