Historically, consumers of mental health services have not been given meaningful roles in research and change efforts related to the services they use. This is quickly changing as scholars and a growing number of funding bodies now call for greater consumer involvement in mental health services research and improvement. Amidst these calls, community-based participatory research (CBPR) has emerged as an approach which holds unique promise for capitalizing on consumer involvement in mental health services research and change. Yet, there have been few discussions of the value added by this approach above and beyond that of traditional means of inquiry and enhancement in adult mental health services. The purpose of this paper is to add to this discussion an understanding of potential multilevel and multifaceted benefits associated with consumer-involved CBPR. This is accomplished through presenting the first-person accounts of four stakeholder groups who were part of a consumer-involved CBPR project purposed to improve the services of a local community mental health center. We present these accounts with the hope that by illustrating the unique outcomes associated with CBPR, there will be invigorated interest in CBPR as a vehicle for consumer involvement in adult mental health services research and enhancement.

The PAI was a useful outcome measure for the public policy activities. Active learning experiences in public policy can increase the knowledge and skills that future nurses need to influence public policy.

Home visiting is a central, long-standing, and yet theoretically underdeveloped public health nursing process. The general aim of this study was to expand and refine a preliminary model of home visiting. A stylized field research investigation was conducted in the area of maternal-child health with one nurse in a visiting nurse association in New England. A specific type of home visiting, identified as child focused, emerged, with phases labeled as surveying and designating; selling and scheduling; approaching the home and the visit; entering the home; gaining permission to ask questions and access the infant--starting with the mother's expressed concerns; making the caregiving judgment--asking questions and weighing and examining the infant; and ending the visit. "Haunting and telling" was an additional phase for certain visits. The nurse conducted child-focused home visiting in three patterns. The single pattern is described in this article. Potential maternal, child, interactive, and environmental consequences were identified, as were factors influencing the process of maternal-child home visiting. Social exchange theory emerged as useful in describing how the nurse initiated, maintained, and ended the home visiting process, and in describing attendant client consequences.