Selection of a Child Clinical Outcome Measure for Statewide Use in Publicly Funded Outpatient Mental Health Programs

What is it about?

This study describes a five-phase approach to address the question,“What is the best statewide approach to evaluate functional status for children and youth that are served by the California public specialty mental health service system?" The selection approach included: 1) internet environmental scan of measures used by state mental health agencies; 2) statewide provider survey; 3) scientific literature review; 4) modified Delphi panel; and 5) final rating of candidate measures using 9 minimum criteria informed by stakeholder priorities, scientific evidence, and the performance outcome system statute. From this process, the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (35 items) was recommended for statewide use to track clinical outcomes among children. The study also found that only one out of five state mental health agency websites reported use of any standardized measure to track clinical outcomes for children. There was also wide variation at the state- and California county-levels in the types of measures used, making it impossible to compare child clinical outcomes across States or California counties. Together, these findings support a national call for policies that promote use of a common clinical outcome measure and standardized approach to measure, track and publicly report clinical outcomes for children receiving publicly-funded outpatient mental health care.

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