Abstract
In an effort to bridge the gap between serviceneed and service utilization, an urban based,university-affiliated children's psychiatric outpatientclinic implemented a program which provides mentalhealth services in inner city schools. Sinceimpressions of school and mental health personnelaffirmed the effectiveness of such services, anevaluation of this program was conducted, despite thedifficulties inherent in implementing research in“naturalistic settings.” A clinic sample ofchildren (N = 220) was compared with a sample served inthe urban schools (N = 256). The findings revealed thatboth sets of children showed improvement as indicated by theChildren's Global Assessment Scale (C-GAS) and GlobalAssessment of Functioning Scale (GAF). The improvementwas comparable, even though the school children were seen for a slightly shorter period of time(an average of 5 versus 8 months) but had an equallyfrequent level of service (3 sessions per month in eachsetting). This finding may have important implications for the managed care environment. These resultsindicate that school based mental health services showimprovement comparable to the clinic-based services, andhave the potential for bridging the gap between need and utilization by reaching disadvantagedchildren who would otherwise not have access to theseservices.
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Armbruster, P., Lichtman, J. Are School Based Mental Health Services Effective? Evidence from 36 Inner City Schools. Community Ment Health J 35, 493–504 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018755100381
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018755100381