The Consistencies and Vagaries of the Washington State Inventory of Evidence-Based Practice: The Definition of "Evidence-Based" in a Policy Context.

As states increasingly establish the importance of evidence-based practice through policy and funding mandates, the definition of evidence-based practice can have a significant impact on investment decisions. Not meeting established criteria can mean a loss of funding for established programs and the implementation disruption of programs without a strong research base. Whether the definition of "evidence-based" is influenced by these high stakes contexts is an interesting question that can inform the larger field about the value and utility of evidence-based practice lists/inventories for disseminating knowledge.

American Indian perspectives on evidence-based practice implementation: results from a statewide Tribal Mental Health Gathering.

Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices (EBP) within American Indian and Alaskan Natives communities is currently an area of debate and contention. There is considerable concern about expanding EBP policy mandates to AI/AN communities as these mandates, either through funding restrictions or other de facto policies, recall past histories of clinical colonization and exploitation by the state and federal government. As a response, work is being done to evaluate indigenous programs and examine strategies for culturally-sensitive implementation.

The Partnership Access Line: evaluating a child psychiatry consult program in Washington State.

Objective: To evaluate a telephone-based child mental health consult service for primary care providers (PCPs).

Design: Record review, provider surveys, and Medicaid database analysis.

Setting: Washington State Partnership Access Line (PAL) program.

Child welfare caseworkers as service brokers for youth in foster care: findings from project focus.

Youth in the foster care system have substantially higher rates of mental health needs compared to the general population, yet they rarely receive targeted, evidence-based practices (EBPs). Increasingly emerging in the literature on mental health services is the importance of "brokers" or "gateway providers" of services. For youth in foster care, child welfare caseworkers often play this role.

Identifying a negative mood subtype in incarcerated adolescents: relationship to substance use.

Objective: The following study tested the empirical validity and clinical meaningfulness of a negative mood subtype of incarcerated adolescent males (N=270). Differences in alcohol and marijuana use and consequences were examined.

Method: Participants were subtyped according to reports of depressive and anxious symptoms using the Children's Depression Inventory and the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale.

Transition planning and recidivism among mentally ill juvenile offenders.

Objectives: To determine the extent to which transition planning and community service would predict lower levels of recidivism among mentally ill juvenile offenders.

Design: Review of legal, medical and social service records including examination of 3-month period following community release.

Participants: Juvenile offenders incarcerated for 6 months or more (N = 44) transitioning to community.

Clinical utility and policy implications of a statewide mental health screening process for juvenile offenders.

Objectives: This study examined the utility of screening adjudicated juvenile offenders for mental health symptoms at intake to the State of Washington Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration. The authors assessed the ability of a screening measure, the Massachusetts Youth Screening Inventory, second edition (MAYSI-2), to identify youths with mental health problems and co-occurring substance use problems. This study also examined the relationship of these symptoms to treatment utilization both before and after intake to the juvenile justice system.