Distribution of mental health professionals in the South: a research project

The Southern Regional Education Board is carrying out a project to determine what factors influence the distribution of mental health professionals in the South and to develop recommendations for improving distribution. The project is concerned with four major aspects of distribution: alleviating geographic maldistribution, increasing the number of professionals in specific subspecialties, providing more professionals for service in the public sector, and training more minority professionals. Staff of training programs, trainees, graduates, and staff of urban and rural community mental health centers and state hospitals are being surveyed, through interviews and questionnaires, to try to determine what factors influence professionals' decisions about where to locate and what kind of practice to enter.