Background Despite a sustained focus by policymakers and researchers on improving the standard of clinical care in public mental health services, the use of evidence-based practice remains low. Among other challenges, this reflects the difficulty of translating clinical research into useable policy that can be feasibly funded and monitored by state or large healthcare systems. Case presentation In this paper we present a case study of Washington State’s strategy for monitoring the use of clinical elements at the session level for all Medicaid-funded children’s mental health services. The implementation of this strategy reflects policy actions to promote effective practice while also actively influencing multiple other levels of the implementation ecology. The approach is informed by the Policy Ecology Framework, the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, the evidence-based policymaking literature, and common ontology and clinical elements models. Conclusions We found the strategy developed in Washington State to be a feasible method of collecting session level information about the use of effective clinical mental health practices. In addition, the approach appears to be having influence on multiple layers of the implementation ecology that could be explored through further study.

Structural barriers perpetuate mental-health disparities for minoritized U.S. populations; global mental health (GMH) takes an interdisciplinary approach to increasing mental-health-care access and relevance. Mutual capacity-building partnerships between low- and middle-income countries and high-income countries are beginning to use GMH strategies to address disparities across contexts. We highlight these partnerships and share GMH strategies through a case series of said partnerships between Kenya and North Carolina, South Africa and Maryland, and Mozambique and New York. We analyzed case materials and narrative descriptions using document review. Shared strategies across cases included qualitative formative work and partnership building; selecting and adapting evidence-based interventions; prioritizing accessible, feasible delivery; task sharing; tailoring training and supervision; and mixed-method, hybrid designs. Bidirectional learning between partners improved the use of strategies in both settings. Integrating GMH strategies into clinical science—and facilitating learning across settings—can improve efforts to expand care in ways that consider culture, context, and systems in low-resource settings.

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COVID-19 led to widespread disruption of services that promote family well-being. Families impacted most were those already experiencing disparities due to structural and systemic barriers. Existing support systems faded into the background as families became more isolated. New approaches were needed to deliver evidence-based, low-cost interventions to reach families within communities. We adapted a family strengthening intervention developed in Kenya (“Tuko Pamoja”) for the United States. We tested a three-phase participatory adaptation process. In phase 1, we conducted community focus groups including 11 organizations to identify needs and a community partner. In phase 2, the academic-community partner team collaboratively adapted the intervention. We held a development workshop and trained community health workers to deliver the program using an accelerated process combining training, feedback, and iterative revisions. In phase 3, we piloted Coping Together with 18 families, collecting feedback through session-specific surveys and participant focus groups. Community focus groups confirmed that concepts from Tuko Pamoja were relevant, and adaptation resulted in a contextualized intervention—“Coping Together”—an 8-session virtual program for multiple families. As in Tuko Pamoja, communication skills are central and applied for developing family values, visions, and goals. Problem-solving and coping skills then equip families to reach goals, while positive emotion-focused activities promote openness to change. Sessions are interactive, emphasizing skills practice. Participants reported high acceptability and appropriateness, and focus groups suggested that most content was understood and applied in ways consistent with the theory of change. The accelerated reciprocal adaptation process and intervention could apply across resource-constrained settings. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11121-022-01418-9.

Background The shape and size of skeletal elements is determined by embryonic patterning mechanisms as well as localized growth and remodeling during post‐embryonic development. Differential growth between endochondral growth plates underlies many aspects of morphological diversity in tetrapods but has not been investigated in ray‐finned fishes. We examined endochondral growth rates in the craniofacial skeletons of two cichlid species from Lake Malawi that acquire species‐specific morphological differences during postembryonic development and quantified cellular mechanisms underlying differential growth both within and between species. Results Cichlid endochondral growth rates vary greatly (50%‐60%) between different growth zones within a species, between different stages for the same growth zone, and between homologous growth zones in different species. Differences in cell proliferation and/or cell enlargement underlie much of this differential growth, albeit in different proportions. Strikingly, differences in extracellular matrix production do not correlate with growth rate differences. Conclusions Differential endochondral growth drives many aspects of craniofacial morphological diversity in cichlids. Cellular proliferation and enlargement, but not extracellular matrix deposition, underlie this differential growth and this appears conserved in Osteichthyes. Cell enlargement is observed in some but not all cichlid growth zones and the degree to which it occurs resembles slower growing mammalian growth plates.