CMHSR SCIENTIFIC AIMS

The Principal Research Core (PRC) of the CMHSR supports the generation and execution of pilots to achieve our aim of developing and testing mental health quality improvements in the social services.

Aim 1: Understand what constitutes quality of care for mental disorder in the social services from the perspectives of key stakeholders—payers, administrators, front-line providers, consumers, family members, advocates.

1a. Identify stakeholder definitions what constitutes quality mental health care in social service settings.

1b. Identify stakeholders’ preferences and priorities for health and psychosocial outcomes (e.g., symptom reduction, functioning, placement stability) for social service clients with mental disorder.

1c. Assess the relative preferences among stakeholders for such aspects of care as detection of mental disorder, referral to specialty or primary medical care, collaborative care, and psychoeducation about mental disorder.

Aim 2. Assess practice variation in quality of care for mental disorder in the social services and identify provider, client, and system ecostructure influences on variation.

2a. Understand competing demands experienced by social service organizations, providers, and clients, and identify their influence on mental health care. 

2b. Understand the role of financing in the availability of mental health services for clients within the social service setting.

2c. Identify the range of practice variation in quality of care for mental disorder in the social services and factors associated with variation. 

Aim 3. Develop and test a menu of quality improvements for mental health care in the social services.

3a. Identify stakeholder preferences for various evidence-based quality improvements for mental disorder, including screening, liaison, and collaborative care.

3b. Develop with stakeholders and test the usability and effectiveness of screening and referral decision supports for responding to mental disorder.

3c. Develop with stakeholders collaborative mental health treatment enhancements to social services and test their acceptability and effectiveness.

3d. Develop and test the acceptability and effectiveness of interventions to engage social service clients and their families in mental health treatment.

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The Research Methods Core (RMC) is designed to develop, enhance, and provide state-of-the-art methodological expertise to all research projects affiliated with the CMHSR.

Aims:

1.       Advance the qualitative methodology used in mental health services research.

2.       Advance the statistical methods used in mental health services research.

3.       Advance methods to assess stakeholder preferences for the outcomes and processes of mental health services.

4.       Develop new quality indicators that capture stakeholder views of quality mental health care appropriate to the CMHSR scientific agenda.

5.       Enhance the organizational research capabilities of mental health services researchers through consultation and the development of a new measure of organizational receptivity to evidence based treatments.

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