Toward Treatment Integrity: Developing an Approach to Measure the Treatment Integrity of a Dialectical Behavior Therapy Intervention With Homeless Youth in the Community.

The current paper discusses an approach to measuring treatment integrity of dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) when implemented within two programs providing services to street-involved youth in the community. Measuring treatment integrity is a critical component of effective implementation of evidence-based interventions in clinical practice, since sound treatment integrity increases confidence in client outcomes and intervention replicability. Despite being an essential part of implementation science, few studies report on treatment integrity, with limited research addressing either measurement tools or maintenance of treatment integrity.

A relationship-based intervention to improve social connectedness in street-involved youth: a pilot study.

Problem: Street-involved youth experience a range of mental health problems with elevated rates of psychiatric disorders compared with non-homeless youth. The overall objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the impact of a relationship-based intervention for homeless youth receiving services from agencies in downtown Toronto.

Methods: The final sample included 15 homeless youth who met the study inclusion criteria.