Developing Measurement-Based Care for Youth in an Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic: The Penn State Psychiatry Clinical Assessment and Rating Evaluation System for Youth (PCARES-Youth)

Measurement-based care (MBC) is an evidence-based approach to improving outcomes of mental health services. There is considerable interest in implementing it in clinical practice settings. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the pragmatics of developing and implementing MBC in youth mental health. This paper describes one effort to accomplish this goal. After a brief discussion of the advantages of MBC, the process, and initial implementation of the Penn State Psychiatry Clinical Assessment and Rating Evaluation System for Youth (PCARES-Youth) is described. Results of a pilot project of PCARES-Youth are presented, including a survey of clinicians about their experiences with the initiative. Finally, lessons learned and next steps of the project are discussed.