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This article reviews procedural and methodological characteristics of 121 outcome studies published by community mental health centers during the decade 1969-1979. These studies were compared with 2906 studies conducted at other mental health treatment sites. Attention is focused on the adequacy of description of sample characteristics, mental health condition treated and treatment or intervention employed, sophistication of study design, and quality of outcome measures. The findings suggest that CMHC studies are less precise and less rigorous than studies at other sites, although there appears to be consistent improvement in research quality over time. The findings raise the question of whether CMHCs generally should conduct high-level outcome research, aside from essential internal program monitoring. A feasible alternative may befor such research to be carried out at a few centers of mental health research excellence and for such findings to be disseminated to the mental health community at large.

Human Relations in Interracial Housing was first published in 1955. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. No phase of this country's domestic or foreign relations holds greater potential power for harmony or conflict than our racial attitudes. Yet there is probably no area of social relations in which we have had fewer facts and more assumptions on which to base our thinking and our efforts at constructive action. This sociopsychological study adds considerably to our knowledge of actual racial attitudes in the United States and some of the factors that affect them. The study examines the racial attitudes of people living in public, interracial housing projects in four cities: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Hartford, and Springfield, Massachusetts. Based on interviews with more than 1000 white and Negro residents, it sought information that would help answer such questions as these: What is the effect of Negro-white residential proximity on race relations? Does living nearby reduce or intensify any already existing prejudices? What is the nature of the contacts that develop among members of the two races?The findings show in great detail the effects of residential proximity and suggest the underlying reasons for the role that such proximity plays. They reveal, further, the effects of the contact experience itself and the perception of the social climate in the community regarding such contact. The research forms an important sequel to the investigation reported in the book, Interracial Housing, by Deutsch and Collins, confirming some of the basic findings in the earlier study as well as providing new insights. Psychologists, sociologists, social workers, housing officials, and community leaders will find solid evidence here on a subject that has been sparsely documented up to now

In a previous study it was found that mental health professionals working within community mental health centers (CMHCs) value published social science research as input into the policy decision-making process, yet frequently experience problems in accessing such literature in a timely and efficient manner. The current study was undertaken in order to determine whether access barriers could be reduced via the use of computer-based literature searching. Both short-term (six week) and long-term (six month)follow-up data revealed substantial use of the search materials for both conceptual and instrumental purposes. Further, the positive experiences reported with regard to the study-specific search were mirrored in a more general assessment of the potential usefulness of such information-retrieval systems in meeting future information needs.

Previous research has documented the fact that policy makers underutilize social science research literature in shaping their decisions. The two factors most often identified as accounting for this utilization gap are quality of research and organizational/political constraints. A third factor that has received relatively less attention is barriers to accessing relevant literature. To determine the importance ofaccessproblems among mental health professionals, a national sample (N = 367) of community mental health center (CMHC) executives was surveyed regarding attitudes and practices with respect to published social science research. Thefindings revealed that CMHC policy makers (1) consider published literature as important relative to other sources of information; (2) have difficulty accessing desired information via traditional means (e.g., personal and institutional librariesf, and (3) are generally unfamiliar with currently available information accessing technologies (i.e., computer-based bibliographic retrieval systems). Thesefindings suggest the need for greater emphasis on access barriers in a model predicting utilization of social science research in mental health policy formulation.