Speaker: Dr. Laura Mills, Pine River Institute
Director, Research & Evaluation
Project Coordinator of Evaluation Plan for Youth Care

Title: Quantitative Methodology meets Real World Clinical Practice

Abstract: Some QM psychologists graduate and enter academia or data-rich environments such as marketing research where novel methodology and advanced statistics are celebrated.In my area of youth addiction treatment, however, protocols for conducting even basic evaluation are uncommon, and if they do exist, are driven by external funding mandates. Specifically, treatment agencies are mandated to collect data about how many people are served for how long, and whether those people re-enter the system. Fundamentally, these data are about cost. They have little to say about the health outcomes of the young people we serve. Pine River Institute (PRI) stood apart from these mandates. Since inception in 2006, PRI collected information about the health and behaviour outcomes of their teenage clients and respective families. Our efforts at treatment excellence and research dedication have garnered us a reputation as the ‘Cadillac’ of youth addiction treatment in Canada.

During our session, we will dialogue about the challenges and solutions of small agency research and evaluation protocol. Specifically, we will discuss issues around data management, small sample sizes, missing data, respondent bias, treatment fidelity, and proximity to quantitative methodology. We will also discuss how this agency became a ‘small but mighty’ force in Ontario by leading a province-wide project to develop a common evaluation plan for youth addiction agencies. This project involves cross-agency collaboration, new agency relationship nurturance, grant acquisition, and most importantly, making evaluation attractive to front-line workers.