The Program for Clubhouse Research

Included among the major initiatives at CMHSR is a program specifically designed to study clubhouses with two primary foci: first, the study of the processes and programs through which psychiatric disability can be addressed or ameliorated; and second, consideration of the ways in which psychiatric disability, like other disability, is constructed through a complex interaction of biological, personal, social, and environmental factors.

Through the Program for Clubhouse Research,CMHSR maintains strong links with the International Center on Clubhouse Development, located in New York, as well as ties with Clubhouse programs around the world. The Program for Clubhouse Research was created January 2000 through an affiliation between the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and the International Center for Clubhouse Development (ICCD). Its purpose is to develop and support an international research agenda and to increase the quality and quantity of research on the clubhouse model of psychiatric rehabilitation. In active collaboration with Genesis Club, a clubhouse and international training center located in the Worcester area and the ICCD, the Clubhouse Research Program has begun to take on the role of both coordinator and initiator of research related practices at and the effectiveness of Clubhouse model programs.

Mission

The mission of the Program for Clubhouse Research is to facilitate, promote, develop, and assure the quality of clubhouse research. Broadly defined, the Program for Clubhouse Research will coordinate, promote, and conduct clubhouse research projects which are congruent with clubhouse philosophy and evaluate the effectiveness of the clubhouse model of psychiatric rehabilitation and/or describe the services that clubhouses provide for their members.

Functions

The Program for Clubhouse Research will provide a number of functions. One important function of the program is conducting clubhouse research with ICCD clubhouses and other academic institutions, both in and out of the United States. A second important function is acting as a clearinghouse for clubhouse research with the capacity to provide effective communication, dissemination of information, and assistance to clubhouses and researchers considering participation in clubhouse research projects. Third, the Program for Clubhouse Research has developed a set of ICCD Guidelines for Clubhouse Research that has been widely disseminated throughout the international clubhouse network.

Current Research Project Related to the Program for Clubhouse Research:

Massachusetts Clubhouse Coalition Employment Expansion Project 

Additionally you may be interested in the following issue brief:

Click here to exit this website and obtain information on additional research conducted on behalf of the International Center for Clubhouse Development.