Local governments play an important role in improving substance abuse and mental health services. The structure of the local learning collaborative requires careful attention to old relationships and challenges local governmental leaders to help move participants from a competitive to collaborative environment. This study describes one county's…

The Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration has promoted HIV testing and counseling as an evidence-based practice. Nevertheless, adoption of HIV testing in substance abuse treatment programs has been slow. This article describes the experience of a substance abuse treatment agency where, following participation in a clinical trial,…

Evaluating school-based mental health services for children and youth with emotional disturbance (ED) has been a challenge for researchers. One particular challenge is the study design of using the student as the statistical unit of analysis, which in certain cases may lead to a violation of the "independence of error" assumption.…

A developmental-acquisition model of case management was compared to usual case management services provided for the chronically mentally ill, using a sample of 89 persons referred to a large midwestern mental health center for community support services. The developmental-acquisition model was seemingly successful and deserves further refinement…

The relationship between service intensity and improvement in general psychological well-being was investigated at a Community Mental Health Center staffed primarily by Blacks and serving a Black clientele. Results for 145 Black, 18 White, and 12 other clients indicate a nonlinear relationship between level of services and patient improvement.…

This study demonstrates the usefulness of cluster analytic patterns of care in a sample of 979 children receiving federal mental health services. Six patterns were identified. These service-utilization clusters provide a useful and easily understood way to summarize children's quantity of use of various mental health services. (SLD)

The intensive case management service provided by a mental health consumer team of case managers was compared to services of nonconsumer case managers. Results from 91 clients with serious mental illness found significant differences in outcomes after a year only in the areas of patient satisfaction and contact with family. (SLD)

The satisfaction of 469 parents or guardians and 387 of their children who received mental health services at 22 community agencies in Illinois was assessed with standardized measures and procedures. Youths' satisfaction was less than that of their parents. Results are used to formulate a prediction model. (SLD)

In simulated decision-making situations in a community mental health center, three types of information were studied and rated: political; cost-benefit, and statistical. Only cost-benefit information was rated as significantly influencing administrators' decisions. (MH)

Costs for caring for severely mentally disabled persons receiving housing subsidies and/or case management services or who were in a state hospital were compared in two Ohio counties. Comparisons for 82 persons found differences among community-based group settings, but the state hospital costs at least 3 times higher. (SLD)

A stratified probability sample of 4,745 adults in Colorado was surveyed to determine the need for alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health services. Findings that variation in need prevalence across 48 subareas of the state substantially challenge the assumptions of a uniform rate of need in a state. (SLD)

Development, implementation, and evaluation of a treatment program for 222 violent criminal offenders with alcohol abuse or alcoholism are described. Evaluation of the program, with quasi-experimental techniques, shows that active program clients engage in fewer violent crimes and show improved life functioning in employment and social adjustment…

The multivariate generalizability of the Role Functioning Scale (RFS), which serves as a replacement for the global ratings of the Social Adjustment Scale, was studied with 396 severely disturbed clients of a public mental-health bureau. Generalizability of single subscales was less than that of the combined subscales. (SLD)

A pilot study assessing parent satisfaction with mental health services for children was a disappointment in its low response rate (28%, 15 of 53 questionnaires). However, the questionnaire, the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire, was an easy to use and effective tool that identified some sources of dissatisfaction. (SLD)

Assessments of 41 mentally ill adults (consumers of mental health services) of their level of functioning were compared with assessments by family members and mental health services case managers. Moderate correlations are found among the perspectives, and the relevance of the three perspectives for community-based service provision is discussed.…