In 2005, the Illinois State Mental Health Authority embarked on an initiative to close the gap between research and practice in the children's mental health system. A stakeholder advisory council developed a plan to advance evidence informed practice through policy and program initiatives. A multilevel approach was developed to achieve this objective, which included policy change, stakeholder education, and clinician training. This article focuses on the evidence-informed training process designed following review of implementation research. The training involved in-person didactic sessions and twice-monthly telephone supervision across 6 cohorts of community based clinicians, each receiving 12 months of training. Training content initially included cognitive behavioral therapy and behavioral parent training and was adapted over the years to a practice model based on common element concepts. Evaluation based on provider and parent report indicated children treated by training clinicians generally showed superior outcomes versus both a treatment-as-usual comparison group for Cohorts 1 to 4 and the statewide child population as a whole after 90 days of care for Cohorts 5 to 6. The results indicated primarily moderate to strong effects for the evidence-based training groups. Moving a large public statewide child mental health system toward more effective services is a complex and lengthy process. These results indicate training of community mental health providers in Illinois in evidence-informed practice was moderately successful in positively impacting child-level functional outcomes. These findings also influenced state policy in committing resources to continuing the initiative, even in difficult economic times.
This article describes an evaluative study focused on the transfer of trained knowledge and skills back to the practice setting. A model of transfer was developed based on factors identified in the literature. Survey methodology was used to obtain data from training participants at the completion of training and again six months later. They assessed attainment of learning outcome and its other model components. The regression model that resulted accounted for 52% of the variance in participants' perceptions of their learning. Training participants having an opportunity to perform new tasks on the job, support of peers for using new skills and familiarity with the content prior to training were the variables in the model. Recommendations for training and evaluation of training efforts are also presented.
Academic and practitioner child welfare experts in Illinois were surveyed regarding BSW curricula content for preparing students for competent child welfare practice. Findings suggest that academics and practitioners were closer than they were divided on issues of undergraduate educational preparation for child welfare practice. Similarities and dissimilarities between the two expert groups raise questions, as well as provide an empirical starting point for developing university-agency partnerships in child welfare education and training.
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