A NATIONAL SURVEY OF MOBILE CRISIS SERVICES AND THEIR EVALUATION

Objective: Although mobile crisis services have been widely accepted a s an effective approach to emergency service delivery, no systematic s tudies have documented the prevalence or effectiveness of these servic es. This survey gathered national data on the use and evaluation of mo bile crisis services. Methods: In 1993 mental health agencies in 50 st ates, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories were surveyed. Re peated follow-up was done to ensure a 100 percent response. Results: A total of 39 states have implemented mobile crisis services, dispatchi ng teams to a range of settings. Although respondents reported that us e of mobile crisis services is associated with favorable outcomes for patients and families and with lower hospitalization rates, the survey found that few service systems col lect evaluative data on the effect iveness of these services.Conclusions: The claims of efficacy made for mobile crisis services, which have led to their widespread disseminat ion, are based on little or no empirical evidence. More rigorous evalu ation of new and existing modes of service delivery is needed The need for such evaluation will increase in the climate promulgated by manag ed care, in which greater emphasis is placed on cost effectiveness.