Evaluation Findings - SAMHSA Store - Substance Abuse and Mental ...

Youth were least satisfied with their
participation in treatment planning.
How Well Are System of Care
Principles Implemented
The national evaluation includes a system of
care assessment that measures the
implementation of system of care principles
across system of care infrastructure and
service delivery domains. The infrastructure
domain includes the organizational
structures and processes that support and
facilitate service delivery. The service
delivery domain consists of the activities
and processes that are undertaken to provide
mental health services and related supports
to children and families. Each of these
domains is assessed in relation to the system
of care principles of family focused,
individualized, culturally competent,
interagency, collaborative/coordinated,
accessible, community-based, and least
restrictive care. Ratings on a scale of 1 to 5
(5 being highest) track the implementation
of these principles at various intervals in
system development over the life of each
grant-funded community. The ratings
presented in this report are not aggregated
across all three phases of the evaluation
because data collection was not complete
across all phases at the time of the 2006–
2008 reports to Congress.
System of Care Principles Were
Increasingly Implemented
An upward trend in the implementation of
system of care principles over time was
shown by systems of care.
Figure 13 shows the average ratings for
each system of care principle for the
infrastructure domain for 22 communities
initially funded in 1999 and 2000 across
the entire 6 years of their grant funding;
Figure 14 presents average ratings for the
service delivery domain for the same
group of communities. The findings show
an upward trend across all assessment
points for all system of care principles
assessed, with generally better
performance in the service delivery
domain than in the infrastructure domain.
Across all assessment points,
communities performed better in
implementing the principles of family
focused, individualized,
collaborative/coordinated, and accessible
care, and were least successful at
providing culturally competent care and
maintaining interagency involvement.
Figures 15 and 16 show the average
ratings for each system of care principle
for the infrastructure and service delivery
domains respectively for 27 communities
initially funded in 2002–2004 in their
second and fourth years of grant funding.
The ratings are based upon the most
current and available data at the time of
the 2006–2008 Reports to Congress.
Similar to the 1999–2000 funded cohort
of communities described above, the
findings show an upward trend across the
two assessment points for all system of
care principles assessed, with generally
better performance in the service delivery
domain than the infrastructure domain.
This group of communities performed
better in implementing the principles of
family focused, individualized,
collaborative/coordinated, accessible,
community-based and least restrictive
care than in providing culturally
competent care and maintaining
interagency involvement, particularly in
the service delivery domain. More
dramatic improvements were made at the
second assessment in the infrastructure
domain than in the service delivery
domain.
The Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program Evaluation Findings
2006–2008 Annual Report to Congress ● Page 25