Continuous Quality Improvement and Evaluation of Expanded School Mental Health Programs

Fulfilling the Promise of School-Based Mental Health: Moving Toward a Public Mental Health Promotion Approach

“…In general, the literature describing QAI approaches tends to focus on bureaucratic processes (e.g., credentialing, adherence to paperwork requirements) and/or liability protection (e.g., procedures for handling crises) . However, in recent years QAI in SBMH has received increased attention, and numerous dimensions of quality have been articulated, including: (a) amount and quality of stakeholder input in program development, guidance, and evaluation, (b) extent of collaborative relations among families, school staff, and community providers, (c) range of preventive and treatment services, (d) productivity of staff, (e) training and supervision of staff, (f) coordination and avoidance of duplication of services, (g) use of empirically supported interventions, (h) use of appropriate evaluation strategies, (i) use of evaluation findings to continuously improve programs and services, and (j) use evaluation findings to broaden awareness of and support for school mental health efforts (see Ambrose, Weist, Schaeffer, Nabors, & Hill, 2002;Evans, Sapia, Axelrod, & Glomb, 2002;Lever et al, 2003;Nabors, Lehmkuhl, & Weist, 2003).…”