When reviewing your INSPIRE report for accuracy, please examine the reports on two levels:

  1. Is the data complete?
  2. Is the data accurate?

A sample INSPIRE Tracking Form is available on the EPISCenter web-site and can be used to help track data entry. If certain data is not being entered into INSPIRE because the information is not available, a plan should be developed for collecting the necessary information.

Two general reminders regarding your data:

  1. If data was entered into the CSS or a correction was made to CSS data after the most recent data integration with INSPIRE, it will not be reflected in INSPIRE reports until the next round of data integration. (Integration includes data entered into the CSS through the 6th of each month and generally occurs between the 7th and 10th. INSPIRE users receive an email each month after integration occurs.)
  2. After entering data into INSPIRE, please wait at least 30 minutes before running your report so that the data entered can be synced with the data warehouse from which the reports are drawn.

If you have questions about these outcomes or any other questions about your report, please contact the EPISCenter at or

(814) 863-2568.

Report
Variable / What it should look like / Trouble-shooting: Why don’t the numbers look the way they should? / Complete/
Accurate? / Program
Comments
Population Served
Number of open & active youth / This is the number of youth with an open case during the reporting period, based on date of first session and, if applicable, discharge date. / This data comes from the CSS.
If the number is too low:
  • Was a youth’s first session added to the CSS after the most recent data integration with INSPIRE? If so, the youth should be included in the report after the next round of data integration.
  • Is the date of the first session or the last clinical contact/last attempted contact correct (i.e., year, month, and day)?
If the number is too high:
  • Are there cases that have not been closed out in the CSS?

Number of new youth enrolled / This should be the number of youth who had their first session during the reporting period. / This data comes from the CSS. Reasons for incorrect data in the INSPIRE report include:
  • First session date was entered into the CSS incorrectly
  • First session date was entered into the CSS after the most recent data integration with INSPIRE.

Placement Risk / The number of youth included is indicated in the first footnote on page 1 of the report. This number should be equal to the number of newly enrolled youth. For example, if 20 new youth were enrolled, the number of youth for whom placement risk is reported should also be 20. / This data incorporates CSS data (first session date) with INSPIRE data (placement risk). The most common problem here is incomplete data because the question about placement risk is not being completed for all youth at the time of enrollment. (If users wait until discharge to go back and enter a youth’s enrollment data in INSPIRE, this information will be incomplete when the quarterly report is run.)
Report
Variable / What it should look like / Trouble-shooting: Why don’t the numbers look the way they should? / Complete/
Accurate? / Program
Comments
Number of new parents/caregivers served / Because each youth enrolled must have a caregiver involved in his/her treatment, the number of new parents/caregivers served should be equal to or greater than the number of newly enrolled youth. / If the report is for quarters including January 2012 forward, the most common problem is a too-low number of caregivers because enrollment data is not being entered for all youth.
Referral sources / This is based on referrals made during the reporting period and entered into the CSS. / If the numbers do not look accurate, check that the referral date and referral source for each youth is accurate in the CSS.
If a youth’s referral date was entered into the CSS after the most recent data integration with INSPIRE, his/her data will not appear until the next round of data integration.
Presenting Problems / The number of youth included in the bar graph is indicated in the second footnote on page 1 of the report. This number should be equal to the number of newly enrolled youth. For example, if 20 new youth were enrolled, the number of youth for whom presenting problems were entered should also be 20. / This data incorporates CSS data (first session date) with INSPIRE data (presenting problems). The most common problem here is incomplete data because enrollment data is not being entered in a timely manner.
Report
Variable / What it should look like / Trouble-shooting: Why don’t the numbers look the way they should? / Complete/
Accurate? / Program
Comments
Discharged Youth
Number of youth discharged / This should be the total number of youth discharged during the reporting period, regardless of reason for discharge. / This is TOTAL number of discharges for the reporting period and includes both clinical and administrative discharges.
The most common problem is that the number is too low. Reasons include:
  • A case was not closed out in the CSS.
  • The case was closed out, but after the most recent data integration occurred. The case will show up in reports after the next round of integration.
  • The date of the most recent clinical contact or attempted clinical contact was entered into the CSS incorrectly.

Number of administrative discharges / Administrative discharges should include all discharged youth who did not complete treatment and were discharged for non-clinical reasons. The reasons counted as administrative are drop-outs due to:
  • Administrative (which should include cases placed for pre-referral offenses or reasons, terminated funding, did not meet FFT criteria)
  • Moved
  • Referred to other services
/ If this number is not accurate, check that your overall number of youth discharged is accurate. A youth may be missing for the reasons listed under Number of Youth Discharged. Also, be sure that drop-out reasons are coded accurately in the CSS.
Number of clinical discharges / Clinical discharges are all youth who were not discharged for administrative reasons (as described above) and includes both completers and non-completers. / If this number is not accurate, check that your overall number of youth discharged is accurate. A youth may be missing for the reasons listed under Number of Youth Discharged. Be sure that completion and drop-out reasons are coded accurately in the CSS.
Report
Variable / What it should look like / Trouble-shooting: Why don’t the numbers look the way they should? / Complete/
Accurate? / Program
Comments
Clinical Discharges
Average length of stay for completed cases and for cases that did not complete / Based on first session date to discharge date in the CSS. / Check that number of clinical discharges and pie chart indicating completion rate are accurate. If not, could missing cases or incorrectly classified cases be impacting the length of stay calculation?
If the number of clinical discharges and completion rate are accurate, but the length of stay does not appear correct, check that first session date and the date of last clinical contact are entered accurately in the CSS.
Youth and parent/caregiver
satisfaction / The number of youth/caregivers included in the calculation should be similar to the number of youth clinically discharged. For example, if 20 youth were clinically discharged, the number of satisfied youth should be X of 20 youth, if data is entered for all youth. / The discharge items on youth and parent/caregivers satisfaction are not being completed in INSPIRE for all youth.
Treatment Completion Rate / Based on the percent of clinically discharged youth who did and did not complete treatment, as entered in the CSS. / Check that the number of clinical discharges is accurate. If not, missing cases may be the problem. Otherwise, check the CSS to be sure completion/non-completion is entered correctly.
Discharge Type (successful and unsuccessful discharges) / This is not the same as number of completed cases. Also, INSPIRE does not count non-significant outcome as successful. This number should equal the number of cases with a discharge date during the reporting period who completed FFT and had a positive outcome. / If this number is not accurate, first check that your overall number of youth discharged is accurate. A youth may be missing for the reasons listed under Number of Youth Discharged.
Check that youth outcomes are accurately reported in the CSS (i.e., positive, non-significant, negative). Remember that only completed youth with positive outcomes are counted as successful.
Report
Variable / What it should look like / Trouble-shooting: Why don’t the numbers look the way they should? / Complete/
Accurate? / Program
Comments
Treatment Outcomes for Clinically Discharged Youth
Use the Table on p. 3 of the report to examine the accuracy and completeness of the data. The bottom row (# Reporting) tells how many youth are included in the data, while the top row (# With Positive Outcome) is the number of those youth who had a positive outcome reported.
No new criminal offenses / This is based on the CSS discharge question about new law violations.
The # Reporting should be the same as the # Clinically Discharged. / If this number does not look accurate, check that the number of clinical discharges is accurate (under Discharged Youth).
Then, check that the CSS question about new law violations is answered correctly for all discharged youth.
Living in the community / The # Reporting should be the same as the # Clinically Discharged.
If a youth’s drop-out reason is coded in the CSS as incarceration or placed out of home, he/she will not be counted as living in the community. The rest of the clinically discharged youth are counted as living in the community. / If this number does not look accurate, check that the number of clinical discharges is accurate (under Discharged Youth).
Then, check that completion status and drop-out reasons are entered accurately in the CSS.
Treatment Goals / This is based on the INSPIRE question about whether the youth met his/her treatment goals.
The # Reporting should be equal to the # of Clinical Discharges on p. 2. / If this number does not look accurate, check that the question about treatment goals is answered correctly for all youth.
If the # Reporting is less than the # of Clinical Discharges, it means that this indicates that discharged data is not being entered in INSPIRE for all youth.
Report
Variable / What it should look like / Trouble-shooting: Why don’t the numbers look the way they should? / Complete/
Accurate? / Program
Comments
Negative Drug Screens / The # Reporting should reflect the number of youth who meet three criteria:
  1. Substance usereported as a presenting problem at enrollment
  2. Clinically discharged
  3. Had drug screens during the last 2 months of treatment
The # With Positive Outcome includes youth who meet the criteria above and all drug screens during the last 2 months of treatment were negative. / The“#Reporting” may be significantly lower than the number of clinical discharges for several reasons:
  • Few youth were referred with drug & alcohol issues. No action needed.
  • Many more youth are referred with drug & alcohol issues, but this information is not being entered on the Enrollment screen.
  • Results of drug screens known but are not being entered at discharge.
  • Date of drug screen does not fall within 2 months of the discharge date.
  • Results of drug screens are unknown. Develop a plan to communicate with those completing drug screens to learn the outcome so that data can be entered.

Reduced or Eliminated Substance Use / The # Reporting should reflect the number of youth who meet the following criteria:
  1. Substance use reported as a presenting problem at enrollment
  2. Clinically discharged
  3. Discharge question about substance use is completed in INSPIRE
The # With Positive Outcome includes youth who meet the criteria above and the therapist indicted in INPSIRE that substance use was reduced or eliminated. / # Reporting may be lower than the # of clinical discharges for the reasons listed above.
If the # With Positive Outcome does not look accurate, check that the INSPIRE question about substance use at discharge has been answered correctly. While this question should be answered for all youth, remember that only youth who enrolled with substance use as a presenting problem are counted in this outcome.
Report
Variable / What it should look like / Trouble-shooting: Why don’t the numbers look the way they should? / Complete/
Accurate? / Program
Comments
Improved school attendance / The # Reporting should reflect the number of clinically discharged youth with had attendance issues reported as a presenting problem at enrollment. / The “# Reporting” may be significantly lower than the number of clinically discharged youth for several reasons:
  • Few youth were referred with school attendance issues.
  • More youth had school attendance issues, but this information is not being entered on the Enrollment screen and/or the discharge question about whether school attendance has improved is not being completed.

Improved academic performance / The # Reporting should reflect the number of clinically discharged youth with had academic performance/ reported as a presenting problem at enrollment. / The “# Reporting” may be significantly lower than the number of clinically discharged youth for several reasons:
  • Few youth were referred with academic performance issues.
  • More youth had academic performance issues, but this information is not being entered on the Enrollment screen and/or the discharge question about whether academic performance has improved is not completed.

Families with improved functioning / The # Reporting should be the same as the # of Clinical Discharges.
The # With Positive Outcome is based on the average TOM, COM-A, and COM-P ratings. An average rating of 3 or higher is counted as a positive outcome. / If the # Reporting is lower than the # of Clinical Discharges, this indicates that some clinically discharged youth had no outcome measures completed. This should be addressed with therapists as a model adherence issue.
If the percent is lower than expected, first remember that this outcome is based on all clinical discharges, whether the outcome was positive, no change, or worse.
Second, check that outcome measures are accurately entered into the CSS.
Report
Variable / What it should look like / Trouble-shooting: Why don’t the numbers look the way they should? / Complete/
Accurate? / Program
Comments
Follow-Up Sample
Number of youth in sample / The first box on page 4 indicates how many clinically discharged youth had 6-month follow-up data in the reporting period. / First, please note that a youth’s data will only be counted if his/her follow-up interview occurred 149-211 days from the date of discharge. The following tool may be useful for determining if this is the case:
Second, be sure that the youth’s discharge date in the CSS (date of last clinical contact or last attempted contact) and the youth’s interview date in INSPIRE are entered correctly.
Finally, remember that only clinical discharges are included in follow-up outcomes.
Outcomes at 6 Months Post-Discharge
Use the Table on p. 5 of the report to examine the accuracy and completeness of the data. The bottom row (# Reporting) tells how many youth are included in the data, while the top row (# With Positive Outcome) is the number of those youth who had a positive outcome reported.
No new charges / This is based on the number of youth with no new offenses since discharge from FFT. / For each of these outcomes, if the # Reporting is lower than the # of youth in the follow-up sample, it indicates that the outcome is not being collected for all of the youth when follow-up is done.
If the # With Positive Outcome does not appear to be correct, check the following in INSPIRE:
  • Does the youth have more than one 6-month follow-up interview? If data on the two interviews does not match, any negative outcome is what will be counted. For instance, if one interview indicates no new charges and the other indicates the youth does have charges, the youth will be counted as having a negative outcome.
  • Check the INSPIRE follow-up screen to make sure the question is answered correctly for all youth in the follow-up sample.

No out-of-home placements / This is based on the number of youth with no out-of-home placements since discharge.
In school/
graduated/GED / The number with positive outcome is based on youth who are in school (vocational and work training school are included), have graduated, or have earned a GED.
No known substance use / This is based on the number of youth with no substance use reported at follow-up.
Maintained behavior change / The number with positive outcome is based on the number of youth who are behaving better or about the same at follow-up.
Report
Variable / What it should look like / Trouble-shooting: Why don’t the numbers look the way they should? / Complete/
Accurate? / Program
Comments
Placement types / The number of youth included in the bar graph is indicated in the last footnote on page 4 and should equal the number of youth who had an out-of-home placement (look at the table on page 5, # placed = # reporting - # with no placement). / If the number of youth included is less than the number of youth placed, then placement type is not being reported for all of the youth to whom it applies. This may be due to the information not being collected, being unknown, or simply not being entered into INSPIRE.
A youth may have more than one placement type (which may be indicated on one follow-up interview or more than one), so the percent of youth with each of the 3 types may total more than 100%. This is okay.
If the percents do not look accurate, check INSPIRE to be sure the question has been answered correctly for youth who have had a placement.
Sources of follow-up data / This indicates who provided the follow-up data for the youth included. / A youth may have more than one follow-up source, so we do not expect the total of the six sources to be 100%.
If the percents do not look accurate, check INSPIRE to be sure the question has been answered correctly for youth who have had a placement.
Report
Variable / What it should look like / Trouble-shooting: Why don’t the numbers look the way they should? / Complete/
Accurate? / Program
Comments
Quality Assurance
Site Implementation Phase / This should accurately reflect the site’s current implementation phase. / If this is not correct, check that implementation phase is up-to-date and correct in the CSS.
Dissemination Adherence ratings / This is presented as X of Y therapists had ratings in the desired range. / The number of ratings is too low:
  • Did some therapists have multiple GTRs completed during the reporting period? If so, an average is taken for each therapist so that he/she is only counted once.
  • Was the GTR entered into the CSS during the reporting period? Each rating is included in a reporting period based on the date it was entered into the CSS, not the date of the GTR.
The number of satisfactory ratings is too low or too high:
  • A rating of 4 is used as the cut-off. Were ratings entered into the CSS correctly?

Fidelity Adherence ratings / This is presented as X of Y therapists had ratings in the desired range. / See explanation for Dissemination Adherence ratings. A cut-off of 3 is used for Fidelity ratings.

Rev. 4/2013