Evaluating the Effectiveness of Worker Mental Health Training: Experiences from the Gulf Responder Resilience Project

In response to the mental health effects seen in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) designed and delivered mental health resilience training for workers in the Gulf.  The need for rigorous evaluations of disaster response trainings, such as those provided by the NIEHS Gulf Responder Resilience Project, is long established. Therefore, a systematic evaluation process to assess effectiveness of trainings was developed.   A combination of both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed to gain a comprehensive depiction of whether the training goals were attained as well as the relative effectiveness of the instructional activities and components for achieving these program goals and objectives.   This presentation will highlight the competency-based evaluation process as well as preliminary results of the effectiveness of the trainings presented to workers in the Gulf States.  Results will be discussed vis-à-vis making quality improvements to the training program, identifying lessons learned and best practices, and making better use of available resources and strategies.  The application of this evaluation system and resulting evidence will be discussed including implications for strengthening other worker health and safety programs in disaster response and guiding related policy development.