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Evaluation of a community mental health role using a structured Q sort

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Abstract

The evaluation of a new community mental health role, the facilitator, is presented with special emphasis on the theoretical and methodological aspects of the evaluative process. The role players, a psychiatrist and social psychologist, were to span the heretofore semipermeable boundaries between a community mental health center and the catchment community it serves to “facilitate” mutual adaptation. Role formation was selected as the first link in a chain of evaluative objectives. Hypotheses on ideal role formation were formulated and tested using structured Qsorts based on Katz and Kahn's organizational theory. Qualified support was found for the hypotheses.

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Eisenthal, S. Evaluation of a community mental health role using a structured Q sort. Community Ment Health J 9, 25–33 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01441430

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