A survey of rural community mental health needs and resources.

The authors conducted a survey of 215 rural community mental health centers across the country to determine their unique problems, needs, and resources. From the 92 responses they received, they formulated a composite description of the rural mental health scene. Their description focuses on services offered, skills required to operate effective rural programs, and problems in the delivery of care and of evaluation. From the responses they also analyzed the extent of inservice training available to rural practitioners, the support systems needed, and the functions a proposed national task force on rural mental health could perform.