The Technology of Measurement Feedback Systems.

Usual care in the community is far from optimal. Sufficient evidence exists that dropout rates are significant, treatment is effective for only a small proportion of clients, and that the translation of evidence-based treatments to the real world is problematic. Technology has been shown to be helpful in health care in improving the effectiveness of treatment.

Measuring change for a multidimensional test using a generalized explanatory longitudinal item response model.

Even though many educational and psychological tests are known to be multidimensional, little research has been done to address how to measure individual differences in change within an item response theory framework. In this paper, we suggest a generalized explanatory longitudinal item response model to measure individual differences in change. New longitudinal models for multidimensional tests and existing models for unidimensional tests are presented within this framework and implemented with software developed for generalized linear models.

Caregiver life satisfaction: relationship to youth symptom severity through treatment.

This study utilized the Satisfaction with Life Scale to investigate the life satisfaction of caregivers for youth receiving mental health services (N = 383). Specifically, this study assessed how caregiver life satisfaction relates to youth symptom severity throughout treatment. Hierarchical linear modeling with a time-varying covariate was used to estimate the linear trajectory of caregiver life satisfaction and how it relates to youth symptom severity as rated by caregivers, youth, and clinicians.

The Peabody Treatment Progress Battery: history and methods for developing a comprehensive measurement battery for youth mental health.

There is increased need for comprehensive, flexible, and evidence-based approaches to measuring the process and outcomes of youth mental health treatment. This paper introduces a special issue dedicated to the Peabody Treatment Progress Battery (PTPB), a battery of measures created to meet this need. The PTPB is an integrated set of brief, reliable, and valid instruments that can be administered efficiently at low cost and can provide systematic feedback for use in treatment planning.

Measuring youths' perceptions of counseling impact: description, psychometric evaluation, and longitudinal examination of the Youth Counseling Impact Scale v.2.

The Youth Counseling Impact Scale (YCIS) is an empirically validated treatment progress measure that assesses youths' perceptions of the short term effectiveness of therapy. Since its initial publication, the original 10-item measure has been shortened to ease measurement burden and revised to include a question about a youth's insight into his or her strengths. The current study describes the development of the revised YCIS (v.

Validation and use of the Children's Hope Scale-revised PTPB edition (CHS-PTPB): high initial youth hope and elevated baseline symptomatology predict poor treatment outcomes.

The present study examined the relationship between initial youth hope, measured within the first 4 weeks of mental health treatment, and treatment progress over time (self-, caregiver-, and clinician-report of symptom severity) in a clinical sample of youth ages 11-18 years (N = 356). The psychometric properties of the CHS-PTPB, a revised version of the Children's Hope Scale, are also presented. Results indicate the CHS-PTPB is a psychometrically sound measure for use in this population.

Development and psychometric evaluation of the youth and caregiver Service Satisfaction Scale.

There is widespread need for the inclusion of service satisfaction measures in mental health services evaluation. The current paper introduces the Service Satisfaction Scale (SSS), a practical and freely available measure of global youth and adult caregiver service satisfaction. The development process, as well as results from a comprehensive psychometric evaluation in a large sample of clinically referred youth (N = 490) receiving home-based care, and their caregivers (N = 383), are presented.

Validation and use of the youth and caregiver Treatment Outcome Expectations Scale (TOES) to assess the relationships between expectations, pretreatment characteristics, and outcomes.

This study introduces the youth and caregiver versions of the Treatment Outcome Expectations Scale (TOES) and presents the results of comprehensive psychometric analyses in a large sample of clinically-referred youth (N = 291) ages 11-18 and their caregivers (N = 268). This study also examines whether expectations are predictive of early or overall treatment change as measured by changes in youth symptom severity rated by multiple respondents (youth, caregiver, and clinician). Additionally, the relationship between treatment outcome expectations and several background, pretreatment, and clinical variables is explored.

The symptoms and functioning severity scale (SFSS): psychometric evaluation and discrepancies among youth, caregiver, and clinician ratings over time.

This paper describes the development and psychometric evaluation of the symptoms and functioning severity scale (SFSS), which includes three parallel forms to systematically capture clinician, youth, and caregiver perspectives of youth symptoms on a frequent basis. While there is widespread consensus that different raters of youth psychopathology vary significantly in their assessment, this is the first paper that specifically investigated the discrepancies among clinician, youth, and caregiver ratings throughout the treatment process within a community mental health setting. Results for all three respondent versions indicated the SFSS is a psychometrically sound instrument for use in this population.

The relationship between change in therapeutic alliance ratings and improvement in youth symptom severity: whose ratings matter the most?

This paper presents the psychometric evaluation of brief measures of therapeutic alliance (TA) for youths, clinicians and caregivers and a longitudinal analysis of relationships between changes in TA and changes in youth symptom and functioning severity. Psychometric analyses using methods from Classical Test Theory, Item Response Theory, and Factor Analysis indicate that the measures of TA used in this study offer something new for both practice and research. The measures have variability, sensitivity to change over time, brevity and can be used with multiple parties through parallel forms.

Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) in caregivers of clinically-referred youth: psychometric properties and mediation analysis.

This paper presents the psychometric evaluation of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al. in J Personal Assess 49:71-75, 1985) used with a large sample (N = 610) of caregivers for youth receiving mental health services. Methods from classical test theory, factor analysis, and item response theory were utilized.

Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale-PTPB Version (BMSLSS-PTPB): psychometric properties and relationship with mental health symptom severity over time.

Youth life satisfaction is a component of subjective well-being, an important part of a strengths-based approach to treatment. This study establishes the psychometric properties of the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale-PTPB Version (BMSLSS-PTPB). The BMSLSS-PTPB showed evidence of construct validity with significant correlations as expected to measures of youth hope and youth symptom severity, and no relationship as expected to youth treatment outcome expectations.