The teaching-family model: Research and dissemination in a service program

The Teaching-Family Model serves as an example of how research can be used as feedback to change a residential treatment program for youths. Further, research can serve to modify training and evaluation of the program as well. The feedback loop established by continual research and evaluation serves to improve program quality, thus facilitating dissemination as the model is adopted by more agencies.From 1967 to 1980, the Teaching-Family Model expanded from one group home in Kansas to more than 150 homes across the United States. Through both successes and failures, proponents of the Teaching-Family Model learned that research and evaluation can and must be a part of the treatment delivery system rather than an occasional adjunct.