Richard Y. Cheng, JD, CHC
Representing physician groups, post-acute care providers,
community hospitals, management service organizations
(MSOs), private equity groups, ancillary providers, retail
medicine providers, med spas, behavioral health and more.
May 2022 • DALLAS MEDICAL JOURNAL | 13
their PSA. The possibilities for scripting and
fi lming the PSAs are endless. This is where the
students get to showcase their creativity. They
edit their fi nal project and submit it to their
teacher(s). A competition is held, and the best
PSA is chosen with prizes provided for the student
winners. Teachers can choose to use the
PSAs as a grade or extra-credit if desired. Final
PSAs are shown in the classrooms or around
the school; the schools can use their discretion
to determine the extent of distribution.
PMHA is designed to be implemented in any
6th- to 12th-grade classroom, though likely it
fi ts best into technology, health, or psychology
classes. Ultimately, it is up to the educators
and schools on how they want to implement
the project with their students, including if
they provide classroom time to complete it
or if it will be graded. The curriculum packet is
composed of background information about
the program, an educator’s guide, a student
handout, and judging criteria. There is a pre-
and post-survey embedded in the curriculum
that addresses students’ knowledge, attitudes,
and willingness to engage in helpseeking
behaviors. It also includes a page that
addresses what constitutes an appropriate
PSA and examples of reputable resources. In
terms of staffi ng, all that is required is an educator
to implement this project; there is no
external oversight involved, unless they want
to submit the PSAs to PMHA for judging.
Implementation
A pilot program of PMHA was implemented
at Ball High School in Galveston, Texas, and
Stephenville High School in Stephenville,
Texas, during three academic years from
2016 to 2019. The fi rst year, Ball High School
implemented the program in their AP psychology
class and fi lming/technology classes
while Stephenville implemented it only in
their technology class. The following years,
Ball High School additionally added English
classes. At Ball High School, the AP psychology
and English classes chose to use the project
as a replacement test grade (extra-credit),
while the fi lming/technology class made it
the semester fi nal test grade. At Stephenville
High School, it was used as a project grade. It
was up to the teacher and students’ discretion
to share or post their PSAs on social
media platforms. At a minimum, all the classes
chose to broadcast the PSAs produced in
their classrooms for all the students to see. A
“red carpet” fi lm festival was held at Ball High
School during two separate years where students
got to showcase their work, and awards
were distributed. Stephenville High School has
continued to implement this project beyond
the pilot period without oversight.
Additionally, a social media contest was
held at Ball High School one year and Stephenville
High School the next. The students
were asked to post their PSA on the social
media platform of their choice that measured
views and submit the link to PMHA. At the
end of a designated period, the student who
had the most views on their PSA, measured
through the link to the social media site submitted,
was deemed the winner. The winners
were awarded a prize.
Evaluation
Between the two participating high
schools, 21 PSAs were submitted in the 2016-
2017 academic year, 37 in 2017-2018, and 32 in
2018-2019, for a total of 90 PSAs. This number
is a conservative estimate, as this is only the
number of PSAs submitted for judging, not
the total made by students. A variety of topics
was chosen by students for the theme of
their PSA with depression, suicide, and bullying
being the most common. Figure 1 from the
original PMHA publication7 shows all topics
from PSAs produced. The topics alone provide
a wealth of information and give insight
into the problems perceived by students in
their school. The quality of some of the PSAs
produced were outstanding and allowed the
students’ creativity and technology skills to
shine.
A brief anonymous survey was administered
to the 52 participating students at
Stephenville High School after completing the
project during the 2018-2019 academic year.
The following data is only from students who
participated in the project. Data was collected
using a fi ve-point Likert scale (strongly
agree to strongly disagree). Around 80% of
students felt that the project enhanced their
knowledge about mental health. About 75%
of students felt the project enhanced their
knowledge of how to help others with mental
illness. Over 75% of the students thought using
technology, such as this project, to talk about
mental health was better than a formal lecture
about mental health. Before participating
in the project, less than 10% of students
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(972) 427-7685
rcheng@weaverjohnston.com
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