A descriptive analysis of community support program case managers serving the chronically mentally ill.

This article presents a description of case managers who serve community-based chronically mentally ill (CMI) persons through the Community Support Program (CSP). Information is presented on case managers' demographic characteristics, education, job training, job history, current job activities, and locus of employment. Data were generated through the Case Manager Background Questionnaire, a 23-item self-administered instrument developed in conjunction with the CSP, a pilot Federal-State collaboration project designed to explore strategies for improving the delivery of community-based mental health and related services to the CMI. Results of the study suggest that a typical CSP case manager is white, female and in the mid-thirties. Case managers are a highly educated group; nearly one-half have graduate degrees and about two-thirds have participated in an in-service or continuing education program. Currently, two out of three CSP case managers are employed at Community Mental Health Centers and about one-third of their time is spent in direct service provision. While CSP case managers have been working at their present location for about one and one-half years, they have been in the community-based mental health system for about four years, and with the mentally disabled an average of seven years. A critical issue emerging from this analysis is the need for future research on the relationships among job training, education, job functions, and service delivery.