This final report details the authors’ partnership with El Futuro leadership in their efforts to address the challenges surrounding access for victims of crime to mental health treatment and services.
This final report describes the results of the Phase 1 Programs and Services for Victims of Crime Phased Evaluation Research work, which included the development of a logic model to guide telehealth programming, an evaluability assessment of existing telehealth services, and a pilot test of initial implementation to capture necessary components needed for future fidelity assessment of these telehealth services as part of a potential four-phase evaluation. The telemental health programming that the research team focused on was the hybrid approach to service delivery by a community-based organization in North Carolina called El Futuro, whose hybrid model of telemental health services combines methods of telehealth and in-person treatment with an array of service components including psychotherapy, psychiatric services, and case management for a range of victims of crime (VOCs). The authors worked together with El Futuro leadership to create a new logic model. While utilizing aspects of El Futuro’s pre-existing model, the researchers assessed the intended impact of the telehealth program and designated each outcome according to the immediacy of effects. For Phase 1, the researchers’ focus was on assessing and directly addressing several challenges around access to services faced by VOCs, including cultural restrictions, technical challenges, clinical factors such as treatment confidentiality, and the fact that telehealth can hamper the therapeutic alliance in which clinicians aim to build rapport with clients. Results from the authors’ evaluability assessment showed that the TeleFuturo program contained treatment components required for a successful telehealth intervention and for a range of VOCs, they also concluded that TeleFuturo achieved feasibility and evaluability as well as decreases in client symptoms across diagnoses and positive results around client satisfaction with services.