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The Experience of Children's Mental Health Leaders During Times of Constraint: A Narrative Study

Levison-Johnson, Jody
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9822-7582
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1604218872367868

Abstract Details

2020, Ph.D., Antioch University, Leadership and Change.
Across the United States, each state has a public mental health system that is designed to support children and youth with emotional and behavioral challenges. This is critically important as recent estimates show that one in six children in the United States has a diagnosed mental health condition (Whitney & Peterson, 2019). The design and structure of these systems vary by state, but consistent across them is the presence of a state-designated leader who is faced with an array of constraining factors that influence their behavior and shape the resulting system. This study describes the experience of leaders in children’s mental health administration and how they define, interpret, and perceive their current environments; the constraining factors that impact them, such as decline, instability, risk, politics, policy, and random events; and the strategies they engage in to achieve their goals. Using narrative inquiry, this study captures the experiences of ten leaders engaged in state-level children’s mental health system reform. These stories paint a rich picture of the complexity of leading change in public sector environments where there is dynamic interplay across people, politics, and policy and offer new insights into effecting change in complex systems. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/.
Jon Wergin, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Elizabeth Holloway, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Sharon Hodges, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
184 p.
Behavioral Sciences; Health Care; Health Care Management; Management; Mental Health; Organizational Behavior; Public Administration; Public Policy; Social Research; Social Work; Systems Design; Welfare
Childrens Mental Health; Childrens Mental Health Systems; Constraint; Leadership; Mental Health, Narrative Inquiry; Public Sector; Retrenchment

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Levison-Johnson, J. (2020). The Experience of Children's Mental Health Leaders During Times of Constraint: A Narrative Study [Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1604218872367868

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Levison-Johnson, Jody. The Experience of Children's Mental Health Leaders During Times of Constraint: A Narrative Study. 2020. Antioch University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1604218872367868.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Levison-Johnson, Jody. "The Experience of Children's Mental Health Leaders During Times of Constraint: A Narrative Study." Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1604218872367868

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

antioch1604218872367868
272
© 2020, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Antioch University and OhioLINK.