Child and adolescent emotional and behavioral problems are important and common in general health care settings. Pediatric and family practitioners treat more child behavioral and emotional disorders than do mental health professionals; however, almost nothing is known about how primary care providers manage pediatric patients with psychosocial problems.

PROS, the Ambulatory Sentinel Practice Network (ASPN, a research network of family practitioners) and the University of Pittsburgh have joined forces with the National Institute of Mental Health to investigate this important primary care issue.

The objectives this study are to:

Determine how primary care providers manage their pediatric patients with psychosocial outcomes;

Examine the outcomes of primary care management of childhood psychosocial problem;

Examine the relation between payment mechanism and treatment provided.