title: Characterizing the Quality Workforce in Private U.S. Child and Family Behavioral Health Agencies.
abstract: Behavioral health agencies have been encouraged to monitor performance and improve service quality. This paper characterizes the workforce charged with these tasks through a national survey of 238 behavioral health quality professionals. A latent class analysis suggests only 30 % of these workers report skills in both basic research and quality-specific skills. Respondents wanted to learn a variety of research and data analytic skills. The results call into question the quality of data collected in behavioral health agencies and the conclusions agencies are drawing from their data. Professional school and continuing education programs are needed to prepare this workforce.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago, 969 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL, 60660, USA. cmcmillen@uchicago.edu.
authors.forename: J Curtis
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: McMillen
authors.affiliation: Connance, 200 West Street, Waltham, MA, 02451, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raffol
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D004517:Education, Professional; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D008875:Middle Aged; D058996:Quality Improvement; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D013192:Staff Development; D014481:United States
keywords: Performance measurement; Performance monitoring; Quality improvement; Workforce development