Adolescent psychotherapy outcomes in community mental health: how do symptoms align with target complaints and perceived change?

This study examined the relationship between clinically significant symptom change (rated by youth and parents), severity of client-defined primary presenting problems (i.e., Target Complaints), and perceived change in therapy. Participants were 117 adolescents receiving outpatient therapy and their parents. Participants completed the following measures at intake and 3 months into treatment: Ohio Scales, Target Complaints, and Perceived Change. Results indicate significant correspondence between clinically significant symptom change and other outcomes, offering preliminary evidence that global symptom measures represent change that is meaningful to adolescent clients. However, the modest magnitude of the correspondence also suggests that such measures as perceived change and individualized Target Complaints may offer unique utility in capturing the multidimensional nature of outcomes in youth therapy and provide useful avenues for future research focused on enhancing client engagement and retention. Recommendations for outcome assessment in community mental health centers are provided.

Parent and adolescent satisfaction with mental health services: does it relate to youth diagnosis, age, gender, or treatment outcome?

Consumer satisfaction with treatment is important information for providers of mental health services. The goal of the current study was to examine the relationship between youth and parent satisfaction ratings and the following youth variables: gender, age, primary diagnosis, and changes in functioning and symptomatology after 6 months of services. Results demonstrated that in a large sample of youth receiving community mental health services satisfaction with services differed as a function of the adolescents' clinician-derived primary diagnosis, age, and reported changes in symptoms and functioning. Although significant, these variables accounted for only a small portion of the variance in satisfaction. Additionally, the relationship between parent and youth ratings of satisfaction was low, but significant. The implications of these findings are discussed as well as future directions for clinicians and researchers.

Clinically significant symptom change in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: does it correspond with reliable improvement in functioning?

This study examined the relation between clinically significant (CS) change in symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and reliable change in multiple domains of functioning in children who participated in the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD. Children with CS change in symptoms were significantly more likely than children without CS change to have reliable change across five domains of functioning. Interestingly, however, depending on the measure of functioning, 14 to 52% of children who did not achieve CS change in symptoms showed reliable improvement in functional domains. The results have implications for the definition and measurement of CS change in child treatment-outcome studies.

Models of case mix adjustment for Ohio Mental Health Consumer Outcomes among children and adolescents.

Outcome data collection systems provide the opportunity for comparing agencies, programs, and therapists. However, the political stakes of comparisons raise important issues regarding their perceived validity. The goal of case-mix adjustment is to eliminate potential biasing factors that might render comparisons as inappropriate or irrelevant. In this paper, case-mix adjustment variables are identified using regression analysis followed by developing models of case mix adjustment using a sample of youth participants in the Ohio Mental Health Consumer Outcomes System. Results indicate that certain client level variables do predict outcomes. The total variance accounted for by variables other than baseline ratings of the outcome measure was small. When comparing agencies using adjusted and unadjusted models, some agencies did vary relative to other agencies. As with previous studies, however, the rank order of agencies was largely unchanged and the correlation between adjusted and unadjusted outcomes among agencies was significant.