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Availability, Responsiveness, and Continuity (ARC)

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

ARC is an organizational change strategy for child welfare and mental health agencies. Through a 2- to 3-year process, ARC is designed to improve organizational culture and climate, increase job satisfaction and commitment, support the adoption and success of evidence-based practices (EBPs), reduce staff turnover, and improve clients’ outcomes. ARC uses three strategies and the support of an external change agent called the ARC specialist to do this: The first ARC strategy embeds five principles of service system effectiveness that focus organizations’ priority setting. The second ARC strategy promotes shared mental models among front-line staff and administrators that support service innovation. The third ARC strategy uses organizational component tools to identify and address barriers to service improvement and effectiveness.

Goal / Mission

Through a 2- to 3-year process, ARC is designed to improve organizational culture and climate, increase job satisfaction and commitment, support the adoption and success of evidence-based practices (EBPs), reduce staff turnover, and improve clients’ outcomes.

Results / Accomplishments

Results indicate that the ARC organizational intervention reduced the probability of caseworker turnover by two-thirds and improved organizational climate by reducing role conflict, role overload, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization in both urban and rural case management team

About this Promising Practice

Primary Contact
Charles Glisson, Professor Emeritus
Center for Behavioral Health Research, College of Social Work, College of Social Work, University of Tennessee
213 Henson Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996-3332
(865) 974-9143
cglisson@utk.edu
https://cbhr.utk.edu/faculty/
Topics
Community / Social Environment
Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders
Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education
Source
Center for Behavioral Health Research, College of Social Work, University of Tennessee
Date of publication
2006
For more details
https://cbhr.utk.edu/organizational-research/
https://www.cebc4cw.org/program/availability-respo...
Target Audience
Children

Related Content for: Availability, Responsiveness, and Continuity (ARC)

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.