132 Annual Meeting Logo - Go to APHA Meeting Page  
APHA Logo - Go to APHA Home Page

Using appreciative inquiry to inform a process evaluation of community mental health services: Moving to person–centered planning and services for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities

Kellee Thorburn McCrory, BS, MPH1, Dennis P. Affholter, MA2, and Lance Till, BA1. (1) Community and Behavioral Health, University of Iowa, 4256 Westlawn, Iowa City, IA 52242, 319-384-4231, kellee-mccrory@uiowa.edu, (2) Affholter & Associates, 2050 Keokuk-Washington Road, Keota, IA 52248-9200

Linn County Community Services (Iowa) requested a process evaluation of current intake procedures, planning and services coordination and management, to help the agency move toward a person-centered focus. With the Supreme Court Olmstead decision of 1998, the agency wanted to make sure that each client’s needs were being addressed with appropriate client participation.

The evaluation used open-ended interviewing techniques and protocol questions derived from the Mental Health Statistics Improvement Program – Consumer-Oriented Mental Health Report Card. We appreciative inquiry approaches to create interview probes to help guide Linn County Community Services towards a more person-centered planning structure. One-on-one interviews and focus groups were conducted with clients, agency personnel, other county staff, advocates, and family members. Structured qualitative analysis methods using Qualrus, a computer-based analysis program for qualitative data, were employed to extract a thematic structure from the data and to develop a data-supported conceptual model.

Learning Objectives:

Keywords: Evaluation, Patient Perspective

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.

Collaborative Methodologies for Improving Infrastructure, Planning and Bioterrorism Preparedness

The 132nd Annual Meeting (November 6-10, 2004) of APHA