Community Mental Health Psychologist Survey

Reference

Rossi, A. M., Klein, D. C., von Felsinger, J. M., & Plaut, T. F. A. (1961). A survey of psychologists in community mental health: Activities and opinions on education needs. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 75(4), 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0093769

Community Mental Health Psychologist Survey

INSTRUCTIONS

A sample range of answers has been provided for each question. These have been included only to indicate the type of answers we have in mind. They in no way were meant to be inclusive of all possible answers.

Therefore, please feel free to answer each question in your own way , always attempting to be as specific as possible under the circumstances.

I. What are your present professional activities (including part time activities)?
1. □ Research. Hours per month spent in this activity __________.
a. Type (e.g., program assessment, operational, action, laboratory, clinical, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
b. Subjects (e.g., college students, adult hosp. patients, juvenile delinquents, workers in industry,
families, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
c. Role in research (e.g., administrative only, collection of data, consultant in various phases, analysis
of data, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
2. □ Teaching Psychology. Hours per month spent in this activity __________.
a. Setting (e.g., Dept. of Psychology, School of Public Health, Dept. of Psychiatry, Institute, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
b. Course content (e.g., general, clinical, social, consultation, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
c. Level (e.g., undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
3. □ Training Psychologists. Hours per month spent in this activity __________.
a. Setting (e.g., child guid. clinic, hosp. outpatient dept., personnel dept. in industry, community
clinic, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
b. Subject matter (e.g., therapy, diagnosis, consultation, community organization, administration,
etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________

4. □ In-Service Training (excluding psychologists). Hours per month spent in this activity __________.
a. Setting (e.g., child guid. clinic, hosp. outpatient dept., community clinic, state dept. of mental
health, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
b. Audience (e.g., psychiatrists, social workers, teachers, nurses, ministers, probation officers, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
5. □ Therapy. Hours per month spent in this activity __________.
a. Setting (e.g., guid. dept. in school, V A mental hyg. clinic, state hosp., private practice, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
b. Clients (e.g., grossly-disturbed children, delinquents, underachieving students, adult offenders,
alcoholics, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
c. Methods (e.g., group, individual, long-term individual, short-term individual, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
6. □ Diagnosis. Hours per month spent in this activity __________.
a. Setting (e.g., guid. dept. in school, V A mental hyg. clinic, state hosp., private practice, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
b. Purpose (e.g., aid treatment, research, selection, discharge planning, vocational guid., etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
7. □ Administration. Hours per month spent in this activity __________.
a. Primary type of program (e.g., service, research, educational, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
b. Institutional setting (e.g., child guid. clinic, hosp. outpatient dept., state dept. of mental health,
etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________

8. □ Consultation. Hours per month spent in this activity __________.
a. To whom (e.g., schools, social agencies, correction agencies, health units, industry, etc.)?
_________________________________________________________________________________
b. In what areas (e.g., program planning, treatment, research training, personnel practices, diagnosis,
etc.)?
_________________________________________________________________________________
9. □ Community Education. Hours per month spent in this activity __________.
a. Method (e.g., discussion groups, lectures, sociodrama, TV, radio, newspaper articles, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
b. Primary audience (e.g., parents, PTA groups, church groups, civic organizations, community at
large, etc.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
10. □ Other activities. (Please specify and indicate number of hours per month.)
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
A Reminder: The sample answers are meant ONLY AS EXAMPLES; therefore, please feel free to answer each
question in your own way.

IIA. If you could have had (or did have) specific education or training in any of the content areas listed below,
which ones do you think would have (or have) best prepared you for your present professional activities?
(Note: Please rank order your choices.)
a. □ administration
b. □ community organization
c. □ short-term (crisis) therapy
d. □ consultation theory and techniques
e. □ public health principles and techniques
f. □ action research
g. □ epidemiology, ecology, biostatistics, etc.
h. □ principles and concepts of allied social sciences
other content areas (specify):
i. □ _________________________________________________________________________________
j. □ _________________________________________________________________________________
k. □ _________________________________________________________________________________
IIB. If the opportunity for education or training in the specific content areas you have checked above were to
become generally available to psychologists, at what level should this opportunity be offered? (It is realized
that you may feel that some content areas may be appropriate at one level while other content areas may be
appropriate at another level. However, if you had to choose one level, which level would that be?)
a. □ predoctoral
b. □ postdoctoral right after PhD
c. □ postdoctoral after a few years post-PhD experience
d. □ other (specify)
A Reminder: The sample answers are meant ONLY AS EXAMPLES; therefore, please feel free to answer each
question in your own way.
IIC. Predoctoral training of this type for psychologists should be offered primarily
a. □ within Departments of Psychology.
b. □ within interdepartmental programs or institutes.
c. □ other (specify)

IID . Postdoctoral training of this type for psychologists should be offered primarily
a. □ within Departments of Psychology.
b. □ within interdepartmental programs or institutes.
c. □ within Schools of Public Health.
d. □ by means of workshops.
e. □ within the framework of well-organized on-going community mental health programs.
f. □ other (specify) __________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
III. On the basis of your present knowledge concerning the demands made upon your time in your professional
duties and the development of your interests, what activities do you feel you will be doing more of in the
foreseeable future? (Note: Please rank order your choices.)
a. □ consultation
b. □ administration
c. □ community education
d. □ in-service education
e. □ research
f. □ therapy
g. □ diagnosis
h. □ teaching
i. □ ______________________________
j. □ ______________________________
k. □ ______________________________
l. □ ______________________________
A Reminder: The sample answers are meant ONLY AS EXAMPLES ; therefore, please feel free to answer each
question in your own way.
IVA. In what year would you say your interest in community mental health developed to the point where you
would state explicitly, “I am interested in the area of community mental health”?
a. 19 □
b. not yet □
c. □ never
IVB. What were the strongest influences in the development of your interest in community mental health
activities? (Note: Please rank order your choices.)
a. □ university staff during my education
b. □ supervisors during my internship
c. □ specific colleagues or friends within psychology
d. □ specific colleagues or friends outside psychology
e. □ job duties which involved community mental health activities
f. □ dissatisfaction with traditional activities (e.g., testing, therapy, etc.)
g. □ Zeitgeist
h. □ _____________________________________________________________________________________
i. □ ______________________________________________________________________________________
j. □ ______________________________________________________________________________________

V. Within the foreseeable future, “community mental health” for psychologists should primarily be: (Note:
Make only one choice.)
a. □ a specialty, comparable to clinical psychology, industrial psychology, etc.
b. □ an attitude, comparable to the clinical attitude or public health attitude, etc.
c. □ an area of interest, comparable to juvenile delinquency, geriatrics, etc.
d. □ other (specify) _________________________________________________________________________
A Reminder: The sample answers are meant ONLY AS EXAMPLES ; therefore, please feel free to answer each
question in your own way.
VI. We would like to include as broad a sample as possible in this questionnaire survey. However, since there is
no available list of psychologists interested in community mental health, we must rely on “word-of-mouth”
procedures to learn who these psychologists are. You can be of great aid in this task by listing below the names
of those psychologists who you know to be interested in, or engaged in, community mental health activities,
and whom you feel that we might not have included in this survey.
1. ________________________________________
2. ________________________________________
3. ________________________________________
4. ________________________________________
5. ________________________________________
6. ________________________________________
7. ________________________________________
8. ________________________________________
9. ________________________________________
10. ________________________________________
VII. General comments concerning any of the areas covered by this questionnaire or concerning the education
and training- of psychologists for community mental health activities.

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________