A surfeit of surveys: escalating data demands on community mental health centers

In a recent six-month period, a state-operated community mental health center was required to gather data for nine major surveys, reviews, and budget requests. Such surveys cover much the same ground, yet without any attempt to standardize formats so that the data a center compiles for one survey can be used in the next. The surveys frequently are not designed for the programs required to complete them; they are a drain on increasingly scarce staff time and deplete staff morale. A two-part solution to the problem would involve coordiantion and control of the demands for data, perhaps through the development of a model mental health data set and format by the National Institute of Mental Health, and the development of locally based, smaller-scale information systems. The latter step would generate more complete and reliable data for local clinicians and administrators and yield a limited amount of basic information to be used by outside agencies.