The proposed Research Infrastructure Support Program (RISP) will strengthen the New Hampshire-Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center (PRC) and extend the PRC's mental health services research program into new areas of importance to the state mental health systems of New England. The PRC's first eight years of research have centered on vocational rehabilitation for people with severe mental disorders (SMD), on integrated treatment for people with SMD and co-occurring substance use disorder, and on services research methodologies. Originating in rural New Hampshire, the PRC's research programs is now progressing into sites located in small cities and large urban areas in New England and elsewhere. The PRC has collaborative relationships with each New England state. The RISP will support several activities to strengthen the PRC and to develop a long-term research capacity. The project will expand core faculty in disciplines such as economics, services research methodologies, decision analysis, and the social and behavioral sciences; will establish a core capacity for data collection, data management, and statistical analysis; and will support an apprenticeship program to mentor junior faculty in mental health services research. Core faculty, junior faculty, and the data and statistics staff will focus on pilot studies that pertain to services for people with SMD and that have special significance to New England mental health systems: (1) models for implementing cost-effective rehabilitation services; (2) relationships between substance abuse, trauma and victimization, and HIV risk behaviors; (3) alternative service models for older adults; and (4) models for shared decision making between clients and treatment providers. Results of these studies and the findings of the PRC's ongoing funded research will shape the PRC's future research programs. The RISP encompasses a second phase in the PRC's development as a major resource for mental health services research. The New Hampshire Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services and the Dartmouth Medical School, who created the PRC in 1987 as part of a public-academic liaison, have pledged substantial support for the project.
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