RE: individualized treatment - Ft. Bragg

[Dale Fitch <dalef@xxxxxxxxxx>]

What about a qualitative approach as opposed to a quantitative approach? 
Granted some variables may not be suitable for operationalization from a 
quantitative perspective, but if one were to talk with the program 
personnel, observe daily interactions for a period of time, interview 
clients, analyze documents, examine case records, etc., my guess is that 
the variables would operationalize themselves from a qualitative 
perspective that would yield a tremendous amount of empirical data.
Dale Fitch
University of Texas - Arlington

-----Original Message-----
From:	Julie Rosof [SMTP:julie.e.rosof@vanderbilt.edu]
Sent:	Wednesday, September 20, 2000 3:14 PM
To:	Child Maltreatment Researchers
Subject:	RE: individualized treatment - Ft. Bragg

I am not a regular on this list but one of my students passed this on to 
me.
Individualized care was a key component of the continuum.  But if what
Jennifer mean about "exactly being measured in the continuum" refers to the
amount or quality of individualized care she hit the nail on the head.  We
did not know how to operationalized or measure the concept very well, in
fact not well at all.  The key problem from my perspective is that the
program developers and implementers did not provide any guidance to the
evaluators about the construct.  Several years later I am afraid that
neither the field nor I have made much progress in the measurement area. 
 So
if any of you have an idea about how to measure the amount and quality of
individualized services I would appreciate learning about it. Given this
state of knowledge I don't believe that we can say much about whether these
services make a difference.
____________________________________
Len Bickman
Director
Center for Mental Health Policy
Vanderbilt University
1207 18th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37212
phone (615) 322-8694
Fax (615) 322-7049
E-Fax (815) 461-6761
bickman@attglobal.net
or bickman@home.net

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/VIPPS/CMHP/cmhphome.html


Certainly the Ft. Bragg studies and ensuing debate by Len Bickman and
colleagues address this issue fom one perspective
(continuum of care vs. care as usual).  (Bickman et al. didn't find any
differences in the 2 groups in outcomes, but there was much debate in the
field about what exactly was being measured in the continuum of care).

- Jennifer Taub


On Tue, 19 Sep 2000, Glenn Higgins wrote:

> I am looking for published studies that investigate
> the benefits of individualized treatment in child
> welfare.  Practice wisdom would have one believe that
> highly individualized services are better for
> clients....has anyone studied this?  Any help would be
> appreciated.
>
> Glenn Higgins
> Youth Programs International
>
>
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