Implementing Mental Health Services for Children and Adolescents: Caregiver Involvement in School-Based Care

This study compared clinician contact with clients’ caregivers by service setting, specifically schools, which are the most common service setting for youths.

Data were from a state-funded cognitive-behavioral therapy training initiative. Clinicians (N=177) completed pretraining and postconsultation surveys including retrospective reports of caregiver contact and amount of school-based practice.

School-based clinicians were less likely than non–school-based clinicians to report any contact with caregivers. Full-time school-based clinicians were less likely than part-time school-based clinicians to report any contact with caregivers. School-based clinicians also were less likely than clinicians in other settings to have in-person contact with caregivers, and full-time school-based clinicians were less likely than part-time school-based clinicians to report in-person contact with caregivers.

Given the inherent advantages of school-based treatment, integration of mental health services for youths in schools is increasingly supported by funding and policy. The findings of this study suggest, however, that investing in strategies to engage caregivers in such treatment may be worthwhile.