Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
COLUMNS: EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICEState Implementation of Evidence-Based Practice for Youths, Part II: Recommendations for Research and Policy
Section snippets
DIMENSIONS OF STATE EBP IMPLEMENTATION EFFORT
To date, we have identified six primary dimensions in which EBP implementation support varies in states. These include the impetus for EBP efforts, fiscal drivers, the locus of the effort(s), training infrastructure, evaluation model, and conceptual model. Unlike the models presented in part 1 of this column,1 these dimensions do not constitute a model for promoting successful public policy, but rather are the result of an inductive process to develop a scheme for characterizing the different
Recommendations for States
The Child and Family Evidence-Based Practices Consortium has been meeting regularly since 2004 to share ideas about state-level EBP implementation challenges and strategies. Regardless of the specific approaches adopted, states involved in the Consortium have identified a consistent set of recommendations. By far the most frequently voiced recommendation from member states is to phase in slowly and take time to build relationships with a diverse array of stakeholders before rolling out any EBP
CONCLUSIONS
Use of EBP to treat mental health problems in children and adolescents has hardly been a panacea. Implementation issues continue to confound providers and policymakers alike, and the evidence base itself continues to be at an extremely preliminary stage.10 Nonetheless, the focus on EBP has generated optimism18 and provided clinicians with a useful heuristic with which to resolve specific questions.19
At the state policy level, it may be true that the evidence does not (yet) answer questions
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Cited by (57)
State behavioral health agency website references to evidence-based program registers
2021, Evaluation and Program PlanningCitation Excerpt :The implementation of evidence-based programs is a complex and multi-layered process that involves more than just the actions of providers – implementation efforts occur in complex multi-layer systems that are impacted by environmental (“outer context”) factors (Beidas et al., 2016; Bruns & Hoagwood, 2008). Prior studies have shown that legislative mandates and regulatory policies are effective means of furthering the implementation of evidence-based practices, to the extent that states with such mandates have higher rates of evidence-based practice implementation statewide (Bruns et al., 2008; Fagan et al., 2019; Hallfors & Cho, 2007; Rieckmann, Abraham, Zwick, Rasplica, & McCarty, 2015). States may also utilize state level funding levers to enhance the adoption of evidence-based practices by providers as well (Fagan et al., 2019; Rieckmann, Kovas, Cassidy, & McCarty, 2011).
The relationship between consumer, clinician, and organizational characteristics and use of evidence-based and non-evidence-based therapy strategies in a public mental health system
2017, Behaviour Research and TherapyCitation Excerpt :While there are many evidence-based practices (EBP; Butler, Chapman, Forman, & Beck, 2006; Chorpita et al., 2011), efforts to translate efficacious treatments from research to practice have been slow (Stewart & Chambless, 2007; Weissman et al., 2006). In the past decade, large behavioral health systems have invested substantial resources in support of implementation of EBP (Bruns et al., 2008, 2016; Ganju, 2003; Lau & Brookman-Frazee, 2016; Powell et al., 2016). These resources have primarily supported training the existing workforce in EBP.
References to Evidence-based Program Registry (EBPR) Websites for Behavioral Health in U.S. State Government Statutes and Regulations
2022, Journal of Applied Social ScienceUnderstanding the Effectiveness of the Cascading Model to Implement Parent-Child Interaction Therapy
2021, Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research
The authors thank all of the members of the Child and Family Evidence-Based Practice Consortium for their help with this column. They also thank Erik Janson, Research Coordinator, for assisting in literature review and manuscript preparation.
Disclosure: The authors report no conflicts of interest.