NCJ Number
237273
Date Published
2009
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This report presents the results of an evaluation of the Ohio Department of Mental Health's TARGET program.
Abstract
Findings from the evaluation of the Ohio Department of Mental Health's TARGET program show that youths in the TARGET program were subjected to a decreased use of physical response and seclusion in response to menacing behavior compared to youths who received treatment as usual for their behavior problems. In addition, youths in the TARGET program showed significant improvements in measure of hopefulness and service satisfaction, and levels of depression compared to youths who received treatment as usual. The report presents the results of an evaluation of the Ohio Department of Mental Health's TARGET program. TARGET is a psycho-education program that aims to reduce the impact of trauma on youths and to increase adolescent well-being. Data for the evaluation were obtained from 74 children and adolescents, aged 11-19 years old, who reside in 1 of 5 mental health units at facilities operated by the Ohio Department of Youth Services. The youths have been referred to the program for treatment of severe mental health and behavior problems. A repeated measure analysis was conducted to examine the effect of treatment on youths in the TARGET program compared with youths who received treatment as usual. The two treatment methods were evaluated for their effect on a number of resiliency and psychiatric measures such as problem severity, hopefulness, functioning, PTSD, depression, and anxiety. The findings suggest that the TARGET program is more effective at producing improvements in perceived hope and optimism, depression, and service satisfaction than the methods used in treatment as usual. Graphs and tables