Community Adaptation as an Evaluative Concept in Community Mental Health

THIS PAPER outlines the background to the conceptualization, and the tentative instrumentation of "community adaptation." Data from an initial study using the "Community Adaptation Schedule" is presented. Applications for the evaluation of community mental health programs are discussed.

The Need for Program Evaluation  The interest being stimulated in the field of community mental health compels attention to the many voices¹ raised in warning about the need for research and evaluation. Properly feared is a possible digression that may cause embarrassment decades hence. The undertaking of carefully controlled studies in this field has been hampered by the lack of sound evaluation techniques. Besides the Well—known difficulties of measuring change after an intervention, the absence of an appropriate criterion relevant to the goals of community mental health makes the task that much harder. Approaches embodying crisis consultation, multilevel prevention, short-term treatment, sector analysis, and the