Uncovering determinants of perceived feasibility of TF-CBT through coincidence analysis.

Introduction: A mental health provider's perception of how well an intervention can be carried out in their context (i.e., feasibility) is an important implementation outcome. This article aims to identify determinants of feasibility of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) through a case-based causal approach. Method: Data come from an implementation-effectiveness study in which lay counselors (teachers and community health volunteers) implemented a culturally adapted manualized mental health intervention, TF-CBT, delivered to teens who were previously orphaned and were experiencing posttraumatic stress symptoms and prolonged grief in Western Kenya. The intervention team identified combinations of determinants that led to feasibility among teacher- and community health volunteer-counselors through coincidence analysis. Results: Among teacher-counselors, organizational-level factors (implementation climate, implementation leadership) determined moderate and high levels of feasibility. Among community health volunteer-counselors, a strong relationship between a clinical supervisor and the supervisee was the most influential determinant of feasibility. Conclusion: Methodology and findings from this article can guide the assessment of determinants of feasibility and the development of implementation strategies for manualized mental health interventions in contexts like Western Kenya. Plain Language Summary: A mental health provider's perception of how easy a therapy is to use in their work setting (i.e., feasibility) can impact whether the provider uses the therapy in their setting. Implementation researchers have recommended finding practices and constructs that lead to important indicators that a therapy will be used. However, limited research to our knowledge has searched and found practices and constructs that might determine feasibility of a therapy. This article uses existing data from a large trial looking at the continued use of a trauma-focused therapy to find practices and constructs that lead to moderate and high levels of feasibility. We found that in settings with a strong organizational structure that organization and leadership support for the therapy led to teachers in Kenya to perceive the therapy as easy to use. On the other hand, in settings with a weaker organizational structure, outside support from a clinical supervisor led to community health volunteers in Kenya perceiving the therapy as easy to use. The findings from this article can guide context-specific recommendations for increasing perceived therapy feasibility at the provider-, organization-, and policy levels.

Supervisory Alliance as a Moderator of the Effects of Behavioral Rehearsal on TF-CBT Fidelity: Results from a Randomized Trial of Supervision Strategies.

Exposure is an important element of treatment for many evidence-based treatments but can be challenging to implement. Supervision strategies to support exposure delivery may be an important tool to facilitate the use of exposure techniques; however, they must be considered and used in the context of the supervisory alliance. The present study examined relations between supervisory alliance and fidelity to the trauma narrative (TN; i.e., imaginal exposure) component of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. We also examined how supervisory alliance moderated the effect of behavioral rehearsal use in supervision on TN fidelity. We analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial, in which forty-two supervisors and their clinicians (N = 124) from 28 Washington State community-based mental health offices participated. Clinicians were randomized to receive one of two supervision conditions-symptom and fidelity monitoring (SFM) or SFM with behavioral rehearsal (SFM + BR). Supervisory alliance alone did not predict delivery (i.e., occurrence) or extensiveness of delivery of the trauma narrative. Client-focused supervisory alliance moderated the effectiveness of behavioral rehearsal-as client-focused alliance increased, the odds of delivering the TN also increased significantly. Future research should further investigate how to appropriately match supervision techniques with supervisory dyads and explore the interplay of alliance with supervision techniques a supervisor might employ.

Co-developed implementation guidelines to maximize acceptability, feasibility, and usability of mobile phone supervision in Kenya.

Opportunities exist to leverage mobile phones to replace or supplement in-person supervision of lay counselors. However, contextual variables, such as network connectivity and provider preferences, must be considered. Using an iterative and mixed methods approach, we co-developed implementation guidelines to support the implementation of mobile phone supervision with lay counselors and supervisors delivering a culturally adapted trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy in Western Kenya. Guidelines were shared and discussed with lay counselors in educational outreach visits led by supervisors. We evaluated the impact of guidelines and outreach on the acceptability, feasibility, and usability of mobile phone supervision. Guidelines were associated with significant improvements in acceptability and usability of mobile phone supervision. There was no evidence of a significant difference in feasibility. Qualitative interviews with lay counselors and supervisors contextualized how guidelines impacted acceptability and feasibility - by setting expectations for mobile phone supervision, emphasizing importance, increasing comfort, and sharing strategies to improve mobile phone supervision. Introducing and discussing co-developed implementation guidelines significantly improved the acceptability and usability of mobile phone supervision. This approach may provide a flexible and scalable model to address challenges with implementing evidence-based practices and implementation strategies in lower-resourced areas.

Stakeholder engagement to inform evidence-based treatment implementation for children's mental health: a scoping review.

BACKGROUND: There is a pervasive mental health treatment gap for children across the globe. Engaging stakeholders in child mental health evidence-based treatment (EBT) implementation projects may increase the likelihood of successful EBT implementation, thereby better addressing the treatment gap. However, little is known about the extent of stakeholder engagement to inform the implementation of child mental health EBTs. METHODS: We conducted a scoping review to characterize stakeholder engagement in child mental health EBT implementation projects, including what stakeholders are engaged, how they are engaged, when they are engaged, where they are engaged (i.e., location of projects), why they are engaged, and the reported impacts of stakeholder engagement. We searched seven databases: MEDLINE, PsycInfo, Embase, ERIC, CINAHL Complete, Scopus, and Web of Science Core Collection. To be included, studies had to report on some form of stakeholder engagement that was undertaken to inform or explain the implementation of a child mental health EBT. We performed data extraction and synthesis to describe key study and stakeholder characteristics, stakeholder engagement methods and rationales, reported impacts of stakeholder engagement, and quality of reporting on stakeholder engagement. RESULTS: In total, 122 manuscripts met our inclusion criteria, from which we identified a total of 103 unique child mental health EBT implementation projects. Projects spanned 22 countries, which included low-, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high-income countries. The largest number of projects was in the USA and conducted in public mental health settings. Most projects engaged EBT providers during the active implementation phase and with limited depth, often gathering information from stakeholders without sharing decision-making power in implementation efforts. Across projects, impacts of stakeholder engagement spanned all of Proctor and colleague's implementation outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Given that stakeholder engagement is often shallow and with limited shared decision-making, additional effort should be made to increase engagement to preempt challenges to EBT implementation and ensure implementation success. Such efforts may ensure the just distribution of power in EBT implementation efforts. TRIAL REGISTRATION: All procedures were pre-registered on the Open Science Framework prior to conducting the literature search (DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/GR9AP ).

Transitioning to Telehealth for COVID-19 and Beyond: Perspectives of Community Mental Health Clinicians.

In response to COVID-19, mental health clinics transitioned to telehealth to maintain psychotherapy delivery. Community mental health (CMH) settings, which are often under-resourced, likely experienced many barriers. This study examined CMH clinicians' experiences transitioning to telehealth. Data came from a state-funded initiative training CMH clinicians in cognitive behavioral therapy. Participants (N = 197) completed pre-training and post-consultation surveys which included questions about their experiences with telehealth. Most clinicians found telehealth beneficial and effective. Clinicians strongly endorsed wanting telehealth as an option even after in-person services resume. CMH clinicians rated "engaging younger children" as the most significant barrier to telehealth. Despite some telehealth barriers, clinicians generally viewed telehealth favorably and prefer having it as a long-term option. Future work should continue to understand when telehealth may be advantageous and for whom in order to improve the accessibility and quality of behavioral health services.

Clinical supervision approach predicts evidence-based trauma treatment delivery in children's mental health.

Objective: Observational studies of practices used in clinical supervision-as-usual can be leveraged to advance the limited research on workplace-based supervision as an evidence-based treatment (EBT) implementation strategy. This exploratory observational study examined the presence of supervision approaches (comprised of supervision techniques) and whether these predicted clinicians' EBT technique delivery. Methods: Participants included 28 supervisors, 70 clinician supervisees, and 60 youth clients and guardians from 17 public mental health organizations. Data included audio recorded supervision-as-usual sessions over 1 year, audio recorded Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) treatment sessions with youth for 6 months, and youth-reported post-traumatic stress severity scores. Audio recordings of 438 supervision sessions were coded for session duration and the presence of 13 supervision techniques and intensity of their coverage. Audio recordings of 465 treatment sessions were coded for presence and intensity of coverage of TF-CBT practice elements. Agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis examined the presence of clusters of supervision technique use, termed supervision approaches. Generalized estimating equations estimated the relation between supervision approaches and delivery of TF-CBT elements. Results: Two supervision approaches were identified- Supportive-Directive and Supportive- that discriminated between use of five supervision techniques. Clinicians who received a higher proportion of supportive-directive supervision sessions had greater odds of delivering the trauma narrative with a client. Conclusion: Findings suggest that patterns of supervision techniques can be identified and may shape EBT delivery. Supervision approaches show some evidence of being tailored to individual clinicians. Implications for the development of supervision implementation strategies and future directions are discussed.

Adherence to Child Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Treatment Guidelines in Medical Homes-Results from a National Survey.

OBJECTIVE: Having primary care delivered through a medical home is believed to improve mental health care delivery to children. Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are commonly treated in pediatric practices, yet little is known about ADHD treatment patterns in medical homes. Our objective was to assess for treatment variation depending on parent-perceived medical home (PPMH) status. We hypothesized that having a PPMH would be associated with receiving ADHD treatments recommended by clinical guidelines. METHODS: We used the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health-a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of children in the United States. Analyses included an unweighted sample of 4,252, representing 5.4 million children aged 3 to 17 years with parent-reported ADHD. Child characteristics were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Associations between ADHD treatment types and PPMH status were assessed using a multinomial logistic regression, adjusting for child characteristics. RESULTS: Having a PPMH was associated with increased prevalence odds of children's receipt of medications alone for ADHD (vs no treatment). The prevalence odds of receiving behavioral treatment alone (vs medications alone) for ADHD decreased by 43% when children had a PPMH (95% confidence interval, 0.38-0.85, p = 0.01). PPMH status was not associated with a statistically significant difference in prevalence odds of receiving combination treatment (vs medications alone) for pediatric ADHD. CONCLUSION: Having a PPMH was associated with children's receipt of ADHD medications alone, but not behavioral treatments. Our findings suggest that medical homes may need further improvement to ensure that children with ADHD receive treatments as recommended by clinical guidelines.

Application of Evidence-Based Treatment in Community Mental Health Settings: Examining EBT Delivery Duration and Client Discharge.

Characterizing community mental health (CMH) treatment duration and discharge is an important step toward understanding how to better meet client needs. This report describes patterns of treatment duration and discharge among clinicians participating in a state-funded evidence-based treatment (EBT) training initiative. After training and consultation, clinicians (N = 376) reported on treatment duration and discharge for their "most complete case." On average, clinicians delivered 12.4 sessions (SD = 5.1) of the treatment. After completing treatment, half of clinicians (58.7%) continued with regularly scheduled therapy, either using EBT elements or switching to supportive therapy. Clinicians who continued with regularly scheduled therapy delivered treatment in approximately the same number of sessions. Results revealed that CMH clinicians often do not discontinue therapy after completing a treatment protocol. These findings suggest it may be essential to better understand clinician decision-making around applying EBTs to their caseloads.