This paper reviews the process of disseminating health promotion programs, identifies factors critical to successful dissemination, uses a community-based heart disease prevention study to illustrate how programs can be disseminated across a community, and suggests ways these methods could be applied to an adolescent drug use prevention program.…

Discusses need for systems-based approach to quality assurance in mental health services, which can provide useful information to administrators and practitioners as they work to maintain or improve quality of care provided to patients. Introduces generic model for monitoring and evaluating quality of care and discusses potential barriers to its…

Discussed the State of Colorado's introduction of performance contracting into its relationships with community mental health centers. Describes the nature of the contract and its implementation. Particular emphasis is placed on the implications of the contract for program evaluation. (Author)

Asserts that mental health planning has been limited by conceptual and logistical restraints, causing planning to be isolated from management and ineffectual in describing total system of services required by persons experiencing severe mental illness. Describes application of new ideas and information technologies which can yield enhanced…

Due to the efforts of mental health consumer and advocacy organizations, there now exists a legislated community-based mental health policy for the treatment of children and adolescents with serious emotional disorders and their families. But the implementation of this policy has not met the intended legislative standards. Accordingly, this…

The Unitas Therapeutic Community is a mental health treatment and prevention program for Hispanic and Black children and teenagers in the South Bronx, New York City. Based on theories of therapeutic community and social psychology, Unitas stresses psychological methodologies that cultivate the healing potential present in all interpersonal…