Child STEPS for Youth Mental Health in Maine Sustainability

Child STEPS for Youth Mental Health in Maine: Sustainability of MATCH in the Public Sector

The overarching goal of this project is to study the sustainability of MATCH-ADTC within community mental health clinics, to learn what is needed for evidence-based practices (EBPs) to take root and thrive within a public system.

In this project, the investigators are randomizing children to Wave 1 (previously MATCH trained) or Wave 2 (newly MATCH trained) and using a clinical monitoring system (TRAC) to measure youth outcomes over time. Participating therapists receive weekly MATCH consultation provided by the Judge Baker Children's Center/Harvard University research team or by Maine clinic supervisors who are MATCH Associate Consultants. The investigators are also developing and testing new low-cost measures of MATCH treatment and consultation fidelity to explore the feasibility of more sustainable measures of MATCH adherence. Study data will be used to answer questions about the sustainability of MATCH in the public sector.

Inclusion Criteria:

• 6 - 15 year old child and their caregivers
• seeking services at community mental health clinics
• primary problem or disorder related to anxiety, traumatic stress, depression, or conduct problems, or any combination of the four problems

Exclusion Criteria:

• child is younger than 6 years or older than 15 years on the day of the phone screen.
• child has attempted suicide within the past year.
• Schizophrenic spectrum disorder (including MDD with psychotic features)
• Autism or another Pervasive Developmental Disorder (E.g., PDD NOS, Asperger's Disorder, Child Disintegration Disorder, Rett's Disorder)
• Anorexia Nervosa
• Bulimia Nervosa
• Mental Retardation
• no relevant T-scores validate target disorders
• ADHD identified as primary reason for seeking treatment at phone screen
• child's medication has not been regulated for one month or longer