Youth Mental Health: The Role of Culture & KTE Approaches in Expanding the Research Workforce

Abstract

Despite efforts to expand the youth mental health workforce, disparities continue to persist in service provision, the effectiveness of existing programs and practices, and in research. While there is no quick fix to rectify these issues, expanding the research workforce can serve as a preliminary step in reducing many of the disparities that exist. The current work highlights the necessity for increased efforts to recruit a population of experts (i.e., practitioners) into the research workforce that possesses a level of knowledge and expertise largely untapped by research producers. Furthermore, knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) methodologies are offered as innovative approaches that can be harnessed to facilitate this change. To provide rationale for expanding not only the research workforce but reimagining historical notions of what research is, and who qualifies as belonging in this space, with examples of action steps that can be utilized by producers to attract practitioners. The use of KTE and related approaches to attract practitioners to research has positive implications including but not limited to expanding the youth mental health workforce.