# Examining the Potential of Shared Decision Making to Improve the Effectiveness of Youth Mental Health Treatment in Community Mental Health Centers

> **NIH NIH F31** · VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $38,734

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Up to one third of American youth struggle with a mental health (MH) disorder, which are associated with
negative short- and long-term outcomes. Fortunately, evidence-based programs (EBPs) have demonstrated
positive effects for youth MH disorders in clinical trials. However, the effectiveness of these EBPs in community
MH centers (CMHCs), where most youth receive MH services, has been disappointing. Thus, improving the
effectiveness of EBPs for youth in CMHCs is critical to health outcomes for these youth. One method by which
clinicians can potentially achieve this goal is by implementing shared decision making (SDM) practices in
conjunction with EBPs. SDM is a process by which clinicians and clients collaboratively make treatment
decisions. Evidence from the medical and adult MH treatment fields suggests that SDM can improve the
patient-provider relationship as well as improve clinical outcomes. By implementing SDM practices (e.g.,
discussing treatment options with youth and caregivers), clinicians may be better suited to adapt EBPs to fit
client preferences, ideals, and cultural values. However, SDM in youth MH treatment is understudied, and thus
clinicians may not know the ideal methods for implementing SDM practices with their youth clients. A critical
gap this field is the paucity of measures designed to assess SDM practices in youth MH treatment. This project
fills this gap with a reliable and valid observer-rated measure of SDM practices designed for youth MH
treatment (i.e., the Shared Decision Making in Youth Mental Health Treatment Scale or SDM-YMH) and thus
addresses NIMH’s research Objective 4.1 by contributing to research aimed at improving the effectiveness of
EBPs in CMHCs. This project’s overarching goal will be addressed via two specific aims: 1) develop and
evaluate the initial reliability and validity of SDM-YMH item and subscale scores, and 2) examine the predictive
validity of SDM-YMH subscale scores. These aims will be realized by the secondary analysis of therapy tapes
recorded as part of an effectiveness trial as well as accompanying treatment integrity and alliance data. The 38
youth participants (52.6% male, 60.5% White) in these therapy sessions ranged in age from 8 to 13 years old
(M = 9.84, SD = 1.65). The SDM-YMH will be developed and evaluated via an iterative process: 1) SDM
literature review, 2) generation of items, with the incorporation of expert consensus, 3) pilot coding and
generation of an accompanying SDM-YMH coding manual, 4) training of coders, 5) coding of treatment
sessions, and 6) examination of interrater reliability, construct validity, and predictive validity. This project will
result in a new observer-rated measure of SDM practices specific to youth MH treatment, thereby filling a
critical gap in the literature. It is expected that study findings will help inform future research regarding the
development and evaluation of clinician practices that can increase the effectiveness of EB...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10466055
- **Project number:** 1F31MH127924-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jennifer Lynn Cecilione Herbst
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $38,734
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-05-16 → 2024-05-15

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10466055

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10466055, Examining the Potential of Shared Decision Making to Improve the Effectiveness of Youth Mental Health Treatment in Community Mental Health Centers (1F31MH127924-01A1). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/10466055. Licensed CC0.

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