Facilitating mechanisms for integrating care to promote health equity across the life course: reflections from social work trainees.

Integrated care is a promising practice to promote health equity and improve population health across the life course, but the mechanisms needed to integrate services remain nebulous. This study aimed to identify the components required to achieve a fully integrated health care system as articulated by social work trainees. The authors conducted five focus groups (N = 20). Transcripts were analyzed using structural and pattern coding. Three primary themes emerged: Organizational Structure and Support, Personal and Interpersonal Dynamics, and Practitioner Knowledge. Results from this study can inform the process of integration and has implications for social work education.

Social Worker Integrated Care Competencies Scale (SWICCS): Assessing social worker clinical competencies for health care settings.

Integrating physical and behavioral health services has the potential to reduce health disparities and service inequities among persons most at risk. However, clinical social workers in integrated health settings must possess relevant knowledge and skills to provide quality care to diverse populations. The Social Worker Integrated Care Competency Scale (SWICCS), developed to complement the Integrated and Culturally Relevant Care (ICRC) field education curriculum, measures students' self-perceptions of knowledge and skills associated with providing behavioral health care. Three student cohorts (n = 38) completed the SWICCS three times during an integrated care field practicum. Results indicated a statistically significant increase in student knowledge and skills at each time point, with a large effect size (r = -.87). The SWICCS demonstrated utility in measuring and tracking social work student acquisition of knowledge and skills required for practice in integrated care environments.

Integrated and Culturally Relevant Care: A Model to Prepare Social Workers for Primary Care Behavioral Health Practice.

Policymakers and researchers emphasize needs for an integrated, effective, and efficient health care system to address well-documented disparities and inequities in care experienced by diverse populations. The Affordable Care Act, through its support of integrated health care, addresses social determinants of health with a goal of increasing access to care. Social work is poised to assume a central position in health care reform and integrated behavioral health, but must prepare practitioners to work alongside medical providers in health care settings. This article describes a social work field education model developed in partnership with community mental health and health care providers. The model, Integrated and Culturally Relevant Care, prepares social work students to provide behavioral health services in integrated primary care environments.

Measuring Family Caregiver Perceptions of Support in Caring for Children and Youth With Mental Health Concerns.

This correlational study assessed how families of children with mental illness perceived the levels of support they received from informal and formal resource providers and the associations between perceived support and child outcomes. Adult caregivers (N = 904) of youth receiving public mental health care services were administered the Family Caregiver Perceptions of Support Scale developed by the authors to assess family caregiver perceptions of support prior to and at termination of services. Factor analysis identified three types of caregiver anticipated supports: informal support resources, support for treatment plan influence, and health care resources. The domains were significantly and positively associated with one another but did not uniformly correlate with youth mental health outcomes. The study provides preliminary evidence that treatment gains in youth mental health outcomes are observed when caregivers perceive support in treatment processes. Suggestions for future research are made, stressing the importance of caregivers and providers working together and describing needs related to future scale improvements.

Parent advocates in children's mental health: program implementation processes and considerations.

Children's mental health service systems are increasingly utilizing peer support services to support families experiencing serious child mental illness. The literature provides few detailed accounts of such peer-based approaches. This study qualitatively examined the approaches and processes of "parent advocate" programs implemented in two Ohio counties for children served through publicly funded mental health services. Descriptions of each county's program, the background and roles of parent advocates, reasons families decline advocate services, and challenges to advocates' work with families are provided. Implications for the field in developing clear and effective administrative and practice structures for peer support services are discussed.