Decision Support 2000+
Report on Fidelity Measures for Evidence-
Based Practices
June 2006
Decision Support 2000+
Report on Fidelity Measures for Evidence-Based Practices
Prepared by
Tom Trabin, Ph.D., M.S.M.
Sarah L. Minden, M.D.
EBP Technical Expert Workgroup
DS2000+ Team
June 2006
Decision Support 2000+
Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Component
June 2006
1
Introduction
Treatment technologies for specific mental and substance use conditions have advanced
dramatically in recent years, as have the technologies to measure their effectiveness. With these
advances have come an emerging evidence base of selected treatments that work best for
consumers with specific conditions. This development has profound implications for policy
initiatives.
The 2005 Institute of Medicine report Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and
Substance Use Conditions differentiated between variations in care that are “appropriate and
therapeutic” versus those variations that diverge from established best practices for unwarranted
reasons that could lead to deficient and at times harmful care. The report called for the
Department of Health and Human Services and its branches to “substantially expand efforts to
attain widespread adoption of evidence-based practices…” and for clinicians and organizational
providers to “use measures of the processes and outcomes of care to continuously improve the
quality of the care they provide.”
SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) initiated a multi-year program to
encourage widespread adoption of evidence-based practices and multiple measures to evaluate
the fidelity and effectiveness of their implementation. Six evidence-based practices were
initially targeted for attention, and Toolkits were developed to facilitate training for their
widespread adoption. The Toolkits were widely disseminated, and grants were given to states
for implementation and evaluation. Additional toolkits are under development