Om ROPIT-prosjektet, teoretisk forankring og metode

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the ROPIT project on which many of the book’s chapters rely. Firstly, we give a brief account of the theoretical perspectives behind the common basis of the chapters, especially institutional theory. We discuss how these perspectives may shed light on the processes for change within the policy and service field that people with addiction and mental health issues encounter. We then describe some characteristics of these transformative processes outlined in the first chapter, such as decentralization and the emergence of locally based services, professional development with an emphasis on user perspectives, and the challenges facing the services in relation to goals for coordinated and integrated services. An important point is that the development processes have relatively clear implications with regard to what one does not want to characterize the services, and in practice open up a far more unclear framework for how to structure the services. Secondly, the ROPIT project is described in greater detail. Finally, the method and data material of the ROPIT project, which the book’s contributors also use in their analyses, are presented.