The mental health care reform debate: a content analysis of position papers.

Traditional and ethnographic content analyses of 23 position papers on mental health care reform issued during 1993 yield a comprehensive overview of the specific subjects and broad policy issues that were of concern at that time. Five concrete aspects of mental health service delivery systems and eight policy issues were identified as most important in position papers by service provider organizations and advocacy groups. These analyses identified overall similarities in the content of the position papers, although interesting differences among organizations emerged. The analyses also identified a measure of the quality of policy discussions that is derived from comparing the frequency of concrete references to aspects of mental health care with references to broader policy issues.