Use of Research in the Practice of Community Mental Health: A Case Study

Although science is commonly viewed as providing the knowledge base for the practice of mental health, the realization of the mental health professional as a scientist-practitioner has been problematic. Questions can be raised regarding the extent to which psychotherapy is data-generating or even data-based. In an attempt to assess the degree to which research was cited by practitioners in justifying their initial treatment decisions, 416 representatively sampled intake evaluation reports from a community mental health center that requires a "rationale/justification for preliminary mode and type of therapy" were examined. Practitioners, in general, failed to provide rationales for their treatment decisions, and research was seldom cited when rationales were provided.