Case Studies of Mental Health Services in Smaller Communities in Northern Ontario
J.R. Swenson, R.W. Pong, R. Cooke, A. Rudnick, F. Grondin, P. Montgomery, J.E. Sherman, M.G. Delmege, and P.E. Timony

CRaNHR researchers continue their collaboration with the Ontario Psychiatric Outreach Programs (OPOP) to examine the delivery of psychiatric outreach and mental health services in smaller Northern Ontario communities. The proposed case study approach will examine services at the community level (rather than at the individual provider level), with a particular focus on access to care, service integration and the development of shared care models. Building on three earlier phases, the study will use rapid community assessment methods to develop community case studies. Researchers will then compare communities currently receiving outreach services from OPOP to those without OPOP services.

The objectives of the study are to understand how psychiatric and mental health services are implemented at the community level, and how community-level factors affect the delivery of these services; compare service delivery and service access in "OPOP communities" with non-OPOP communities; identify innovations and strategies that may be effective in other communities; and understand the meaning of "shared care" and "collaborative care" in the small, rural, and northern service delivery context.

(commissioned by the Ontario Psychiatric Outreach Program)



(Names in bold denote CRaNHR investigators and research staff.)