Introduction: People with intellectual disability (ID) face barriers to accessing mental healthcare. Individuals who have had significant experience in intellectual disability mental health (IDMH) can provide insights into strategies to overcome these barriers. Methods: This historical investigation applied an interpretive descriptive approach…

In February 2001, President George W. Bush announced his New Freedom Initiative to promote increased access to educational and employment opportunities for people with disabilities. In his charge to the Commission, the President directed its members to study the problems and gaps in the mental health system and make concrete recommendations for…

This book provides state legislators with the background information they need to make important mental health policy decisions. The executive summary describes the success of deinstitutionalization in releasing large numbers of patients from state mental hospitals, but notes that the needs of persons with mental illness in the community have not…

This resource book, which provides an overview of the people and resources of the fictious state of Gerontopia, is designed to serve as a simulation device for policy and program planning. By helping students examine the conditions and needs of older adults, the materials can be used to generate ideas, suggest alternatives to existing service…

Critical reasons for frustration and circularity in the formulation and implementation of mental health policy are analyzed. The primary reason proposed is the lack of equal, systematic and structurally-reinforced participation of mental health services consumers and their communities in the planning and implementing of policy and programs. This…

This article describes the history of New York's efforts to create partnerships with families with children with emotional disturbances, articulates the stages of parent involvement in policymaking, and summarizes lessons learned and recommendations for effective and enduring families as policy allies. A case study is presented. (Contains…

Needs assessments are conducted with the expectation that the information obtained will be used to make rational decisions. A prior review of the anticipated utilization of needs assessment data and evaluation of the appropriateness of such utilization may prevent inefficient use of resources. A structured interview was developed to evaluate the…

The mental health needs and services available in the United States were investigated by the President's Commission on Mental Health. Results indicated that: (1) mental health services are primarily located in urban areas; (2) the needs of racial and cultural minorities, children, adolescents, and older adults are not being met; (3) national…

This set of seven issue briefs considers six important community-based services for children with serious mental or emotional disorders that some states provide as mandated rehabilitation services under the federal Medicaid law. The materials are designed to help state policymakers develop appropriate rules for covering community-based services…

This article examines how researchers can apply analytical and methodological tools traditionally used in health policy analysis to study the multiple levels of systems-of-care impacts for students with emotional and behavior disorders. Where possible, results from existing systems-of-care education studies illustrate how these analyses and…

Articles in this special issue use survey data to provide policymakers with validated indirect needs assessment models that will help them obtain information about populations requiring different levels and types of mental health services. The articles provide the basis for predictive needs assessment and explanatory models of resource allocation.…

This discussion of special education and mental health services for minority severely emotionally disturbed children identifies several issues in service delivery and impediments to service delivery. The identified issues are divided into the following categories: program development, the coordination of services, and service delivery systems;…

This background paper on refugee needs assessment discusses the assumptions, goals, objectives, strategies, models, and methods that the state refugee programs can consider in designing their strategies for assessing the mental health needs of refugees. It begins with a set of background assumptions about the ethnic profile of recent refugee…

Summaries of 89 studies on rural health care (underway or recently completed) in the United States as of December 1976 are reported. Information on each study includes: title; principal researchers' names, addresses, and professions; major objectives of the research; methodology; findings (on completed research); financing organization; current…

Major contents of this report are the four major presentations made at a workshop designed to give 200 nursing service chiefs a uniform approach for upgrading and expanding skills and knowledge relevant to achieving the mission of the Veterans Administration (VA) Nursing Service. "Facing the Future" focuses on the VA Nursing Service as…