Closing the research to practice gap in children's mental health: structures, solutions, and strategies.
Failure to apply research on effective interventions spans all areas of medicine, including children's mental health services. This article examines the policy, structural, and economic problems in which this gap originates. We identify four steps to close this gap. First, the field should develop scientific measures of the research-practice gap. Second, payors should link incentives to outcomes-based performance measures. Third, providers and others should develop improved understanding and application of effective dissemination and business models. Fourth, efforts to link EBP to clinical practice should span patient/consumers, providers, practices, plans, and purchasers. The paper discusses each of these in turn and relates them to fundamental problems of service delivery.
Jensen
Peter S
PS
The REACH Institute, 708 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA. PeterJensen@TheReachInstitute.org
Foster
Michael
M
D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000458:organization & administration; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D012052:Reimbursement, Incentive / Q000458:organization & administration; D014481:United States