Background: Many young children spend at least some time in early care and education programs, where they develop social-emotional skills that prepare them for future success. However, young children may exhibit behavioral challenges in these settings, negatively impacting their social-emotional development. It is critical that the early childhood workforce is prepared to support young children’s burgeoning social-emotional skills to address challenging behaviors in early care and education classrooms. Infant and early childhood mental health consultation is an evidence-informed approach for increasing teachers’ skills for managing young children’s emotions and behaviors. One mechanism to increase teachers’ access and use of the infant and early childhood mental health consultation programs is through on-demand mobile apps. Objective: This study aims to investigate 2 primary objectives: to document the development of the Jump Start on the Go (JS Go) app through community-based participatory research (CBPR) methodologies, and to evaluate and refine the app based on early childhood education (ECE) teacher feedback using a mixed methods assessment approach. Methods: This study used a community-based participatory research approach to design and evaluate the effectiveness of the JS Go app across 3 phases. In phase 1, a description of how the JS Go app was developed using CBPR principles is provided. In phase 2, teachers (n=12) were interviewed after reviewing mockups of the JS Go app to gather feedback about the interface and usefulness of the app to current and new teachers. Rapid qualitative analysis generated themes to inform phase 3 (n=31) of the study. Results: Phase 2 findings suggested that teachers viewed the app as aesthetically pleasing with concise information, but there were design and content features that needed to be refined to improve ease of use for accessing content. Teachers also described the app as beneficial and useful to both current and new ECE teachers and identified it as a tool to support sustainability for the use of JS practices. In phase 3, teachers rated the JS Go app favorably across all mHealth (mobile health) App Usability Questionnaire dimensions, including interface satisfaction (mean 6.12 on a 7-point scale), ease of use (mean 5.56), and usefulness (mean 5.37). Despite positive usability ratings, teachers expressed less certain intentions to adopt the app, scoring near the midpoint on the Technology Acceptance Model Instrument-Fast Form’s predicted future use scale (mean 1.60, –4 to +4-point scale). Implications for how the findings were used to make adaptions to the app are discussed. The next steps for testing the efficacy of the app in a randomized control trial are described. Conclusions: ECE teachers have overall positive perceptions about the value of the JS Go app. Future research will need to test the efficacy of the app for increasing and sustaining teacher’s use of JS practices.

Background/Objectives: Preschool children from low-income, ethnically diverse communities face disproportionate rates of behavioral challenges and early expulsion from early care and education (ECE) programs. This study evaluated the efficacy, feasibility, and utility of Jump Start on the Go (JS Go), a bilingual, AI-enabled mobile application. JS Go is designed to deliver a 14-week early childhood mental health consultation model in under-resourced ECE settings. Methods: This mixed-methods study compared JS Go to the standard in-person Jump Start (JS) program. Participants included 28 teachers and 114 children from six centers (three JS Go, three JS). Quantitative measures assessed teacher classroom practices and child psychosocial outcomes at baseline and post-intervention. App usability and acceptability were only evaluated post-intervention. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted post-intervention with JS Go directors/teachers to assess the app’s feasibility for implementing the four program pillars: safety, behavior support, self-care, and communication. Results: JS Go was more effective than JS in promoting teacher classroom practices related to behavior support and resiliency. Both programs were similar in improving children’s protective factors and reducing internalizing behaviors, with consistent effects across English and Spanish-speaking children. Teachers rated the JS Go app with high acceptability, though predicted future usage showed greater variability. Rapid qualitative analysis showed that participants found the app easy to use, frequently accessed its resources, and considered it helpful for reinforcing key strategies across the four program pillars. Conclusions: JS Go is a novel approach to providing mental health consultation. It represents a promising mobile adaptation of the established JS consultation model, with important implications for future practice and research.

BACKGROUND Many young children spend at least some time in early care and education programs, where they develop social-emotional skills that prepare them for future success. However, young children may exhibit behavioral challenges in these settings, negatively impacting their social-emotional development. It is critical that the early childhood workforce is prepared to support young children’s burgeoning social-emotional skills to address challenging behaviors in early care and education classrooms. Infant and early childhood mental health consultation is an evidence-informed approach for increasing teachers’ skills for managing young children’s emotions and behaviors. One mechanism to increase teachers’ access and use of the infant and early childhood mental health consultation programs is through on-demand mobile apps. OBJECTIVE This study aims to investigate 2 primary objectives: to document the development of the Jump Start on the Go (JS Go) app through community-based participatory research (CBPR) methodologies, and to evaluate and refine the app based on early childhood education (ECE) teacher feedback using a mixed methods assessment approach. METHODS This study used a community-based participatory research approach to design and evaluate the effectiveness of the JS Go app across 3 phases. In phase 1, a description of how the JS Go app was developed using CBPR principles is provided. In phase 2, teachers (n=12) were interviewed after reviewing mockups of the JS Go app to gather feedback about the interface and usefulness of the app to current and new teachers. Rapid qualitative analysis generated themes to inform phase 3 (n=31) of the study. RESULTS Phase 2 findings suggested that teachers viewed the app as aesthetically pleasing with concise information, but there were design and content features that needed to be refined to improve ease of use for accessing content. Teachers also described the app as beneficial and useful to both current and new ECE teachers and identified it as a tool to support sustainability for the use of JS practices. In phase 3, teachers rated the JS Go app favorably across all mHealth (mobile health) App Usability Questionnaire dimensions, including interface satisfaction (mean 6.12 on a 7-point scale), ease of use (mean 5.56), and usefulness (mean 5.37). Despite positive usability ratings, teachers expressed less certain intentions to adopt the app, scoring near the midpoint on the Technology Acceptance Model Instrument-Fast Form’s predicted future use scale (mean 1.60, –4 to +4-point scale). Implications for how the findings were used to make adaptions to the app are discussed. The next steps for testing the efficacy of the app in a randomized control trial are described. CONCLUSIONS ECE teachers have overall positive perceptions about the value of the JS Go app. Future research will need to test the efficacy of the app for increasing and sustaining teacher’s use of JS practices. CLINICALTRIAL