BEHAVIORAL HEALTH STUDENT TRAINING AND INTERVENTION IN THE COMMUNITY-BASED MOBILE HEALTH AND WELLNESS PROGRAM - Vol. 9 - Innovation in Aging 2025

Q: What is the Mobile Health and Wellness Program (MHWP) designed to do?

MHWP trains interprofessional students to deliver 4Ms age-friendly care as part of weekly clinics for medically underserved older adults in community settings, including low-income senior housing buildings.

Q: How were behavioral health needs identified and addressed in the program?

Unmet mental health needs were identified through depression, anxiety, substance use, and social connection screens, which then led to further assessment, mental health education, wellness goal setting, and care referrals or coordination.

Q: What did the module training assess and what were the reported outcomes?

Modules assessed risk factor identification, screening, and intervention, concluding with knowledge check questions and self-rated confidence across three domains. Students reported confidence gains, and Wilcoxon signed rank analyses showed significant median increases for several modules.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Levi

Interprofessional students participate in the Mobile Health and Wellness Program (MHWP), delivering weekly care coordination and health promotion clinics for medically underserved older adults in low-income senior housing and a community-based wellness clinic. In 2024, behavioral health interventions occurred in 436 of nearly 3000 visits (15%), with unmet mental health needs identified through depression, anxiety, substance use, and social connection screens in 56% of cases. These findings supported further assessment, education, goal setting, and care referrals. Training includes simulation and trauma-informed, 4Ms evidence-based modules, with post-module confidence gains across key knowledge domains, supported by Wilcoxon signed rank results.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages1

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract overview

Program and training structure

Behavioral health screening and intervention outcomes

Module knowledge checks and confidence results

196 Innovation in Aging, 2025, Vol. 9, No. S2 Abstract citation ID: igaf122.653 BEHAVIORAL HEALTH STUDENT TRAINING AND INTERVENTION IN THE COMMUNITY-BASED MOBILE HEALTH AND WELLNESS PROGRAM Rachel Regal1, Leland Waters1, and Patricia Slattum2, 1. Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States, 2. Virginia Commonwealth University College of Health Professions, Richmond, Virginia, United States The Mobile Health and Wellness Program (MHWP) trains interprofessional students on 4Ms age-friendly care as part of care coordination and health promotion weekly clinics for medically underserved older adults within low-income senior housing buildings and a community-based wellness clinic. Of the nearly 3000 visits in 2024 with 374 older adults, student teams from nursing, medicine, pharmacy, and other disciplines provided behavioral health intervention in 436 visits (15%) with over a third of participants (n = 131) . Unmet mental health needs identified in 56%(41 of 73) of screens for depression, anxiety, substance use, and social connection led to further assessment, mental health education, wellness goal setting, and care referrals or coordination. Interprofessional students engage with behavioral health training as part of team debriefings, morning topic discussions, a simulation orientation with motivational interviewing skill development, morning topic discussions on a range of mental health topics, and online 4Ms evidence-based training modules including trauma-informed care. Modules conclude with knowledge check questions and self-rated confidence on three key domains: identifying risk factors, conducting screenings, and intervention. Descriptive results indicate that the majority of students report confidence gains following each module. Results of Wilcoxon signed rank analyses showed a 1-rank median confidence increase for Mentation, Social Connectedness, and Ageism Modules (p < .001, N = 132 to 544). Further findingsand details will be presented that describe how MHWP trains students and intervenes for behavioral health needs in community-based settings with underserved older adults.

FAQs

What is the Mobile Health and Wellness Program (MHWP) designed to do?

MHWP trains interprofessional students to deliver 4Ms age-friendly care as part of weekly clinics for medically underserved older adults in community settings, including low-income senior housing buildings.

How were behavioral health needs identified and addressed in the program?

Unmet mental health needs were identified through depression, anxiety, substance use, and social connection screens, which then led to further assessment, mental health education, wellness goal setting, and care referrals or coordination.

What did the module training assess and what were the reported outcomes?

Modules assessed risk factor identification, screening, and intervention, concluding with knowledge check questions and self-rated confidence across three domains. Students reported confidence gains, and Wilcoxon signed rank analyses showed significant median increases for several modules.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Levi