Abstract
Planning for the delivery of community mental health services has evolved from models of services within individual agencies to community-wide systems of care, but development of methodologies for assessing system performance has lagged behind. This article presents one approach to systemlevel assessment by viewing children’s mental health systems as an interorganizational network. Data are presented on two county-based child mental health systems in North Carolina that participated in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Mental Health Services Program for Youth. Site-specific data on client referrals, fund exchanges, and information flows were collected at two time points (1991 and 1993) to measure the cohesiveness and concentration of the service system using network k-core analyses. In addition, stakeholder ratings of service adequacy, quality, availability, coordination, and overall demonstration project goal attainment were obtained at both time periods. Findings indicate that the rural system was outperforming the urban system at the time of the first survey, but the urban system caught up over the study interval. There was high agreement between the network and stakeholder ratings of system performance at both time periods. The method of data collection and analysis used in this study provides tools that can be used in a variety of settings to assess service system growth and development.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Stroul BA, Friedman RM:A System of Care for Severely Emotionally Disturbed Children and Youth. Washington, DC: CASSP Technical Assistance Center, Georgetown University Child Development Center, 1986.
Friedman RM, Burns BJ, Behar L: Improving mental health and substance abuse services for adolescents.Administration and Policy in Mental Health 1992; 19:191–206.
Knitzer J.Unclaimed Children. Washington, DC: Children's Defense Fund, 1982.
Burchard JD, Shaefer M: Improving accountability in a service delivery system in children's mental health.Clinical Psychology Review 1992; 12:867–882.
Elliott RL: Applying quality improvement principles and techniques in public mental health systems.Hospital and Community Psychiatry 1994: 45: 439–444.
Duchnowski A, Friedman R: Children’s mental health: Challenges for the nineties.Journal of Mental Health Administration 1990; 17: 3–12.
Malcolm JA: Plans to publish physician specific data.Pennsylvania Medicine 1992; 95: 18–19.
Bickman L, Guthrie P, Foster EM, et al.Evaluating Managed Mental Health Services: The Fort Bragg Experiment. New York: Plenum, 1995.
Kutash K, Duchnowski AJ, Meyers J, et al.: Community and neighborhood based services for youth. In: Henggler SW, Santos A (Eds.):Innovative Models of Mental Health Treatment for “Difficult to Treat” Clinical Populations. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, in press.
Beachler M: The mental health services program for youth.Journal of Mental Health Administration 1990; 17: 115–121.
England MJ, Coles RF: Building systems of care for youths with serious mental illness.Hospital and Community Psychiatry 1992; 43: 630–633.
Behar L.:North Carolina’s Mental Health Services Program for Youth: The Children's Initiative. Raleigh: North Caroli Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services, 1992.
Burns BJ, Farmer EM, Morrissey JP, et al.: Effects of Case Management from the RWJ Children's Initiative in North Carolina. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, Washington, DC, November 1, 1994.
Morrissey JP: An interorganizational network approach to evaluating children's mental health service systems. In: Bickman L, Rog D (Eds.):Evaluating Mental Health Services for Children. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992, pp. 85–98.
Morrissey J, Tausig M, Lindsey M: Community mental health delivery systems: A network perspective.American Behavioral Scientist 1985; 28: 704–720.
Morrissey JP, Colloway M, Bartko WT, et al.: Local mental health authorities and service system change: Evidence from the Robert Wood Johnson Program on Chronic Mental Illness.Milbank Quarterly 1994; 72(1): 49–80.
Provan KG, Milward HB: Toward a theory of interorganizational network effectiveness: A comparative study of network structure, context, and outcomes in community mental health,Administrative Science Quarterly 1995; 40:1–33.
Van de Ven AH, Ferry DL.Measuring and Assessing Organizations. New York: Wiley, 1976.
Bolland J, Wilson J: A Network Approach to the Assessment and Development of Comprehensive Coordination in the Elderly of Community-Based Services to the Elderly. University of Alabama, Institute for Social Science Research, unpublished.
Alter C, Hage J:Organizations Working Together. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1993.
Aldrich H, Herker D: Boundary spanning roles and organization structure.Academy of Management Review 1977 2(2):217–230.
Tushman M, Scanlan T: Boundary spanning individuals: Their role and information transfer and their antecedents.Academy of Management Journal 1981; 24: 289–305.
Levine S, White PE: Exchange as a conceptual framework for the study of interorganizational relations.Administrative Science Quarterly 1961; 5:583–601.
Calloway, M, Morrissey JP, Paulson RI: Accuracy and reliability of self-reported data in interorganizational networks.Social Networks 1993; 15:377–398.
Marsden PV: Network data and measurement,Annual Review of Sociology 1990; 16:435–463.
Kadushin C: The friends and supporters of psychotherapy: On social circles in urban life.American Sociological Review 1966; 31: 786–802.
Wasserman S, Faust K:Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Borgatti S, Everett M, Freeman L:UCINET IV Version 1.0. Columbia, SC: Analytic Technologies, 1992.
Morrissey J, Ridgely S, Goldman H, et al.: Assessments of community mental health support systems: A key informant approach.Community Mental Health Journal 1994; 30: 565–579.
Dillman DA: Mail and other self-administered questionnaires. In: Rossi P, Wright J, Anderson A (Eds.):Handbook of Survey Research. Orlando, FL: Academic Press, 1983; pp. 359–377.
Galaskiewicz J, Shatin D: Leadership networking among neighborhood human service organizations.Administrative Science Quarterly 1981; 26:434–448.
Goldman HH, Morrissey JP, Ridgely MS: Evaluation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Program on Chronic Mental Illness.Milbank Quarterly 1994; 72: 37–47.
Lehman AF, Postrado LT, Roth D, et al.: Continuity of care in client outcomes in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Program on Chronic Mentall Illness.Milbank Quarterly 1994; 72:105–122.
Randolph, FL: Improving service systems through systems integration: The ACCESS program.American Rehabilitation, in press.
Friedman R, Burns B: The evaluation of the Fort Bragg Demonstration Project: An alternative interpretation of the findings.Journal of Mental Health Administration 1996; 23: 128–136.
Bickman L: Reinterpreting the Fort Bragg evaluation findings: The message does not change.Journal of Mental Health Administration 1996; 23:137–145.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This article was prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, Washington DC, in November 1994. The study was supported by a research grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH48053) to the North Carolina Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services, Lenore Behar, Ph. D., Principal Investigator, and to the UNC-CH-Duke Program on Mental Health Services Research (MH51410), Joseph Morrissey, Ph.D., Principal Investigator.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Morrissey, J.P., Johnsen, M.C. & Calloway, M.O. Evaluating performance and change in mental health systems serving children and youth: An interorganizational network approach. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research 24, 4–22 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02790476
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02790476