Over the past few decades there have been major successes in creating evidence-based interventions (EBIs) to improve the cognitive, affective, and behavioral health of children. Many of these EBIs have been put into practice at the local, state, or national level, as was discussed in the Institute of Medicine-National Research Council (IOM-NRC) workshop summary Strategies for Scaling Effective Family-Focused Preventive Interventions to Promote Children’s Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Health (IOM and NRC, 2014).
To reap what has been learned from such implementation and to explore how new legislation and policies, such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, as well as advances in technology and analytic methods can help drive future implementation, the IOM-NRC Forum on Promoting Children’s Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Health held the workshop “Harvesting the Scientific Investment in Prevention Science to Promote Children’s Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Health” in Washington, DC, on June 16 and 17, 2014 (see Appendix A, Workshop Statement of Task).
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1The planning committee’s role was limited to planning the workshop. The workshop summary has been prepared by the rapporteur as a factual account of what occurred at the workshop. Statements, recommendations, and opinions expressed are those of individual presenters and participants and are not necessarily endorsed or verified by the Institute of Medicine. They should not be construed as reflecting any group consensus.
The goals of the workshop were to explore the following major questions:
- How have existing scientific norms, implementation strategies, policies, and practices limited or provided impetus to quality care and improved outcomes for youth at the national, state, and local level? How should we adapt the current norms, strategies, and practices to facilitate broad adoption of prevention that will iteratively improve the quality of American families’ lives over time?
- What are key changes that will be needed in financing models, scientific models, policies, and implementation models within the sector in order to broadly implement evidence-based interventions (be the intervention a practice, program, principle, or strategy)?
- What can be done to foster the creation of linkages across sectors (e.g., education, health care, child welfare, justice, and other sectors) to support the implementation and evaluation of preventive interventions for youth?
The workshop featured panel discussions of (1) system-level levers and blockages to the broad implementation of interventions with fidelity, focusing on policy, finance, and method science; (2) the role of scientific norms, implementation strategies, and practices in care quality and outcomes at the national, state, and local level; and (3) new methodological directions (see Appendix B, Workshop Agenda2). In addition, the workshop engaged forum members, workshop speakers, and attendees in breakout session discussions of facilitators and barriers to the broad diffusion of EBIs, building on themes raised in the panel discussions, in the critical sectors of health care (including mental health care), schools and education, and child welfare and juvenile justice. On the second day of the workshop, the chairs of the three breakout groups presented summary reports of the themes that came up in their group. The workshop also featured keynote presentations on (1) the role of economics and policy in scaling interventions for children’s behavioral health and (2) making better use of evidence to design informed and more efficient children’s mental health systems.
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2The Planning Committee was guided by the Statement of Task (SOT) when developing the workshop agenda. The topic of boundary challenges between existing and alternative diffusion strategies indicated in the SOT has been refocused to reviewing existing models for EBIs and emerging dissemination efforts.
ORGANIZATION OF THE WORKSHOP SUMMARY
This workshop summary is organized into five chapters, including this introduction. Chapter 2 describes new technologies and analytic methods that can aid effective dissemination and implementation of EBIs, as well as their quality improvement. Chapter 3 discusses strategies to overcome some of the barriers to wider implementation of EBIs for children, including the development of metrics, standards, and guidelines for implementation; integration of organizational and professional silos; and provision of more funding and support. Chapter 4 discusses innovative strategies and opportunities for funding implementation of evidence-based preventive interventions, such as forging public–private partnerships and applying new or underused funding. Chapter 5 summarizes themes from the workshop. Remarks from the breakout session discussions (described above) are woven throughout the report.
IOM and NRC (Institute of Medicine and National Research Council). 2014. Strategies for scaling effective family-focused preventive interventions to promote children’s cognitive, affective, and behavioral health: Workshop summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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