Abstract
Achieving coherence and integration across staff professional development activities is facilitated when training, coaching and staff evaluation are guided by a clearly articulated program theory or “theory of change” that describes how skillful practice promotes desired outcomes. We focus on a theory of change for wraparound, a widely implemented approach to providing community-based care for children with high levels of mental health and related needs. Training, coaching and staff evaluation efforts within wraparound programs have typically been linked only very loosely to theory. We argue that wraparound’s unique history allowed it to evolve with limited theoretical grounding, and we then describe a theory of change for wraparound, focusing on the major causal routes that are hypothesized to lead to outcomes. Finally, we provide an extended illustration of how the theory can provide the basis for a coherent and integrated approach to developing the skills and capacities of staff members playing key roles in wraparound implementation.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by funding from the Center for Mental Health Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States Department of Health and Human Services. The authors would like to acknowledge the key contributions of external experts Pat Miles, Mary Jo Meyers, and Toni Issadore and Innovations Institute staff Kim Estep, Madge Mosby, Kendra Quinn Ward, and Michelle Zabel to the work of conceptualizing and defining the skill sets and the workforce development approach described in this article.
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Walker, J.S., Matarese, M. Using a Theory of Change to Drive Human Resource Development for Wraparound. J Child Fam Stud 20, 791–803 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-011-9532-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-011-9532-6