The twenty-first century has witnessed an explosion in studies on comparative health studies, but mental health remains virtually ignored. Unlike the well researched topic of health policy, there is a gap in the marketplace covering mental health policy and health care policymaking. This book fills that gap; it is a comparative analysis of the implementation of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), an evidence-based practice employed in two states that promises to empower the well-being of individuals suffering from mental illness. --- from the publisher “Can innovation be institutionalied? How can such objectives as quality and consumer empowerment and recovery, on the one hand, be reconciled with the drive for cost-savings, on the other? Is it possible to balance standardiation with ground-level creativity and flexibility in the dissemination of model programs? Does an evidence-based service approach divert attention from crucial dimensions of effective program performance? These and other pivotal questions are examined by Sandra Johnson in this important new work concerning the spread of Assertive Community Treatment programs for individuals with severe mental health problems. Johnson makes a key contribution to our understanding of the politics of mental health policy, particularly the process of implementation, by calling attention to the political and economic factors impinging on the operation of ACT in two states based on her close familiarity with the policy studies literature combined with in-depth empirical research. Her findings deserve broad consideration.” |
