An unresolved issue in the field of implementation research is how to conceptualize and evaluate successful implementation. This paper advances the concept of “implementation outcomes” distinct from service system and clinical treatment outcomes. This paper proposes a heuristic, working “taxonomy” of eight conceptually distinct implementation outcomes—acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, feasibility, fidelity, implementation cost, penetration, and sustainability—along with their nominal definitions. We propose a two-pronged agenda for research on implementation outcomes. Conceptualizing and measuring implementation outcomes will advance understanding of implementation processes, enhance efficiency in implementation research, and pave the way for studies of the comparative effectiveness of implementation strategies.

Background: Mental health policymaking to support the implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) largely has been directed toward clinicians. However, implementation is known to be dependent upon a broader ecology of service delivery. Hence, focusing exclusively on individual clinicians as targets of implementation is unlikely to result in sustainable and widespread implementation of EBPs.

These national estimates suggest that children in child welfare settings are receiving psychotropic medications at a rate between 2 and 3 times that of children treated in the community. This suggests a need to further understand the prescribing of psychotropic medications for child welfare children.

Purpose To assess and predict changes in mental health service use as older youth leave the foster care system. Methods Participants were 325 19-year olds participating in a longitudinal study of older youth leaving the foster care system in Missouri. All were in the foster care system at age 17. Participants were interviewed nine times between their 17th and 19th birthdays using the Service Assessment for Children and Adolescents and a history calendar to improve recall of service history. Analyses included Cox proportional hazards regression to predict time to service stoppage and McNemar's test to assess difference in rates of service use between age 17 and 19. Results Mental health service use dropped dramatically across the study period for all services. Service rates dropped most steeply for youth who left the foster care system. Service use rates declined by roughly 60% from the month prior to leaving the foster care system to the month after leaving the system. Most young adults who stopped pharmacotherapy following discharge from foster care reported they did so of their own volition. Conclusions Practitioners should be aware of the possibility of patient-initiated mental health service discontinuation following exit from the foster care system and plan accordingly.