A Practical Guide for Implementing Evidence-Based Assessment in a Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility: Translating Theory Into Practice

This article provides specific and practical guidelines for how to set up and implement an assessment protocol in a psychiatric residential treatment facility (PRTF) setting for the purposes of informing administrators and therapists of their residents' current and changing mental health status throughout the course of treatment. The assessment protocol we propose and recommend is (a) based on empirically supported research, (b) relatively inexpensive, (c) easy to administer, and (d) provides easily interpretable information to therapists. This protocol was also well-implemented at a child and adolescent PRTF located in the southern region of the United States (N = 254) and was well-received by staff therapists (N = 6). The current article may be used as a “How-To” guide for implementing an evidence-based assessment protocol in PRTFs to translate theory into practice.