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As part of SAMHSA’s Systems of Care initiative, the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program (CMHI) is the most comprehensive effort to date to promote the development of systems of care to improve the lives and outcomes of children with serious emotional disturbance and their families. Since 1993, the CMHI has funded 144 grantees in 50 states, 2 territories, and the District of Columbia, and has provided over $1.25 billion toward the development of local systems of care.
 ICF Macro developed an evaluation design for the program and subsequently has been awarded a series of contracts to conduct the national evaluation of the CMHI. We have evaluated programs in 67 grantee communities that have graduated from the program, and are currently the national evaluator for the 29 grantees currently receiving Federal funding. Through SAMHSA’s 2005 small business set-aside for the national evaluation, we are collaborating with Walter R. McDonald & Associates, Inc. to conduct the evaluation with 30 additional grantees. The national evaluation is a longitudinal study involving a multi-method and multi-layered design. Our evaluation examines both the children being served by the initiative and the program’s processes and outcomes. The evaluation design is complex and includes multiple components that involve a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings from our evaluation provide information upon which to base future treatment, program funding, and policy decisions to transform the current children’s mental health services system.
In support of the national evaluation, we designed an Internet-based evaluation data collection system that facilitates data input, management, and dissemination. This system is comprised of two major software components: QuickSAT and the Interactive Collaborative Network (ICN).
Information is collected during in-person interviews with caregivers of children and youth with serious emotional disturbance, and with youth aged 11 and older. Data also are collected from multiple stakeholders in the evaluation and the communities at large. System of Care Assessment information is gathered through in-person interviews conducted in the communities. Focus group methodology has been used for a number of purposes, such as to collect data for the Family-Driven Study and to gather information to inform the development of an instrument used with youth respondents. ICF Macro has developed several surveys, and uses multiple methods to survey specific respondent groups. Many of our surveys are now Web-based, with an option to use a printed version if preferred. For some studies it is more appropriate to use only mail surveys. Telephone interviews were conducted as follow-up surveys for the Sustainability Study and are used for the System of Care Assessment Study when necessary.
A data access group promotes interest among experts in the field, expands analytic resources, and enhances dissemination activities from national evaluation data.
Training manuals, data collection instruments, and surveys are made available to communities in both English and Spanish.
The fourth National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day will be May 7, 2009. ICF Macro prepared a short report with findings from the national evaluation for the event.
The third annual National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day was celebrated at the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, DC. The event, “Still I Rise: A Celebration of Resiliency through the Performing Arts,” included a keynote by Terry Cline, SAMHSA Administrator, which included findings from the national evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program conducted by ICF Macro; introductions by Kathryn Power, Director, Center for Mental Health Services; youth performers from Washington, DC, Manassas Park, VA, and San Francisco, CA; and a proclamation by Stephen T. Baron, Director, DC Department of Mental Health. Keke Palmer (Akeelah and the Bee) and Mark Indelicato (Ugly Betty) served as hosts, and Herschel Walker signed his new book, Breaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder. SAMHSA distributed a press release following the event.
ICF Macro has provided data reports for National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day each year since the inception of this event:
In conjunction with the first Children’s Mental Health Day, data from the national evaluation were presented in a briefing on Capitol Hill on May 8, 2006. A press release was distributed prior to the event, and news outlets picked up the story both before and after the event. These press items quoted findings from our study.
The second annual National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day was May 8, 2007. A data fact sheet and supporting material containing information supplied by ICF Macro from the national evaluation were disseminated at this event. A press release was distributed, and the story was picked up by ASCD SmartBrief, Netscape Celebrity Internet Service, PR-inside, PR Newswire Association LLC, and redOrbit.com. Senators Pete Domenici (NM), Edward Kennedy (MA), and Chris Dodd (CT) introduced the Mental Health Schools Act of 2007. Katie Couric posted a feature about Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day in Katie Couric’s Notebook on her Couric & Co. Web site. Even Times Square announced the briefing on Capitol Hill.
The CMHI evaluation by ICF Macro and its subcontractors has produced numerous publications, including annual reports to Congress, journal articles and entire special issues, chapters in books, proceedings papers, evaluation briefs, and technical reports, as well as numerous presentations.
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