Project History and Goals

The lack of a shared outcome measurement tool among children's mental health service providers has contributed to a system in which assessment and treatment are often uncoordinated and treatment effectiveness is seldom addressed. In the absence of a consistent set of baseline measures, there has been no uniform way of evaluating the effectiveness of particular interventions and we have no systematic information about who comes into service nor how they benefit as a result of service .

The CAFAS has been selected as Ontario's measure of service outcome and the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview (BCFPI; Cunningham, Pettingill, & Boyle, 2000) has been selected to screen for disorders at intake. The Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS; Hodges, 1997) has been selected to measure outcomes. The Community Health Systems Resource Group is under contract with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services (MCYS) to provide training and implementation support for the CAFAS tool.

BCFPI training and implementation is the responsibility of Children's Mental Health Ontario , with support from BCFPI Inc.

The BCFPI and CAFAS were selected by the MCYS in 2000, following a review of measures conducted by an independent consultant, and through consultation with the mental health research and practice communities. An independently funded pilot study was conducted with several agencies to explore the feasibility of using the CAFAS in Ontario.

The goals of the initiative are to:

1. Improve mental health practice.
2. Promote outcome management through periodic outcome assessment
3. Collect aggregate data on mental health problems and treatment outcomes for Ontario children (6-17 years) who receive children's mental health services.
4. Promote the use of evidence-based treatments for children.
5. Inform policy and system-wide practice delivery.
6. Develop communities of practice.

Some of the Benefits of Using CAFAS:

1. Ensures that all agencies are "talking the same language"
2. The client profile produced by the CAFAS software is useful for sharing with families and can be part of a therapeutic assessment
3. Use of CAFAS to monitor client progress provides a purposeful and integrated approach to case management and planning
4. Aggregate outcome data for your agency can be used to establish priorities in treatment and/or as part of a research or evaluation program
5. CAFAS focuses on strengths as well as functional deficits, thereby providing a more balanced assessment of how the child is functioning in life
6. Common use of CAFAS in Ontario provides increased opportunity for interaction among service providers and, thus, a more integrated approach to service delivery