Showing papers in "Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research in 1996"

Needs assessment of community-based services for children and youth with emotional or behavioral disorders and their families: Part 1. A conceptual model

Abstract: Communities throughout the nation are attempting to develop comprehensive systems of community-based, interagency care for children and youth with emotional or behavioral disorders and their families. Needs assessment has been identified as a key component of these initiatives. A needs assessment provides system planners with the data needed to make informed decisions with regard to improving the current system of care. In this first of a two-article series, an overview is presented of a model needs assessment designed for implementation by an interagency coalition interested in developing a comprehensive system of community-based services for children and youth with emotional or behavioral disorders and their families. Major components of the model include foundations for needs assessment, data collection, and data utilization.

Correlates of functioning in a population with dual diagnoses: an examination of diagnosis and problem history.

Abstract: This study examines the relationship between diagnosis and life functioning using the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) with 467 hospitalized individuals with mental illness and substance abuse problems. Persons diagnosed with schizophrenia were the best functioning group across most of the ASI domains except employment and psychiatric functioning. More robust relationships were found between problem history (i.e., prior symptomatology or treatment) and current functioning. Respondents with histories of drug treatment, prior experience of anxiety and depression, self-injurious behavior, or violence control problems experienced more severe medical, drug, alcohol, psychiatric, legal, and family/social problems at the time of hospitalization. Violence control problems were related to drug use and criminal involvement, whereas self-injurious behavior was more often related to alcohol use and psychiatric distress. These findings suggest that problem history may be a stronger predictor of treatment need at the time of hospital entry than are more commonly used indexes, such as diagnosis.