College of Health and Human Sciences extends Rosecrance affiliation

by Mark McGowan

A generation ago, adolescent substance abuse counselors at Rosecrance Health Network saw few, if any, teenagers struggling with heroin. Now they are accustomed to at least 15 percent of the teens who come to them having heroin problems, a fact that makes the treatment outcomes studies performed by researchers in the NIU College of Health and Human Sciences so important.

Philip Eaton, president and CEO of Rosecrance Health Network, and Sherilynn Spear, chair of NIU's School of Allied Health Professions, answer questions during a Feb. 28 press conference.

NIU and Rosecrance recently extended their formal affiliation another five years, celebrating the relationship during a well-attended press conference at NIU-Rockford. Included in the affiliation is a $400,000 contract for faculty from the College of Health and Human Sciences to serve as external evaluators of Rosecrance's treatment programs.

Founded in 1916, Rosecrance Health Network provides substance abuse treatment services for children, youth, adults and families. Services include education and training, prevention and family recovery programs, detoxification, outpatient and inpatient treatment, partial hospitalization, continuing care, student assistance programs in area schools, recovery homes for female adolescents and for mothers with children, job readiness training and employment, a day school for at-risk youth and alumni clubs.

The NIU-Rosecrance relationship dates back to when Philip Eaton, president and CEO of Rosecrance Health Network, was a student in Sherilynn Spear's research class in the early 1980s. Since then, Spear, now chair of the School of Allied Health Professions, has conducted a large National Institute of Drug Abuse-funded research project using Rosecrance as the clinical site.

More recently, Spear and James Ciesla, an associate professor in Allied Health, have been involved with measuring treatment outcomes at Rosecrance.

"Today isn't about beginning a relationship. It's more about celebrating one," Spear said. "If all we bring to the table is `what I need from you,' it's never going to be a success. Our focus was never on the problem and what we needed from each other. It was that we had a shared vision. The credit for this partnership goes to Philip Eaton and his vision."

Eaton called the School of Allied Health Professions "good partners."

A central part of the partnership is working to determine how and why substance abuse treatment worked or did not work. Program assessment by external evaluators is a component of Rosecrance's commitment to continually improving treatment, a mission now complicated by diminishing funds and growing need.

"It's very important for us not to do the same thing, year after year, patient after patient. The goal is to improve," Eaton said. "The depth of research is very thin. We're very interested in what works and what doesn't. People often ask us, `What are your outcomes?' and they expect a two-sentence answer. For us, it's volumes."

The partnership creates learning opportunities for NIU students and research opportunities for faculty as it strengthens treatment programs for Rosecrance clients.

"Documenting treatment outcomes improves Rosecrance's services and treatment effectiveness," Ciesla said. "To assess treatment, we ask people who have completed treatment: Have they used again? Are they involved in criminal acts? Have they returned to school? Are they working?"

Ciesla said he and Spear employ evaluation methods similar to those used in national studies funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

"We then compare the Rosecrance results with the national data," Ciesla said. "Consistently, Rosecrance programs have been shown to be more effective than outcomes reflected in the national data; that is, less post treatment use, less criminal behavior and higher rates of employment or school attendance."