CFS Faculty Author Chapter in Book Published by the Civic Research Institute
Drs. Norín Dollard and Keren S. Vergon from the Department of Child and Family Studies have co-authored a chapter in the new book Behavioral Health Care Assessment, Service Planning, and Total Clinical Outcomes Management, which offers practical tools and proven strategies to make behavioral health care agencies and programs work better. The book is edited by Drs. John S. Lyons and Dana A. Weiner, and published by the Civic Research Institute, an independent publisher of materials for professionals in the social sciences and law.
Drs. Dollard and Vergon collaborated with staff from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania and the Sitka Development Center in Alaska to prepare a chapter describing a measurement tool developed and subsequently piloted in two community-based systems of care serving children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families.
Both systems of care, Pennsylvania's Community Connections for Families (CCF) and the Alaska Youth Initiative/Island Counseling Service were using the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) tool, which when administered periodically, determines whether levels of needs are decreasing and strengths are increasing for families being served. Since CANS does not provide insight into why levels of needs and strengths are/are not changing, the two communities identified the need for a tool and a process that could reliably guide treatment, monitor the quality of services provided, and assess the development of a system of care. This began the development of the CANS extension, which eventually became the Service Process Adherence to Needs and Strengths measurement tool (SPANS). The SPANS, used in concert with the CANS, is a generic process for assessing the strengths and areas for service implementation improvement. In using the SPANS, a chain of evidence is built wherein needs and strengths are identified, services and interventions are proposed and/or implemented to address needs or to incorporate strengths, and outcomes are monitored to assess reduction in needs or augmentation of strengths.
The chapter provides details on the lessons learned from the implementation of SPANS at the pilot sites, and how those lessons were applied when studying a larger sample of juvenile justice and child welfare populations in the State of Florida. It ends with discussion about the usefulness of SPANS at both individual and agency levels and concludes with findings that SPANS measurements can be tailored for a variety of populations, including very young children and children with developmental disabilities, and across children in multiple systems such as special education, child welfare, and juvenile justice.
The book can be ordered through the Civic Research Institute. For additional information, contact Drs. Norín Dollard and Keren S. Vergon.
The Department of Child and Family Studies is committed to improving the well-being of individuals, children, and families within communities across the country through promoting respect, inclusion, development, achievement, mental health, and an optimum quality of life.