Some uses of client and census records in community mental health planning

A conceptual framework is presented which outlines uses of client and community data for mental health planning. Client records from a mental health center and 1970 census data were analyzed three ways to illustrate some of these uses: (a) a geographic analysis which compared service utilization rates with the social characteristics of census tracts; (b) a demographic analysis which compared the social characteristics of clients with those of the catchment area population; and (c) an analysis of clients who dropped out of treatment and who left therapy unimproved. The results revealed that (a) census areas characterized by high proportions of disenfranchised groups (e.g., divorced, low status, Spanish heritage) showed high service utilization rates; (b) higher proportions of divorced, high school educated, and unemployed residents utilized services than expected by population estimates; and (c) dropouts from therapy could be discriminated based on demographic differences in marital status, income level, employment status, educational level, ethnicity, and previous mental health treatment.