Personalized Service Delivery for Young People and Families: A Synthesis Review

This synthesis project, funded through a MCYS Strategic Research Grant, seeks to provide a foundation for developing a multi-disciplinary and cross-sectoral research approach to exploring ‘personalized service’ within the context of residential treatment services for children and youth. This focus was to include the continuum of pre-referral supports and interventions to post-discharge community and family re-integration and sustainable outcomes. A detailed literature review about current approaches to ‘personalizing services’ in Ontario, Canada, North America, and the United Kingdom was undertaken with an emphasis on identifying the core conceptual and logistical principles that frame approaches to personalized services. The approach was intended to encourage future research that would focus on identifying and testing the evidence supporting or challenging such principles. The literature review was structured around six core themes:  

• The stories and experiences of challenging and successful personalized approaches (satisfaction) as compared to outcomes (client change).
• Diversity considerations, including cultural identity, linguistic groups, and gender orientations.
• Service outcomes at the client level, at the agency level & at the system level.
• Successful tools and protocols for implementing personalized services.
• Quality assurance protocols.
• Logistical and human resource considerations in service  provision.