Detecting "cracks" in mental health service systems: application of network analytic techniques.

This paper argued that problems of coordination and integration of community mental health systems are best approached from a network perspective in which all linkages between agencies are considered simultaneously. Structural coordination and integration can be assessed through the analysis of these linkages. The utility of this approach was demonstrated by deriving a typology of system "cracks" from network analytic constructs. A network analysis of a community mental health service network was then generated to illustrate how these cracks can be empirically identified. It is suggested that mental health planners will find both the network analytic approach and the typology of cracks useful for addressing problems of coordination and integration.