A Practical Guide for Implementing Evidence-Based Assessment in a Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility: Translating Theory Into Practice

Abstract

This article provides specific and practical guidelines for how to set up and implement an assessment protocol in a psychiatric residential treatment facility (PRTF) setting for the purposes of informing administrators and therapists of their residents' current and changing mental health status throughout the course of treatment. The assessment protocol we propose and recommend is (a) based on empirically supported research, (b) relatively inexpensive, (c) easy to administer, and (d) provides easily interpretable information to therapists. This protocol was also well-implemented at a child and adolescent PRTF located in the southern region of the United States (N = 254) and was well-received by staff therapists (N = 6). The current article may be used as a “How-To” guide for implementing an evidence-based assessment protocol in PRTFs to translate theory into practice.

Keywords:

• evidence-based assessment
• psychiatric residential treatment facility
• dissemination

Notes

1. Based on similar initiatives in other healthcare fields (e.g., Institute of Medicine, 2001), evidence-based practice (EBP) of psychology is an initiative to improve client care by integrating the best available research evidence with clinicians' expertise and patient values and preferences (APA Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice, 2006). A strength of this approach is that it is subsumes both assessment and intervention efforts with the ultimate aim of ensuring the delivery of the most effective therapeutic care to clients.

2. The “What We Did” sections of this article are included not to serve as the gold standard and/or the only method for implementing these procedures, but rather, to assist the reader in turning these “How-To” guidelines into tangible, more concrete steps for actual implementation.

3. All files referenced as available for download can be obtained at www.olemiss.edu/depts/psychology/people/faculty/young.html under the link for “Assessment Tools for Residential Facilities” (found at the bottom of the page).

4. http://practicegroundprojects.wetpaint.com/page/Library+of+Assessment+Measures