A profile of the rural community mental health center.

This paper-part of a national study of community mental health worker role activism-compares community mental health center with their counterparts in other geographic areas. Rural workers were most likely to view their centers as being most like social agencies. Their endorsement of community mental health ideology was also significantly higher. Role was measured from two perspectives: organizational and personal. Again, staff at rural community mental health centers were significantly different: They endorsed the highest levels of both organizational and personal activism and showed the least discrepancy between the two. It is concluded that rural community mental health centers and their staff represent an important and unique response to the problem of community mental health services delivery.