The NIMH Strategic Plan seeks novel models and methods for implementing effective mental health services in the community (Strategy 4.1, NIMH, 2008). Related findings by the Institute of Medicine, the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, the Surgeon General, and the National Institutes of Health, as well as a growing body of research describing ineffective community-based mental health services, point to the critical need for strategies to eliminate a variety of barriers to service effectiveness. However, few implementation strategies have been developed to address the broad range of barriers that hinder service outcomes in community mental health agencies and almost no empirical tests of such strategies have been conducted using true experimental designs. As a result, there is much more to learn about strategies that can be used by community-based agencies to improve the way they deliver mental health services. The proposed study will experimentally test the effects of the ARC (for Availability, Responsiveness and Continuity) organizational implementation strategy on the mental health services provided to youth in a sample of 12 community-based mental health agencies in St. Louis, MO. The study will be conducted by the developers of ARC from the University of Tennessee Children's Mental Health Services Research Center (UT CMHSRC) in partnership with the Washington University Center for Mental Health Services Research (WU CMHSR) in St. Louis. The ARC implementation strategy focuses on developing the processes of staff collaboration, participation and improvement-oriented innovation necessary for an organization to implement more effective services by identifying and addressing barriers to effectiveness. Examples of service barriers include problems that plague mental health service systems nationwide, such as the use of ineffective treatment models, staff turnover, client drop-outs from treatment, inefficient referral networks, inaccessible services, and staff resistance to service improvement efforts. We argue that a mental health agency's ongoing capacity to improve the services it provides requires a guided organizational implementation strategy that identifies and addresses such barriers in the organization's social context, service structure and core technology.

Public Health Relevance

The mental health services provided to youth by our nation's community mental health systems are largely unproven or ineffective. Moreover, almost no implementation strategies have been developed and tested to improve the performance of these systems. The proposed study will experimentally test the effects of the ARC (for Availability, Responsiveness and Continuity) organizational implementation strategy on the mental health services provided to youth in a sample of 12 community-based mental health agencies that serve youth in St. Louis, MO.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01MH084855-01A1
Application #
7692727
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-HOP-X (50))
Program Officer
Chambers, David A
Project Start
2009-08-25
Project End
2014-05-31
Budget Start
2009-08-25
Budget End
2010-05-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$644,888
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Tennessee Knoxville
Department
Type
Schools of Social Work
DUNS #
003387891
City
Knoxville
State
TN
Country
United States
Zip Code
37996
Williams, Nathaniel J; Glisson, Charles; Hemmelgarn, Anthony et al. (2017) Mechanisms of Change in the ARC Organizational Strategy: Increasing Mental Health Clinicians' EBP Adoption Through Improved Organizational Culture and Capacity. Adm Policy Ment Health 44:269-283
Glisson, Charles; Williams, Nathaniel J; Hemmelgarn, Anthony et al. (2016) Aligning organizational priorities with ARC to improve youth mental health service outcomes. J Consult Clin Psychol 84:713-25
Glisson, Charles; Williams, Nathaniel J; Hemmelgarn, Anthony et al. (2016) Increasing clinicians' EBT exploration and preparation behavior in youth mental health services by changing organizational culture with ARC. Behav Res Ther 76:40-6
Glisson, Charles; Williams, Nathaniel J (2015) Assessing and changing organizational social contexts for effective mental health services. Annu Rev Public Health 36:507-23
Glisson, Charles (2015) The Role of Organizational Culture and Climate in Innovation and Effectiveness. Hum Serv Organ Manag Leadersh Gov 39:245-250
Glisson, Charles; Williams, Nathaniel J; Green, Philip et al. (2014) The organizational social context of mental health medicaid waiver programs with family support services: implications for research and practice. Adm Policy Ment Health 41:32-42
Jensen, Peter S (2013) The state of our union: U.S. children's mental health needs seen through different lenses. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 52:458-61
Amatya, Anup; Bhaumik, Dulal; Gibbons, Robert D (2013) Sample size determination for clustered count data. Stat Med 32:4162-79
Powell, Byron J; Proctor, Enola K; Glisson, Charles A et al. (2013) A mixed methods multiple case study of implementation as usual in children's social service organizations: study protocol. Implement Sci 8:92
Aarons, Gregory A; Glisson, Charles; Green, Phillip D et al. (2012) The organizational social context of mental health services and clinician attitudes toward evidence-based practice: a United States national study. Implement Sci 7:56

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