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Capturing system level activities and impacts of mental health consumer-run organizations

  • Published:
American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

Since the 1970s mental health consumer-run organizations have come to offer not only mutual support, but they have also adopted agendas for broader social change. Despite an awareness of the need for system level efforts that create supportive environments for their members, there has been limited research demonstrating how their system level activities can be documented or their impacts evaluated. The purpose of this paper is to feature a method of evaluating systems change activities and impacts. The paper is based on a longitudinal study evaluating four mental health consumer-run organizations in Ontario, Canada. The study tracked system level activities and impacts using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The article begins by describing the development and implementation of these methods. Next it offers a critical analysis of the methods used. It concludes by reflecting on three lessons learned about capturing system level activities and impacts of mental health consumer-run organizations.

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Acknowledgement

This research was one of several projects funded under the Community Mental Health Evaluation Initiative (CMHEI) by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care through the Ontario Mental Health Foundation. We would like to thank staff members of the Centre for Research and Education in Human Services, who comprised the research team for this project and who assisted with data collection and analysis; members of the Ontario Peer Development Initiative and the four Consumer/Survivor Initiatives who participated on the project steering committee and guided the conceptualization, implementation, interpretation, and dissemination of the research; and the investigators for the CMHEI and research staff of the Health Systems Research and Consulting Unit, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health—Clarke Division, Toronto, for their work in coordinating all of the projects and for processing all of the data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Research and Education in Human Services, 73 King St. West. Suite 300, N2G 1A7, Kitchener, ON, Canada

    Rich Janzen, Nadia Hausfather & Joanna Ochocka

  2. Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, N2L 3C5, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Geoffrey Nelson

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  1. Rich Janzen
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  2. Geoffrey Nelson
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  4. Joanna Ochocka
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Correspondence to Rich Janzen.

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Janzen, R., Nelson, G., Hausfather, N. et al. Capturing system level activities and impacts of mental health consumer-run organizations. Am J Community Psychol 39, 287–299 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-007-9107-2

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