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Finding the Common Core: Evidence-Based Practices, Clinically Relevant Evidence, and Core Mechanisms of Change

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Abstract

Improving the quality of children’s mental health care can benefit from the adoption of evidence based and evidence informed treatments. However, the promise of moving science into practice is hampered by three core elements that need to be addressed in the current conversation among key stakeholders: (1) expanding our understanding of the clinical relevance of different types of evidence, (2) emphasizing the identification of core mechanisms of change, and (3) re-conceptualizing what evidence-based practice means. This paper focuses on these elements in an attempt to find a common core among stakeholders that may create opportunities for more inclusive conversation to move the field of children’s mental health care forward.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Adolescent and Family Studies, Indiana University, 1901 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Thomas L. Sexton

  2. Center for Evaluation and Program Improvement, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Susan Douglas Kelley

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  1. Thomas L. Sexton
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  2. Susan Douglas Kelley
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Correspondence to Thomas L. Sexton.

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Sexton, T.L., Kelley, S.D. Finding the Common Core: Evidence-Based Practices, Clinically Relevant Evidence, and Core Mechanisms of Change. Adm Policy Ment Health 37, 81–88 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-010-0277-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-010-0277-0

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