Staffing Patterns and Staff Activities in State Hospitals and Community Mental Health Facilities in Eight Western States

摘要

Among mental health agencies there has been very little experience in the collection and use of manpower data for describing, planning, and monitoring mental health programs. Therefore, the manpower data component of the MHSIP national statistics system was based on expert opinion rather than empirical evidence that the data items can be collected and will be useful. A project was thus developed to operationalize the recommended system in several States and test the usefulness of the recommended minimum manpower data sets. Through a grant stimulated by the Div. of Biometry and Epidemiology (DBE) and funded by the NIMH Center for State Human Resources Development, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and eight Western States have implemented the manpower component of the MHSIP statistical system. Data were collected to obtain information on the characteristics of individual staff of mental health facilities and the services they provide during a sample period. As a followup to this data collection effort, a collaborative project with DBE staff, WICHE (under a 1% Evaluation Contract) and the eight States has: (1) assessed the pilot implementation of the minimum data set in the eight western States, (2) developed and assessed methods for analyzing, reporting and displaying State manpower data to impact programs and management decisionmaking, and (3) analyzed and interpreted interstate manpower data in relation to manpower policy and program issues of State and National concern.