Referral Follow-up by Clinicians in a Community Mental Health Center

In 1973 a study was conducted at the Western Psychiatric Institute in Pittsburgh to assess the extent of discrimination by clinicians against chronically ill clients In establishing Initial treatment arrangements. Forty referrals (all simulated) were assigned to the center's five treatment teams; 20 of the referrals suggested a mild disorder, and 20 suggested a severe and chronic disorder. Premature termination of the study reduced the sample size from 40 to 29, and the findings regarding discrimination were inconclusive. However, the study revealed the unexpected finding that 34 per cent of the referrals received no follow-up. The author discusses the implications of that finding in relation to the basic principles of community mental health, and also to the large amounts of resources allocated to increasing service utilization in the center under study.