Model

Establishing a service model.

Having considered both your local context and the outcomes you are hoping will be achieved, it’s time to look at the service model or intervention you are considering implementing or adapting for the unique context of your local community.

The discussions exploring this tier may take more than one meeting. Perhaps a service model has already been implemented but you would like to review this to ensure it is fit for your community context.

• What elements are integral to the integrity of the service model and therefore need to remain stable?
• Are there elements which require adaptation to suit your local context, and if so are those element flexible? Is there anything missing that might need to be added to meet the needs of your community?

The research that informed the CASCADeS Framework identified 43 elements important to consider when reviewing a specialist CFH service model fit for local context. These elements can be used to consider aspects of the potential service model (or one previously implemented), to identify whether adaptations are needed in order to achieve the expected outcomes your group developed in Tier 2 — Outcomes Expected.

While 43 sounds like a lot, the participants in the research (which included parents, clinicians, service managers, academics/researchers, and government agency representatives) indicated that all were important to consider. To facilitate this step, the elements are provided in the Resource Toolkit as a checklist of the elements to be considered.

Check it out.

As per Tier 2, you may wish to complete the checklist as individuals and then use your completed checklist as a reference point for discussion with the rest of the group. Coming to collective agreement about the importance and relevance of the elements of the service model for your community, and identifying those that may need be to adapted in some way, is a key focus of this tier of the CASCADeS Framework.

As you complete the checklist for this tier in the CASCADeS Resource Toolkit, consider whether the element presented is reflected in the proposed Service Model. Is the element present but in a form that needs to be adapted to be relevant and effectively implemented in your local community to address the needs of children and their families? There is a section to include some comments to use as prompts when you meet again with the group as a whole, or you may wish to journal these separately to refer to.

Keep the momentum.

The accompanying checklist for completing this tier can be found in the Resource Toolkit. When you’re ready, you can move forward with Tier 4 of the CASCADeS framework — Evaluation and Reflection.