Date of Conferral

2016

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Alethea Baker

Abstract

Additional out-of-home placement rates for adolescents in long-term regional treatment center (LTRT) programs in the United States are between 50% and 75%. There appears to be a failure to generalize treatment to home and community in programs that do not fully integrate family involvement. The collaborative intensive bridging services (CIBS) treatment model uses intensive family therapy and brief residential treatment center (RTC) placement to reduce or eliminate use of LTRT. Using family systems theory, the purpose of this study was to determine whether participation in CIBS provided better outcomes than LTRT programs. The study used archival data collected by Family Adolescents and Children's Family Services, Inc. and children's mental health providers in a certain Minnesota county over approximately 5 years. There were 33 adolescents in the CIBS group and 33 in the LTRT group. The 3 research questions were (1) did the CIBS group have significantly fewer total out-of-home placements than the LTRT group, (2) did gender have any effect on this, and (3) were there any interaction effects on total out-of-home placement days from the combination of gender and program participation. Results of two-way ANOVA analyses showed a significant main effect for the first research question (p = .00, partial ɳ-² = .40), no significant main effect for the second (p = .46, partial ɳ-² = .01), and no significant main effect for the third (p = .15, partial ɳ-² = .03). These findings supported the position that participation in CIBS treatment resulted in statistically fewer total out-of-home placement days (TPD) than participation in LTRT. Social change implications include improved individual and family functioning for families in need as well as reduced financial expenditure for treatment.

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