The Evidence Base for Mental Health Consultation in Early Childhood Settings: Research Synthesis Addressing Staff and Program Outcomes

Synthesizes the findings from 26 recent studies that addressed the effectiveness of early childhood mental health consultation with respect to staff- and program-level outcomes. Across the reviewed studies, there is some evidence that early childhood mental health consultation helped increase staff self-efficacy/confidence and competence in dealing with troubling or difficult behaviors of young children in their care. In several studies, staff receiving consultation had improved sensitivity and lower job-related stress. In addition, consultation generally helped improve overall quality of early care and education settings and was linked to reduced staff turnover.