The Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) Assessment explained.
The CANS is a totally comprehensive assessment of child and family needs, risks and strengths. It helps the whole care system make decisions that improve outcomes.
Reliable and Valid
Theoretically robust and backed by extensive research and peer review.
Strengths-Based
Unique in facilitating a strengths-based approach in practice, planning and analysis.
Decision-support tool
Ratings translate to action levels to guide case planning and caseload/service management.
Affordable for all
No licenses, no ongoing fees, minimal accreditation costs and low cost implementation support.
The CANS tool assesses a comprehensive range of needs, risks and strengths items within structured domains.
The core set of items measured within key domains (as well as ‘trigger module’ items for high/specialist needs and risks) are designed to be consistent with information required across service planning. For example, items, ratings and definitions are consistent with diagnostic criteria to ensure a coherent thread of information and reduce the need for unnecessary additional assessments prior to interventions or when securing placements/services.
The Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths Assessment (CANS) is the primary communimetric tool at the heart of the TCOM approach. There are two companion metrics, the Family Advocacy Support Tool (FAST), suitable for lower level needs, and the Adults Needs and Strengths Assessment (ANSA) for adult services – both of which follow the same theoretical and structural principals as the CANS. This summary focuses on the CANS as an introduction to the principles of the communimetric tools.
The CANS uses a consistent and validated 4-level rating system (a rating of 0-3). Every rating supports a care-planning decision.
Ratings are separately defined for needs and strengths items, always translating directly into actions and pathways for service planning.
This process immediately informs the detail of case planning while also providing the opportunity to gain service-level, and system-level perspectives of needs, outcomes and trends across groups and populations, through the summing and analysis of data.
Yes, you can use the CANS to monitor outcomes
Items that are initially rated a ‘2’ or ‘3’ (ratings requiring action) are monitored over time to determine the percent of children and young people who move to a rating of ‘0’ or ‘1’ (where required action is reduced or no longer needed).
Dimension scores can be generated by summing items within each of the domains (Problems, Risk Behaviours, Functioning, etc.). These scores can be compared over the course of intervention, placement or period in care.
As data is collected and analysed, CANS-based algorithms or decision models can be used to guide service responses based on reliably evidenced outcomes.
Yes, the CANS assessment is easy to implement and your team will like it
The CANS is easy to learn and is well-liked by parents, commissioned providers and other partners in the services system because it is easy to understand, makes sense across services and does not necessarily require scoring in order to be meaningful to an individual child and family.
With training, any professional can learn to complete the tool reliably (although some applications will require a higher degree.)
To support assessment and ensure reliability, statements of definition are developed to accompany each item – and are used in training to support inter-rater reliability.
Yes, the CANS is scientifically validated, evidence-based and expert-led.
The CANS has been extensively peer-reviewed.
Use of the CANS is also supported by a growing wealth of evidence regarding decision-making in practice. Relevant journal articles and case studies have been collated into an evidence pack, available on request from TCOM England.