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Performance of Mental Health Counselors in Integrated Primary and Behavioral Health Care
Author(s) -
Ulupinar Dogukan,
Zalaquett Carlos,
Kim So Rin,
Kulikowich Jonna M.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of counseling and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1556-6676
pISSN - 0748-9633
DOI - 10.1002/jcad.12352
Subject(s) - mental health , dropout (neural networks) , psychology , mental health service , primary care , test (biology) , nursing , medicine , family medicine , psychiatry , paleontology , machine learning , computer science , biology
Integrated primary and behavioral health care (IPBH) is becoming a preferred mode of service delivery in the United States. Integrated care includes the participation of medical and mental health professionals, such as mental health counselors. The clinical outcomes of these professionals need to be studied to determine their effectiveness in such settings. We examined the performance of 10 mental health counselors on the clinical outcome of 1,747 clients treated in an IPBH center. Analyses using growth curve modeling and pre‐post test design revealed that mental health counselors were effective overall, but they differed in client dropout rates and efficiency in reducing clients' initial symptoms. We used the analyses to rank order counselors based on their effectiveness. Counselors who were the most effective varied in their efficiency but demonstrated the lowest client dropout rates. Implications for future research and counseling practice were discussed.