STATE MENTAL-HEALTH POLICY - EFFECT ON OUTCOMES FOR PRIORITY POPULATIONS

This study uses service and policy information derived from the Nation al Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Insti tute's State Mental Health Authority Profiling System and from data on 1990 mental health services collected through the Inventory of Mental Health Organizations. The aim of this study was to examine the relati onship of policies identifying children with severe emotional disturba nce (SED) and elderly mentally ill as priority populations with actual utilization. Two outcome variables were used: (1) the proportion of c hildren with SED or elderly clients in the total service population (s ervice utilization), and (2) the proportion of treated individuals wit h mental illness in the state population (relative access). Initial an alyses suggest a need for improving the systematic reporting of identi fied priority populations and provide planning implications for state and federal officials.