The article reviews a new method to identify common core elements of evidence-based practice (EBP) for children with disruptive behavior problems and their parents. This will not only help in ...characterizing practice, but also will enhance the skills and attitudes of therapists and be useful in implementing EBP in community-based service settings.
In this study, we examine the feasibility of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for children with anxiety in primary care, using two modes of treatment delivery. A total of 48 parents and youth (8–13) ...with anxiety disorders were randomly assigned to receive 10-sessions of CBT either delivered by a child anxiety specialist in the primary care clinic or implemented by the parent with therapist support by telephone (i.e., face-to-face or therapist-supported bibliotherapy). Feasibility outcomes including satisfaction, barriers to treatment participation, safety, and dropout were assessed. Independent evaluators, blind to treatment condition, administered the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children (ADIS) and the Clinical Global Impression of Improvement (CGI-I) at baseline, post-treatment and 3-month follow-up; clinical self-report questionnaires were also administered. Findings revealed high satisfaction, low endorsement of barriers, low drop out rates, and no adverse events across the two modalities. According to the CGI-I, 58.3%–75% of participants were considered responders (i.e., much or very much improved) at the various time points. Similar patterns were found for remission from “primary anxiety disorder” and “all anxiety disorders” as defined by the ADIS. Clinically significant improvement was seen on the various parent and child self-report measures of anxiety. Findings suggest that both therapy modalities are feasible and associated with significant treatment gains in the primary care setting. (clinicaltrials.gov unique identifier: NCT00769925).
•In primary care, CBT for child anxiety is feasible when delivered face-to-face or as therapist-supported bibliotherapy.•Satisfaction, engagement, and remission outcomes are favorable for both modes of delivery.•Therapist-supported bibliotherapy has the potential to address many service use barriers and reduce mental health disparities.•Comparative effectiveness studies using larger sample sizes and equivalence designs are necessary.
Fidelity measurement is critical for testing the effectiveness and implementation in practice of psychosocial interventions. Adherence is a critical component of fidelity. The purposes of this review ...were to catalogue adherence measurement methods and assess existing evidence for the valid and reliable use of the scores that they generate and the feasibility of their use in routine care settings. A systematic literature search identified articles published between 1980-2008 reporting studies of evidence-based psychosocial treatments for child or adult mental health problems, including mention of adherence or fidelity assessment. Coders abstracted data on the measurement methods and clinical contexts of their use. Three hundred forty-one articles were reviewed, in which 249 unique adherence measurement methods were identified. These methods assessed many treatment models, although more than half (59%) assessed cognitive behavioral treatments. The measurement methods were used in studies with diverse clientele and clinicians. The majority (71.5%) of methods were observational. Information about psychometric properties was reported for 35% of the measurement methods, but adherence-outcomes relationships were reported for only 10%. Approximately 1/3 of the measures were used in community-based settings. Many adherence measurement methods have been used in treatment research; however, little reliability and validity evidence exists for the use of these methods. That some methods were used in routine care settings suggests the feasibility of their use in practice; however, information about the operational details of measurement, scoring, and reporting is sorely needed to inform and evaluate strategies to embed fidelity measurement in implementation support and monitoring systems.
This study examined the temporal stability and cross-informant agreement on multiple perspectives of child and caregiver alliance with therapists in usual care psychotherapy. Baseline predictors of ...alliance were also examined. Children with disruptive behavior problems (n = 209) and their caregivers were followed for up to 16 months after initiating psychotherapy at a community-based clinic. Alliance was rated by children, caregivers, and therapists every 4 months for as long as families participated in treatment. Repeated-measures analyses using linear mixed models with random intercepts were conducted to determine whether child and caregiver alliance differed across time, as well to examine factors associated with each perspective on alliance. Intraclass correlations between child, caregiver, and therapist reports of alliance were also examined. Alliance was rated relatively high overall across perspectives. Clients (children and caregivers) tended to report the strongest and most stable alliance, while therapists reported the weakest alliance and perceived deteriorations in child alliance over time. Inter-informant agreement was variable for child and caregiver alliance; agreement was moderate between clients and therapists. Several predictors of alliance emerged, including child gender, anxiety diagnosis, caregiver race/ethnicity, and therapist experience. This study provides methodological information about reports of therapeutic alliance across time and informants that can inform current efforts to understand the alliance-outcome association.
This study describes the characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) with disruptive behavior problems served in community-based mental health clinics, characterizes ...psychotherapy process and outcome, and examines differences between children with ASD and a non-ASD comparison group. Results indicate that children with ASD served in this setting are high functioning and diagnostically complex. Certain research-based behavioral and cognitive behavioral psychotherapeutic strategies were observed frequently, while parent training strategies and active teaching strategies were observed less frequently. The intensity or thoroughness with which strategies were pursued was relatively low. Outcome analyses indicate improvement in child symptoms and family functioning. Treatment delivery and outcome were similar for children with and without ASD. These findings represent the first detailed observational data characterizing community-based mental health services for children with ASD.
Collaborative partnerships between community-based clinicians and academic researchers have the potential to improve the relevance, utility, and feasibility of research, as well as the effectiveness ...of practice. Collaborative partnership research from a variety of fields can inform the development and maintenance of effective partnerships. In this paper we present a conceptual model of research-community practice partnership derived from literature across disciplines and then illustrate application of this model to one case example. The case example is a multi-year partnership between an interdisciplinary group of community-based psychotherapists and a team of mental health researchers. This partnership was initiated to support federally funded research on community-based outpatient mental health care for children with disruptive behavior problems, but it has evolved to drive and support new intervention studies with different clinical foci. Lessons learned from this partnership process will be shared and interpreted in the context of the presented research-practice partnership model.
In the United States, more money is spent on treatment for children's mental health problems than for any other childhood medical condition, yet little is known about usual care treatment for ...children. Objectives of this study were to characterize usual care outpatient psychotherapy for children with disruptive behavior problems and to identify consistencies and inconsistencies between usual care and common elements of evidence-based practices in order to inform efforts to implement evidence-based practices in usual care.
Participants included 96 psychotherapists and 191 children aged four to 13 who were presenting for treatment for disruptive behavior to one of six usual care clinics. An adapted version of the Therapy Process Observational Coding System for Child Psychotherapy-Strategies scale (TPOCS-S) was used to assess psychotherapy processes in 1,215 randomly selected (out of 3,241 collected) videotaped treatment sessions; treatment sessions were recorded for up to 16 months.
Most children received a large amount of treatment (mean number of sessions=22, plus children received other auxiliary services), and there was great variability in the amount and type of care received. Therapists employed a wide array of treatment strategies directed toward children and parents within and across sessions, but on average all strategies were delivered at a low intensity. Several strategies that were conceptually consistent with evidence-based practices were observed frequently (for example, affect education and using positive reinforcement); however, others were observed rarely (for example, assigning or reviewing homework and role-playing).
Usual care treatment for these youths reflected great breadth but not depth. The results highlight specific discrepancies between evidence-based care and usual care, thus identifying potentially potent targets for improving the effectiveness of usual care.
This study examined the psychometric properties of the Therapeutic Alliance Scale for Caregivers and Parents (TASCP) in a sample of 209 caregivers whose children (4-13 years of age) presented with ...disruptive behavior problems to a publicly funded outpatient mental health clinic in San Diego County. Information about therapeutic alliance was collected from caregivers, children, and their therapists across the course of therapy (up to 16 months). Results support the reliability, temporal stability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of scores on the TASCP. The multilevel factor structure of this new measure was consistent with the parallel child-report version, with 2 within-level factors and 1 between-level factor. Furthermore, predictive validity was strong, with stronger caregiver-reported alliance associated with less treatment dropout, more sessions attended, and greater satisfaction with perceived improvement.
Providers need an efficient, unbiased, and reliable resource to determine which apps may be most helpful. OneMindPsyberguide (one mindpsyberguide.org) is a third-party app rating platform that offers ...an important service to providers and patients. Compared with other app review platforms (e.g., American Psychological Association and Anxiety and Depression Association of America app ratings, Enlight, MARS, mHAD, Mind Tools, and ORCHA), Psyberguide is com prehensive and relatively user friendly. To expand our review of Psyberguide, we asked practicing therapists to give us their per spectives on its utility. Our convenience sam ple for feedback included seven behavioral health care providers (BHPs) working in a busy university primary care department. After a few weeks, we requested anonymous feedback from the providers. Most of the BHPs said they found Psyberguide helpful in their prac tice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Evidence-based treatments for child mental health problems are not consistently available in public mental health settings. Expanding availability requires workforce training. However, research has ...demonstrated that training alone is not sufficient for changing provider behavior, suggesting that ongoing intervention-specific supervision or consultation is required. Supervision is notably under-investigated, particularly as provided in public mental health. The degree to which supervision in this setting includes 'gold standard' supervision elements from efficacy trials (e.g., session review, model fidelity, outcome monitoring, skill-building) is unknown. The current federally-funded investigation leverages the Washington State Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Initiative to describe usual supervision practices and test the impact of systematic implementation of gold standard supervision strategies on treatment fidelity and clinical outcomes.
The study has two phases. We will conduct an initial descriptive study (Phase I) of supervision practices within public mental health in Washington State followed by a randomized controlled trial of gold standard supervision strategies (Phase II), with randomization at the clinician level (i.e., supervisors provide both conditions). Study participants will be 35 supervisors and 130 clinicians in community mental health centers. We will enroll one child per clinician in Phase I (N = 130) and three children per clinician in Phase II (N = 390). We use a multi-level mixed within- and between-subjects longitudinal design. Audio recordings of supervision and therapy sessions will be collected and coded throughout both phases. Child outcome data will be collected at the beginning of treatment and at three and six months into treatment.
This study will provide insight into how supervisors can optimally support clinicians delivering evidence-based treatments. Phase I will provide descriptive information, currently unavailable in the literature, about commonly used supervision strategies in community mental health. The Phase II randomized controlled trial of gold standard supervision strategies is, to our knowledge, the first experimental study of gold standard supervision strategies in community mental health and will yield needed information about how to leverage supervision to improve clinician fidelity and client outcomes.
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01800266.
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