Big news for Pennsylvania Family-Based Mental Health Services (FBMHS) practitioners! A recent research study published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies has empirically validated the efficacy of FBMHS, an intensive in-home family-based treatment for youth with serious emotional disturbances, or significant family functioning problems. In collaboration with Community Data Roundtable (CDR), researchers demonstrated via a blend of CANS (Child & Adolescent Needs and Strengths assessment) & medical claims archival data that youth who completed ESFT-FBMHS programs had improved CANS scores and were less likely to receive out-of-home placements.
FBMHS (established in Pennsylvania during the 90’s) has been long supported by solid practice-based evidence, however an empirical-based body of evidence has eluded the program until now. The ‘Archival Study’ by CDR and the research team is among the first large-scale studies to provide robust scientific evidence of its efficacy. ESFT-FBMHS, an intensive in-home family-based program, can significantly reduce the likelihood that youth will experience out-of-home placement if they complete the program. This study found that treatment duration (specifically 8 months) in ESFT-FBMHS is also significantly associated with improvements in youth functioning.
The research team was led by C. Wayne Jones Ph.D., Director of the Center for Family-Based Training in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. “Family Based Treatment has been a successful program in Pennsylvania’s mental health system for decades,” Jones explains, “but it’s been slow to develop the research base that would make it a true Evidence-Based Treatment. This research is one more step in that direction.” This project was made possible by the CDR CANSA Application (AKA “the DataPool”), which FBMHS providers in the Pennsylvania Capital Area were already using as part of their professional routine. The CANS had been integrated into the FBMHS workflow to implement a Value-Based Purchasing initiative amongst the payer (PerformCare), the oversight group (Capital Area Behavioral Healthcare Collaborative), and the local providers.
“Once you have a CANS system in place, you are able to capture and measure all sorts of things about program performance,” explained CDR Executive Director, Dan Warner, Ph.D. MSCP, who is also an author of the paper. “Family Based Mental Health Services could and should become an evidence-producing program, regularly using CANS as a part of their work. This enables us to see and prove its efficacy in different environments and different conditions.”
In today’s environment with limited resources, integrating CANS helps identify which programs work and how. That’s one of the many ways CDR is helping organizations to lead with outcomes. Establishing a system for tracking outcomes now, paves the way for opportunities in the near future.