Practice Guidelines for the Assessment of Clinically Significant Treatment Outcomes in the Children's Mental Health System. Issue 2 (3rd March 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chomycz, Suzanne; Schmidt, Fred
• Is Part Of: Journal of evidence-informed social work. Volume 13:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 236
• Page End: 248
• Publication Date: 2016-03-03
• Subjects: Clinically significant change -- client outcomes -- program evaluation; Human services -- Periodicals; Evidence-based social work -- Periodicals; 361.3205
• DOI: 10.1080/23761407.2015.1031417
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2376-1407

Abstract

Abstract : The use of program evaluation to monitor client change and improve intervention effectiveness is gaining increasing importance in the mental health field. However, there is a lack of literature available in community-based clinics for those who desire to evaluate the effectiveness of services. Through this article the authors review the literature on the best methods to assess clinically significant treatment outcomes in community-based children's mental health services. The strengths and weaknesses of commonly recommended methods of evaluating change are discussed (i.e., reliable change index, percentage of improvement, normative comparisons, and effect size) using a dataset from a community-based parenting program ( N = 308).