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Where Does It Begin? Community-Based Therapists’ Intentions for Treating Non-comorbid Youth

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Abstract

This study examined patterns and predictors of 79 public sector therapists’ practice element (PE) intentions for treating hypothetical single problem area youth with either anxiety or disruptive behavior problems. Analyses of intention profiles suggested that PE intentions varied by diagnosis and included both a majority of practices derived from the evidence base (PDEBs) and a large number of practices with minimal evidence support (PMESs) for each problem area. Hierarchical multiple regression results indicated the only significant predictor of higher PDEB intentions for both problem areas was reporting more PMES intentions. Implications for community-based research and implementation efforts are discussed.

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Notes

  1. With regards to the nested nature of this data (i.e., therapists nested within agencies), the authors unfortunately could not statistically account for this in the main analyses described below. Specifically, there was a wide range of therapist participants recruited from each agency, ranging from only two participants at some agencies to up to 15 at others, making it difficult to truly compare group differences. To statistically explore this, however, we ran an ANOVA on the major dependent variable (i.e., PDEB score) for the ANX and DBP scenarios between the 11 agencies and both ANOVAs were nonsignificant.

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Acknowledgements

This research team would like to acknowledge Drs. Charles W. Mueller and David Cicero for their participation in the design and review of this study. Additionally, this study would not have been possible without the support from the staff and contracted providers with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division of the State of Hawai’i Department of Health and the help of the expert team of faculty, graduate students, and research assistants working in our lab.

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Department of Psychology’s Gartley Graduate Student Research Award awarded to Kaitlin A. Hill.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Kaitlin A. Hill, Albert C. Mah & Brad J. Nakamura

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Sakamaki Hall C400, 2530 Dole Street, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Kaitlin A. Hill

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  1. Kaitlin A. Hill
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Correspondence to Kaitlin A. Hill.

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APA ethical standards were followed in the conduct of this study.

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All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Hill, K.A., Mah, A.C. & Nakamura, B.J. Where Does It Begin? Community-Based Therapists’ Intentions for Treating Non-comorbid Youth. Adm Policy Ment Health 48, 106–120 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-020-01051-0

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