I am trying to formulate a research question for my assignment. However, I am struggling to formulate it correctly.

The following is my purpose statement and the original research question I formulated, which my professor said did not align with the purpose of my research. How do I formulate a correct research question for my research?

Purpose statement:

The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand school-based mental health professionals and mental health professionals with outsourced in-school experience perceptions regarding schools employing school-based mental health clinicians. In doing so, I hope to understand whether mental health professionals with experience working in schools believe the employment of school-based mental health professionals would be beneficial to bridging the gap in mental health services for the population of children and youth.

Research suggests a possible way to bridge the gap in mental health services for children and youth populations would be to employ school-based mental health professionals (Freeman & Lunardi, 2019; Simpson & Atkinson, 2021). Furthermore, in a study conducted by Freeman and Lunardi (2019),which investigated school staff perceptions of the provision of external psychological services, they found that although school staff appreciated and gave positive feedback regarding outsourced school mental health providers, they preferred a school-based psychologist.

However, shortcomings of a school-based model were also identified throughout my research. Freeman and Lunardi's (2019) findings suggested that although school staff participants in their study preferred school-based psychologists, they suggested outsourced psychologists might be more beneficial due to school-based psychologists' inability to fulfill the current demand for student psychological services due to insufficient staff and large numbers of referrals. Another potential negative throughout my research was confidentiality regarding information being shared with other school staff (Freeman & Lunardi, 2019; Osagiede et al., 2018).

Therefore, I believe more research needs to be done regarding school-based employment of mental health professionals. I believe it is vital to get the perceptions of mental health professionals who have worked in the school system to determine if a school-based mental health service model could help bridge the gap in mental health services for children and youth. Furthermore, I hope to identify the potential strengths and weaknesses of school-based mental health service models from the perspective of mental health professionals with experience working in schools.

In order to gain this insight, I would like to interview multiple mental health professionals with experience working in or with school systems with the children and youth population. I believe it is important to understand the perceptions of both school-based mental health professionals and mental health professionals with in-school outsourced experience. This will allow for possible differing opinions and lessen potential bias. I will also continue to research prior studies related to my research topic.

As a current teacher and psychology student, there are potential issues regarding bias and positionality. I have worked in the school system for seven years, first as a paraprofessional and now as a substitute teacher. I have also worked in multiple leveled schools and have witnessed a difference in behaviors and supports provided in the public schools that outsource mental health professionals and ALCs or level 4 schools that employ school-based psychologists. It will be essential for me to record, identify, and remove any potential bias to approach this study in a research-oriented manner to ensure its quality and reliability.

Research Question

What is the experience of educational mental health professionals, school-based or outsourced, working with the children and youth population in a school setting?