ADHS: Division of Behavioral Health Services: Cultural Competence

Division Home Page En Español

Division of Behavioral Health Services

ADHS and the T/RBHAs are currently building the capacity of the children's behavioral health system to serve all children and their families in accordance with the 12 Arizona Principles. The following information provides a picture of some aspects of the system as ADHS progresses towards meeting its goals.

Structural Elements
The Structural Elements are a series of quality management reports that are utilized to measure growth within the children’s behavioral health system. The reports cover a 12 month period in quarterly time intervals, to compare change over time. The structural elements data is collected from the T/RBHAs monthly and the reports are created and published quarterly; in January, April, July, and October. The structural elements information is displayed by T/RBHA and on a statewide basis including all T/RBHAs.

The structural elements reports include:

Functional Outcomes
ADHS determined that every T/RBHA-Enrolled TXIX child’s success will be measured utilizing 6 important functional outcome categories which are specifically identified in the Arizona Vision.

For children 5 through 17 years of age these outcomes include:

avoiding delinquency;
achieving success in school;
becoming stable and productive adults;
increased stability;
decrease in safety risks; and
living with family.

For children birth (0) through 4 years of age these outcomes include:

living with family
acceptable emotional regulation;
readiness to learn;
environmental exploration and adaptation;
appropriate level of parent-child interaction; and
improving family stress level.

The first time a child’s status is determined relative to these 6 outcome measures, a baseline is established from which to measure future progress. On a newly enrolled child, baseline indicators will be discovered within 45 days from intake (i.e. within the initial behavioral health intake/assessment process). The Child and Family Team (CFT), case manager, or clinician will then follow this process every 6 months. Each time this process occurs, the CFT and/or case manager should only consider the previous 6 months in making and reporting these outcome determinations.

Demographic Functional Outcomes (Age Bands 0-4, 5-11, and 12-17)
The demographic functional outcomes are divided into 3 age bands: 0 through 4, 5 through 11, and 12 through 17, they are reported according to whether the child has a functioning Child and Family Team. The charts indicate the statewide numbers and percentages of yes answers (the child has shown improvement in that particular outcome) for each of the 6 functional outcome measures.