Understanding a Care Management System's Role in Influencing a Transitional-Aged Youth Program's Practice: Mixed...

Area of Science:

• Social Work
• Health Informatics
• Public Health

Background:

• Extended foster care programs aim to equip transitional-aged youth (TAY) for independent adulthood.
• Aspiranet, a major California social service organization, implemented a social care management solution (SCMS) to support TAY.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of the IBM Watson Care Manager (WCM) SCMS on foster care service delivery.
• To assess improvements in TAY outcomes following SCMS implementation.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods approach combining qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (system data) analysis.
• Thematic analysis of 6 stakeholder interviews and descriptive analysis of aggregated outcome metrics from 2014-2021.
• Comparison of pre- (before Oct 2016) and post- (Oct 2016-Mar 2021) SCMS implementation periods.

Main Results:

• The SCMS met user expectations for streamlining tasks and adopting functionalities, with higher satisfaction among leaders post-implementation.
• Full-time school enrollment increased (67.6% to 75.04%), and part-time enrollment decreased (11.5% to 8.2%) among TAY.
• Despite increasing enrollment, monthly reported incidents per hundred youth showed a steady decline.

Conclusions:

• The SCMS effectively streamlined workflows and positively influenced TAY outcomes in extended foster care.
• The system facilitated coordinated care and tailored service delivery for TAY.
• Recommendations include further enhancements to better align the SCMS with user and youth needs.