Mental Health Services In MH Specialty Settings (SRSP)

Reviews applications that focus on clinical services and service systems, such as innovative service delivery systems; studies at the interface of service and interventions, such as studies of treatment guidelines and practice patterns; and policy, cost and dissemination research. For SRSP, the focus will particularly be on applications assessing service sites that are considered specialty mental health settings, such as mental health clinics, psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation/reintegration, and mental health-related departments in institutions. Sites that are likely to focus on mental health, such as some crisis centers, are included, as well as applications related to treatment engagement in mental health services and psychiatric medication adherence. Services studies may include data from human subjects of all age ranges and from all cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Research may examine organizations, systems and/or communities. Research methods may include qualitative or quantitative techniques, including large data sets, such as national health data sets and Medicare claims data where those data focus on specialty mental health service use.

Specific Areas Covered by SRSP:

• Multiple criteria evaluation of effectiveness of treatment and services when applied in specialty settings;
• Evaluation of rehabilitation and related services for individuals with multiple alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health disorders in specialty mental health settings;
• Organization, financing, and cost-effectiveness of mental health and related services in specialty settings;
• Financing, delivery, and use of pharmacological agents in the treatment of mental illness;
• Services needs of particular populations within specialty settings;
• Evaluation of innovative service delivery models and methods of treatment engagement in specialty settings;
• Defining and describing the care received in specialty settings and establishing and testing standards for quality of care;
• Methodological and statistical challenges inherent in conducting mental health services research in specialty settings;
• Evaluation of dissemination methods on improving mental health services in specialty settings;
• The effect of social and cultural contexts on the delivery of care, acceptance of care, acceptance of mental illness and persons with mental illness, and treatment of such persons in specialty settings.

SRSP has the following shared interests within the NIMH IRG:

With Interventions Committee for Adult Disorders (ITVA): ITVA reviews applications concerned with clinical trials and treatments applied to mental health disorders and outcomes at the level of the individual subject  while SRSP reviews applications of clinical services and service systems with a focus on service sites considered specialty mental health settings (i.e., mental health clinics, psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation/reintegration, and mental health-related departments in institutions).

With Interventions Committee for Disorders Involving Children and Their Families (ITVC): ITVC reviews applications concerned with clinical trials and treatments as applied to a broad range of mental health disorders in children, while SRSP reviews applications of clinical services and service systems with a focus on service sites considered specialty mental health settings (i.e., mental health clinics, psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation/reintegration, and mental health-related departments in institutions).

With Mental Health Services in Non-Specialty Settings (SRNS): SRSP and SRNS both review applications of clinical services and service systems, however, the focus of SRNS is on service sites considered non-specialty mental health settings, such as primary or specialist medical care, schools, child welfare agencies, criminal justice settings, shelters, and other social service agencies where the primary focus of care is not mental health and SRSP reviews applications with a focus on service sites considered specialty mental health settings (i.e., mental health clinics, psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation/reintegration, and mental health-related departments in institutions). Applications involving comparisons of specialty and non-specialty settings will be assigned on a case-to-case basis.

(* These descriptions should to be used as guidelines when determining the appropriate review locus for your application. In many instances, applications involve areas of science and/or methodologies that cross between study sections. In those instances, it is the staff within the NIMH Scientific Review Branch who, in consultation with the applicant if he/she requested a specific section, ultimately determines where an application will be reviewed.)