Overcoming challenges in outcome evaluations of school mental health programs

Significant growth and improvement of school mental health programs has occ urred in recent years. However, evaluation of outcomes for children receivi ng these services is needed to provide accountability data and ensure the s ustainability of these programs. When designing studies, evaluators must ov ercome several challenges that may threaten the validity of their conclusio ns. In this paper, threats or challenges to the internal and external valid ity of results from evaluation studies are reviewed. Suggestions are provid ed for overcoming these challenges, in order to encourage future evaluation activities in this developing field and to document the impact of services for services for youth and their families.