Research and Training for
Children’s Mental Health
(University of South Florida)
http://www.usf.edu
Background
The Research and Training Center for Children’s Mental Health strives to
strengthen the empirical foundation for effective systems of care through an
integrated set of research, training, consultation, and dissemination
activities. The Center also seeks to enhance the capacity of the children’s
mental health field to engage in system development, research, and evaluation
activities specifically through its training, technical assistance, and
dissemination activities. The Center is part of the Department of Child and
Family Studies at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute,
University of South Florida.
The Research and Training Center is jointly funded by the Center for Mental
Health Services of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the U.S.
Department of Education. The Center was first funded in 1984 for five years,
and has successfully obtained 5-year grants through a competitive process in
1989, 1994, 1999. and 2004. The
Center also receives financial support from the Department of Child and Family
Studies.
Both the Center and the Department of Child and Family Studies consist of a
diverse team of researchers, evaluators, policymakers, administrators, parents,
and practitioners. The Center and Department are committed to interdisciplinary
approaches in their work, and specialize in the use of multiple methods to
conduct in-depth studies of important issues in system of care development and
implementation. The Center’s
research is based in complex, real-world environments, and findings are
disseminated in formats suitable for a variety of audiences.
While the primary mission of the Center is to develop and disseminate new
knowledge through its research, the Center team is available to communities and
States around the country for consultation and technical assistance. The Center
has provided assistance around topics such as:
1)
developing, implementing, and evaluating systems of care;
2)
creating outcome-based accountability systems;
3)
the development of theories of change to help guide systems of care;
4)
the use of mixed methods in evaluation;
5)
the impact of managed care on service systems;
6)
the development of effective school-based services;
7)
the promotion of interagency collaborative efforts;
8)
the promotion of cultural competence; and
9)
the integration of neighborhood and system-reform efforts.
The Center also works in partnership with ORC Macro on the national
evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services Program for
Children and Their Families. The Center is pleased to be a resource for
communities involved in this Federal program, and works in partnership with
other centers involved with the program as well.
Areas of Activity
Practical, Applied Research on System of Care Issues
In keeping with a grant application submitted and approved in 2004, the
Center engages in a series of research activities, further described in a later
section.
Technical Assistance and Consultation to Communities
The Center seeks to be responsive to technical assistance requests, be
they simple requests for information or requests for ongoing assistance.
Evaluation of Systems of Care
Both as a partner to ORC Macro in the national evaluation of the
Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services Program for Children and Their
Families, and in response to special requests, the Center engages in evaluating
systems of care.
Conferences
As part of an effort to build the capacity of the children’s mental health
field to conduct system of care research, and as an effort to disseminate the
most current information, the Center sponsors an annual system of care research
conference; the next research conference will be March 6-9, 2005. The Center
also sponsors and co-sponsors special meetings and conferences.
Dissemination
The Center seeks to make information readily available to individuals in the
children’s mental health field. With support from the Center for Mental Health
Services, and in partnership with the Research and Training Center at Portland
State University, the Center publishes Data
Trends, a series of brief summaries of important new research findings.
The Center also has a bibliography of material that it makes available to
others in the field, and disseminates information through its Web site,
presentations, and technical assistance.
The Center has entered into a partnership with many state and national
organizations that are charged with providing technical assistance to local
communities and their states. Through
these partnerships, the Center hopes to be able to efficiently and effectively
reach a large audience of policy-makers and administrators.
Promising Practices
The Center also participates in the development of monographs as part of the
Promising Practices series of the Center for Mental Health
Services.
Service to the Field
Members of the Center’s team serve on various committees and boards
related to our goal of creating effective systems of care for children with
emotional disorders and their families.
Training, Technical Assistance, and Dissemination
The Center engages in a variety of training, technical assistance, and
dissemination activities. This includes an annual conference on system of care
research; special meetings and conferences; consultation to communities; the
preparation and distribution of a summary of important new research findings
(called Data Trends);
publication of research findings in refereed journals, monographs, and books;
and presentations at professional conferences.
The Center is engaged in an integrated set of six research projects designed
to provide knowledge about the development and implementation of effective
systems of care. These research
projects are based on a theory of factors contributing to effective
implementation. This theory
has been developed based on prior research by the Center, research by others
both within and outside of the children’s mental health field, the Center’s
experience in providing consultation to communities around the country, and
recommendations from experts on effective organizations.
Study 1: National Survey of
Systems of Care Implementation.
The purpose of this study is to assess the status of counties across the
country with regard to implementation of systems of care for children with
serious emotional disturbances and their families.
The study will involve a survey of 300 counties across the country to
determine the degree to which key informants in each county believe that the
county has implemented those factors that the Center believes contributes to
effective systems of care. This is
the first study ever conducted to gather such data from a nationally
representative sample of counties.
Data will be collected both in the first and fifth year of the Center.
PI: Paul Greenbaum; Co-PIs:
Roger Boothroyd and Krista Kutash
Study 2: Holistic Approaches to
Studying Community-Based Systems of Care.
The purpose of this study is to test the Center’s model of factors related
to implementation of effective systems of care by comparing established systems
of care with potential systems of car eon implementation of all factors, and on
the relationship between the factors.
Data will be collected from 10 counties using an holistic approach and a case
study methodology. PI:
Sharon Hodges.
Study 3: Financing Structures and
Strategies to Support Effective Systems of Care.
The purpose of this study is to test the Center’s theory
regarding one particular factor in the Center’s overall model – the financing
structures and strategies that contribute to the effectiveness of a system of
care. This study will use a case
study approach with 10 counties as well, and will gather data on a
complex set of financing structures and strategies.
PI: Mary Armstrong; Co-PIs:
Sheila Pires, Beth Stroul, Ginny Wood.
Study 4: The School-Based Mental
Health Study. The purpose
of this study is to test the Center’s theory about factors that contribute to
successful collaboration. A
particular focus is on collaborations between schools and mental health to
develop and implement comprehensive, integrated, school-based mental health
services models. Co-PIs:
Al Duchnowski and Krista Kutash.
Study 5: Accessibility of Mental
Health Services: Identifying and
Measuring Organizational Factors Associated with Reducing Mental Health
Disparities. The purposes
of this study are to identify and describe organizational factors associated
with increased accessibility to an array of quality mental health services and
supports for ethnically/racially diverse children with serious emotional
disorders and their families, and to develop a cultural competence
organizational assessment protocol.
PI: Mario Hernandez; Co-PIs: Teresa
Nesman and Mareasa Isaacs.
Study 6: The Family Voice Study:
Assessing the Role of Family Organizations in Developing Family Voice in
Systems of Care. The
purpose of this study is to assess how family voice, as represented by
family-run organizations, contributes to the implementation of effective
systems of care, and to further the understanding of the structures, processes,
and relationships that contribute to effective family-run organizations.
PI: Kathy Lazear; Co-PI:
Mary Evans.
Research and Training Center for Children’s Mental Health
Department of Child & Family Studies
Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute
University of South Florida
13301 Bruce B. Downs Boulevard
Tampa, FL 33612
Phone: 813-974-4661
Fax: 813-974-6257
E-mail: kutash@fmhi.usf.edu
Web site: http://rtckids.fmhi.usf.edu
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Mary Armstrong, M.A.
Principal Investigator
Health Care Reform Tracking Project
Phone: 813-974-4601
E-mail: armstron@fmhi.usf.edu
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Daniel Casella, M.A.
Conference Coordinator
Phone: 813-974-6143
E-mail: casella@fmhi.usf.edu
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Al Duchnowski, Ph.D.
Deputy Director and Co-Principal Investigator
School Reform Project
Phone: 813-974-4618
E-mail: duchnows@fmhi.usf.edu
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Mary E. Evans, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Project on the Impact of Policy on Collaborations in Systems of Care
Phone: 813-974-7374
E-mail: evans@fmhi.usf.edu
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Robert M. Friedman, Ph.D.
Center Director and Principal Investigator
Project on Development of Policy Framework and Co-Principal Investigator
The Child and Family Experience of the Mental Health System Project
Phone: 813-974-4640
E-mail: friedman@fmhi.usf.edu
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Paul Greenbaum, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Projects on Impact of Managed Care and System of Care Policies,
on Service Access for Children with Culturally Diverse Backgrounds,
and Development and Validation of an Instrument to Measure
Interagency Coordination and Collaboration
Phone: 813-974-4553
E-mail: greenbau@fmhi.usf.edu
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Mario Hernandez, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Project on Community-Based Theories of Change
Phone: 813-974-4637
E-mail: hernande@fmhi.usf.edu
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Sharon Hodges, Ph.D.
Co-Principal Investigator
Project on Community-Based Theories of Change
Phone: 813-974-6460
E-mail: hodges@fmhi.usf.edu
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Krista Kutash, Ph.D.
Deputy Director and Co-Principal Investigator
School Reform Project
Phone: 813-974-4622
E-mail: kutash@fmhi.usf.edu
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Katherine Lazear, M.A.
Co-Principal Investigator
The Child and Family Experience of the Mental Health System Project
Phone: 813-974-6135
E-mail: lazear@fmhi.usf.edu
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Cindy Liberton
Director of Communications
Phone: 813-974-6144
E-mail: liberton@fmhi.usf.edu
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Catherine Newman, M.A.
Editor for Data Trends and Conference Coordination
Phone: 813-974-8429
E-mail: cnewman@fmhi.usf.edu
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