Peer-reviewed article
Are We Meeting Best Practice Standards?: A Longitudinal Analysis of Mental Health Practices Within the Florida Child Welfare System with Implications for Child Well-being
Daniel J. Dunleavy ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examines whether Florida's child welfare system follows best practice standards for children's mental health care. Researchers analyzed Medicaid data from children with mental health diagnoses to evaluate the type and frequency of services provided and adherence to Florida's Psychotherapeutic Medication Treatment Guidelines. The research aims to identify whether some children receive too much or too little treatment based on their characteristics.
Key points
- Study analyzes 12-month Medicaid data from a random sample of children on Medicaid with mental health diagnoses
- Evaluates adherence to Florida's Psychotherapeutic Medication Treatment Guidelines in practice
- Examines sociodemographic factors that may predict undertreatment or overtreatment
- Focuses specifically on children in the child welfare system as a subgroup of interest
- Uses multinomial logistic regression to analyze congruence with established standards
Limitations
This document is a study proposal or protocol rather than completed research with findings; it does not present any results or evidence of outcomes for children. The limitations of the actual study cannot be assessed without the full results and methodology sections.
Abstract
Best practice standards are one method by which medical providers ensure effective care, thus promoting well-being. Though formal guidelines have been recently implemented to direct and standardize children’s mental healthcare in Florida, little research has evaluated the extent to which they are executed in practice. This study aims to fill this gap by analyzing Florida Medicaid data. Individual-level data will be collected from a 12-month period from a random sample of children, on Medicaid, with a mental health diagnosis; to: 1) Describe the type and frequency of mental health services provided to this sample, including to those in the child welfare system; 2) Evaluate the extent to which Florida’s Psychotherapeutic Medication Treatment Guidelines are adhered to; and 3) Analyze sociodemographic characteristics, to determine if there are predictive factors which account for undertreatment/overtreatment. Data will be coded for https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4161-0126congruence with these standards and analyzed using multinomial logistic regression