ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a study of the effectiveness of outpatient treatment in a community sample of 9- to 16-year-olds. Most controlled treatment trials take place in resource-rich, university-based settings and involve highly selected, often non-referred subjects who are willing to be randomized and who have relatively homogeneous histories. In the real world, multiproblem children in poorly resourced environments receive relatively individualized treatment packages that may be driven more by the realities of therapist scheduling, family willingness and ability to participate, and insurance coverage than they are by the niceties of adherence to a prespecified treatment protocol. The chapter tackles the problem using data from a community study in which repeated assessments permit us to take a nontraditional approach to examining the effectiveness of treatment.
