Friday, 14 January 2005 - 10:00 AM

This presentation is part of: Consumer-Driven Services for Persons with Severe Mental Illness

Assessing Consumer-centered Mental Health Services: Predicting Involvement and Participation

Purpose: Direct involvement of consumers in mental health service delivery has recently expanded, yet research on consumer-operated services remains sparse. More information is needed about the operations, services, and types of consumer-run programs before effectiveness studies can be meaningfully conducted. One goal of this study was to describe how consumer-centered mental health drop-ins serve their target populations, the program structure, the types of services and activities provided, the amount of financial and personnel resources used and the ways these resources may vary.

Methods: The NIMH-funded Assessing Consumer-Centered Services (ACCS) Project surveyed 915 mental health consumers attending drop-ins in 31 locations across Michigan. The field research team also collected qualitative data based on structured observations taken over two-day visits to each site, and collected documents including mission statements, attendance figures, annual budgets and funding information. Regression was used to analyze predictors of member involvement and participation.

Results: Using drop-in survey results, this paper will report descriptive data on overall program characteristics, as well as analyses of differences in these characteristics related to member involvement and participation. A lower staff-to-consumer ratio and the director’s status as a mental health consumer led to more member involvement. The greater the number of specialized services and the longer the director’s tenure, the more likely members were to indicate that they came to a program for support and problem-solving. A greater percentage of consumers coming regularly and the years the program had been operating were both significant predictors of members coming to the program for social reasons.

Implications: Consumer-operated drop-ins are one of the few settings offering consumers a direct voice in structure and operational issues. These results provide important information regarding organizational variables fostering greater consumer involvement and participation. Implications for practice, policy and further research will be discussed.

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