Developing Outcome Strategies in Children’s Mental Health shares the knowledge of dozens of professionals who have successfully used evaluation to improve their programs and services. The book, co-edited by Mario Hernandez and Sharon Hodges, Department of Child and Family Studies, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida, provides practical and useful information based on the experiences of people working in the field.
“Trying to run a human service program without information is like trying to drive a car without a speedometer or gas gauge – you may be able to do it, but not without mistakes,” says Hernandez. “This book is not about science; it’s about providing information that’s useful to people doing the work in natural settings and in real time.”
Forty contributors from systems and agencies throughout the country offer to readers what they have learned from their own challenges and successes. Section I focuses on providing innovative ways to think about outcomes and accountability and describes how providers expect system-of-care principles to affect service delivery and outcomes. Section II provides case studies of specific implementation strategies for collecting and using outcome data. The third section helps readers understand how to use outcome strategies for program and system level reform, and provides methods for analyzing and using data effectively. Section IV describes how to apply tested evaluation techniques for improving children’s mental health services.
In the Introduction, the editors state, “ the work presented in this volume represents the real-life experiences of individuals who struggle to make outcome evaluation a strategy for collecting information that is practical to the everyday work of policymakers, administrators, managers, direct service workers, and families. This collection of their strategies pays respect to those who find themselves advocates for the well-being of children and families through the use of information in settings that often prefer what is popular or politically expedient.”
Developing Outcome Strategies in Children’s Mental Health is the newest volume in the System of Care for Children’s Mental Health series. It can be ordered through its publisher, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company at 1-800-638-3775 or www.brookespublishing.com.
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