Recorded presentation

Jean Campbell, PhD, Missouri Institute of Mental Health, University of Missouri--Columbia, 5400 Arsenal Street, Saint Louis, MO 63139, (314) 644-7829, campbelj@mimh.edu and Mark S. Salzer, PhD, Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research, University of Pennsylvania, 3535 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104.

The Consumer-Operated Service Programs Multisite Research Initiative (COSP-MRI) has concluded a study of the effectiveness of consumer-operated service programs for adults with serious and persistent mental illness when offered as an adjunct to traditional mental health services (1998-2003). With 1,827 participants enrolled in the study, the COSP-MRI is the largest study of consumer-operated mental health services in history. An experimental design with random assignment and a common assessment protocol (completed at baseline, 4, 8 and 12 months) was used to investigate service outcomes such as empowerment, housing, employment, social inclusion, satisfaction with services, and costs and cost off-sets at eight sites around the country. Through logic modeling, preliminary examination of the baseline data, and factor analysis, a well-being composite measure was developed to test the primary hypothesis – participants offered both traditional and consumer-operated services would show greater improvement in outcomes over time than participants who were offered only traditional mental health services. Secondary goals of the COSP-MRI were to create strong, productive partnerships among consumers, service providers, and researchers, and to disseminate the knowledge gained. This presentation will provide an overview of the study design and methodology, and will describe the collaborative context of the multisite initiative. In particular, efforts to ensure that the project was consumer-centered will be discussed, and observations will be offered on how to balance the dynamic forces inherent in multi-stakeholder collaborations with the realities of field studies and the standards of evidence based practice.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to

• Describe the steps in the development of the well-being composite measure, and identify the relevant subscales.
• Discuss the elements of a randomized, controlled research design and methods.
• Identify the competing interests in a multi-stakeholder research collaboration.

Keywords: Mental Health Services, Consumer Direction

Related Web page: www.cstprogram.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation