This application is a competitive renewal for a Research Scientist Development Award, Level 2, entitled Mental Health Services Scientist Development Award. It requests five years of salary support for the Principal Investigator to pursue mental health services research on a full time basis and to continue to develop his expertise as a researcher. The broad goals of the award are to develop the scientific understanding of how mental health care can be improved by systematically focusing on the patient outcomes of care. The candidate seeks to develop patient outcome measures which can be used in the routine clinical setting. Further, the application seeks to pursue research to understand how systems interventions, such as Outcomes Management, can be used to improve mental health outcomes and the quality of mental health care. The understanding of the organizational characteristics which facilitate or hinder quality improvement will be a focus of study. Most of the planned work will be accomplished as part of a series of studies, known as the Mental Health Outcomes Project. Much of the work proposed will be conducted in rural settings, therefore, allowing for the development of new knowledge about rural mental health care. This proposal describes a learning plan for the Principal Investigator to develop further his expertise in the area of improving the outcomes and quality of care. It also describes his mentoring activities which will assist in the further development of the field of mental health services research.
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