Jennifer Taub, PhD¹, Kim Smith, MA², and Christina Breault¹. (1) Center for Mental Health Services Research, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Ave North, Department of Psychiatry, Worcester, MA 01655, 508-856-3522, Jennifer.Taub@umassmed.edu, (2) Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Ave North, Worcester, MA 01655

The Coordinated Family Focused Care (CFFC) initiative aims to coordinate the care of children and adolescents who are at risk of out-of-home due to serious emotional disturbance. The program builds on family strengths and available support systems to help children remain in or return to the community. This initiative is sponsored and funded by all of the child-serving public agencies in Massachusetts. It is open to children who are Medicaid eligible, between 3 – 18 year old, and present significant functional impairment in school, at home and in the community. The services take a “team” approach and strive to involve caregivers as primary decision makers in their children’s treatment. This presentation will focus on the relationships between parental stress at intake, change in parental stress from intake to 6 months, and parental participation in services. To assess parental stress, the Parental Stress Index (PSI-Short Form) is given to parents of children ages 11 and younger, and the Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents (SIPA) is given to parents of children ages 12 and older. Information is collected at intake and 6 months. To assess parental participation in services, the Family Participation Measure (a 7-item scale assessing how much parents feel they are participating members of their child’s treatment) and the Wraparound Fidelity Index (WFI) are administered via a telephone interview 3 months after the start of service. The Voice and Choice, Individualized and Strength-Based Services, and Collaboration subscales of the WFI are related to parental perceptions of participation in services.

Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to

• Understand the principles of family-focused Wraparound treatment.
• Recognize the aspects of service that foster family participation
• Understand the relationship between caregiver stress and caregiver participation in services for their children with SED.

Keywords: Family Involvement, Mental Health Services

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership Univ. Of Massachusetts Med School Massachusetts Dept. of Health and Human Services
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.