Family Involvement and Changes in Child Behavior During Residential Mental Health Treatment

Abstract

Family involvement is viewed as an important component of the treatment process for youth in residential treatment centers. Administrative data were used to examine the association between family involvement and youth outcomes for a Medicaid-funded residential treatment program in Florida. For this analysis, the sample was divided into two groups based on the number of family contacts per month during the treatment episode; i.e., number of family contacts equal to or less than the median and number of family contacts greater than the median. Results suggest that maternal and paternal contacts were associated with greater improvements in youth functioning, as were the total number of family contacts. Differences between in-person and telephone intervention contacts based on the proximity of the family residence to the program were also explored. Youth that resided in a different county than the residential program had greater improvement in behaviors when the family was involved regardless of whether contact was in-person or over the phone.

Keywords: children's mental health, residential treatment, family involvement, treatment outcomes

JEL Classification: I0