Outside School Hours Care Educators’ Capability and Self-Efficacy in Identifying and Supporting Children with Mental Health Difficulties: A Multi Method Vignette Study

Abstract Outside school hours care (OSHC) services for primary school aged children are the fastest growing child care services in Australia and yet these educators are rarely considered in academic literature. These educators can spend more time with children than classroom teachers and therefore, considering growing mental health problems in childhood, it is vital they can recognise and support mental health difficulties when and if they arise. Considering the lack of prior research in this population, a multi method case study methodology was employed to measure three constructs in which a vignette describing an OSHC setting with a child displaying clinical symptoms of a mental health difficulty was followed by open ended and Likert scale questions. The vignette measured educator capability 1) to identify, and 2) support mental health difficulties, as well as their 3) self-efficacy in relation to the above. The results show many educators were unable to identify the specific mental health difficulty or provide targeted support strategies; however, they did recognise signs of distress and offered caring strategies to support the child. Positive findings regarding educator self-efficacy indicate educators are willing to overcome mental health capability gaps to learn new skills to support children in their care with mental health difficulties.