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Biomedical subjects

Mark C Holter

Publications and source records attributed to Mark C Holter.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

TANF workers' responses to battered women and the impact of brief worker training: what survivors report.

Battered women (n = 159) report on their experiences with their Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) case workers. Workers most often ask about physical harm, feelings of fear, and police involvement. They least often create a safety plan, give information about work exemptions, and ask whether the partner had a gun. Women's major reasons for not talking about abuse are that the worker did not ask and a fear of negative outcomes. Workers who attended 1-day training are more likely than untrained workers to discuss the women's fear and physical harm, to help develop a safety plan, and to be viewed as generally helpful.

Battered Women↗

Consumer-run drop-in centers: program operations and costs.

In-depth phone surveys were conducted with 32 consumer-run drop-in centers in Michigan. Results indicate that centers serve a diverse array of consumers at an average cost of about dollar 8 daily per person. Funding levels, salaries, and services are quite heterogeneous among centers. Those with higher funding levels, greater involvement with other human service agencies, and higher overall CMH county budgets differed significantly in total services and activities provided than those centers with less of each of these resources. Daily attendance was predicted by other-agency involvement, participation of volunteer personnel, and negative neighborhood context.

Ambulatory Care↗

Critical ingredients of consumer run services: results of a national survey.

Fidelity criteria are increasingly used in program monitoring and evaluation, but are difficult to derive for emerging models (i.e., those not based on theory or a research demonstration project). We describe steps used to develop and operationalize fidelity criteria for consumer-run (CR) mental health services: articulating and operationalizing criteria based on published literature, then revising and validating the criteria through expert judgments using a modified Delphi method. Respondents rated highest those structural and process components emphasizing the value of consumerism: consumer control, consumer choices and opportunities for decision-making, voluntary participation (and the absence of coercion), and respect for members by staff.

Community Mental Health Services↗

Cost-effectiveness of critical time intervention to reduce homelessness among persons with mental illness.

OBJECTIVES: Cost-effective programs are needed to assist homeless persons with severe mental illness in their transition from shelters to community living. The authors investigated the cost-effectiveness of the critical time intervention program, a time-limited adaptation of intensive case management, which has been shown to significantly reduce recurrent homelessness among men with severe mental illness. METHOD: S: Ninety-six study participants recruited from a psychiatric program in a men's public shelter from 1991 to 1993 were randomly assigned to the critical time intervention program or to usual services. Costs and housing outcomes for the two groups were examined over 18 months. RESULTS: Over the study period, the critical time intervention group and the usual services group incurred mean costs of 52,374 dollars and 51,649 dollars, respectively, for acute care services, outpatient services, housing and shelter services, criminal justice services, and transfer income. During the same period, the critical time intervention group experienced significantly fewer homeless nights than the usual care group (32 nights versus 90 nights). For each willingness-to-pay value--the additional price society is willing to spend for an additional nonhomeless night--greater than 152 dollars, the critical time intervention group exhibited a significantly greater net housing stability benefit, indicating cost-effectiveness, compared with usual care. CONCLUSION: S: Although difficult to conduct, studies of the cost-effectiveness of community mental health programs can yield rich information for policy makers and program planners. The critical time intervention program is not only an effective method to reduce recurrent homelessness among persons with severe mental illness but also represents a cost-effective alternative to the status quo.

Adult↗

Supported education programming for adults with psychiatric disabilities: results from a national survey.

Over the last 10 years, supported education (SEd) programs have been the topic of many journal publications and conference presentations, but little is known about their numbers and types across the U.S. This article reports the results of a national survey of all known SEd programs, numbering over 100. The largest number was associated with clubhouses, where full and partial SEd models could be identified. On-site supported education programs were located in community colleges and universities. A dozen "free-standing" programs were also identified. Analyses documented differences across program types in services provided, budget amounts and sources, and coordination with mental health and higher educational institutions. If supported education is to move beyond a specialty program in mental health, providers need to do more to market these services and to work collaboratively with stakeholder groups to expand supported education programming.

Adult↗

Consumer drop-in centers: operations, services, and consumer involvement.

Interest in involvement of consumers in mental health and psychiatric rehabilitation services delivery has expanded in recent years, encompassing self-help approaches, consumers employed as providers in formal agencies, and consumers operating their own services. This study reports results from in-depth phone surveys conducted with 32 consumer drop-in centers in Michigan. Results indicate that centers operate in many ways like other human services businesses, albeit with much smaller budgets. Funding levels, salaries, and services showed great heterogeneity among the centers and in comparison with reports in the literature. Centers autonomously run by consumers and centers with consumer involvement (operated by a non-consumer agency) were found to differ significantly on several variables, including consumer control, funding and service levels, and challenges. Implications for the growth and increased use of consumer drop-in centers are discussed.

Community Mental Health Centers↗

Rationing psychosocial treatments in the United States.

This paper briefly reviews the recent history of psychosocial treatment for adults with severe mental illnesses in the United States. It examines the current sources and financing of such care, revealing the planned and unplanned reclassification of entitled beneficiaries and eligible patients, appropriate treatment, acceptable outcomes, and levels and sources of payment. One illustration of this phenomenon is seen in current efforts to identify and deliver only those public services that are covered by Medicaid, so as to allocate state resources only when they can be matched by federal monies. Another is the reliance on private health insurance, tied in the U.S. almost exclusively to employment, for medical care delivered under an acute, rather than a chronic care model. These analyses conclude with a discussion of the implicit and explicit mechanisms used to ration access to psychosocial treatment in the United States. The implications for individuals with serious mental illnesses, their families, and the general public are placed in historical and current policy contexts, recognizing the economic, social, and clinical variables that can moderate outcomes.

Adult↗