Department News
Mental Health Services Research Program Guides National Policies

The Mental Health Services Research Program (MHSRP), directed by Professor Judith A. Cook, Ph.D., conducts research on health services, treatment interventions, client outcomes, program evaluation, and needs assessments of people with severe mental disorders and others with mental health needs, such as people with HIV/AIDS, children with emotional and behavioral problems, and families coping with chronic illness. MHSRP activities serve a wide variety of mental health professionals, students and teachers at all levels, government officials, employers, coworkers, mental health clients, and family members. The program provides training and disseminates information about psychiatric disability, research design and methods, qualitative and quantitative data analysis, rehabilitation and clinical treatment, program design, staff issues, and client outcomes.

These efforts are supported with instructional curricula, manuals, self-study guids, educational booklets, videotapes, software, and Web-based resources produced by the MHSRP. The program sponsors state, national and international conferences; hosts US and international scholars; and consults with governament agencies and a wide variety of trade, commercial, advocacy and professional organizations.

The MHSRP comprises a number of projects, including two large federally- funded national centers based at UIC, a coordinating center run collaboratively with other universities, a statewide training institute, and participation in several national multi-site studies, all directed by Dr. Cook.

The UIC National Research and Training Center on Psychiatric Disability, funded by the US Department of Education and the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), is a five-year program of research and training projects focusing on self-determination for people with psychiatric disabilities. The UIC Coordinating Center for the Employment Intervention Demonstration Program (funded by CMHS), the first national effort of its kind, is a federal multi-site study of clinical rehabilitation service interventions to help people with major mental disorders get and hold jobs. A third Coordinating Center (funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) operates in concert with other universities to direct a multi-site study of the effects of managed care on utilization, outcomes and costs of children's mental health services in fee-for-service versus managed care environments. A statewide Assertive Community Treatment Training Institute (funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services, Office of Mental Health) trains and assesses the competency of all Illinois providers of community-based assertive case management services for people with long-term mental illnesses. Also underway are analyses of data from natinal multi-site studies of women with HIV/AIDS and their families, as well as homeless people with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse.

A number of grants and subcontracts also are underway at the MHSRP. The Journey of Hope Family Education Course Outcomes Project, directed by Susan Pickett-Schenk, Ph.D., and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, is a study of a family-to-family education program for families of people with mental illness. Results of this Louisiana-based study will provide valuable information on how community-based, volunteer programs help families cope with mental illness. Another grant from CMHS, the Mental Health Care Provider Education Program in HIV/AIDS, directed by Lisa Razzano, Ph.D., and conducted in concert with MATEC/Jane Addams College of Social Work and the UIC College of Nursing, evaluates the outcomes of training in HIV/AIDS provided to medical and mental health professionals throughout Illinois.

http://www.psych.uic.edu/mhsrp