Specific objectives of this proposal are to evaluate the use of more systematic research program management techniques (e.g., for defining program objectives, for facilitating the diffusion of knowledge) in the test-bed area of children's mental health services development, both in terms of the direct impact which such techniques have on that area and in terms of the utilizability of the management techniques. The proposed research will include examination of the impact of the use of the techniques on interactions between the test-bed area and HEW policy makers and on the program's interaction with other program areas. It will investigate factors which facilitate the adoption of the techniques by other research programs. The project will quantitatively evaluate changes in proposal submission that result from specifying program plans. It will evaluate the utilization of knowledge disseminated as monographs which synthesize existing knowledge about defined objectives. It will, in addition, utilize factors, specified in the Decision Determinant Analysis (DDA) model of organizational change to analyze characteristics of management techniques which effect their utilization. This analysis will be based on interviews of, and collaborative work with, National Institute of Mental Health Staff who are using the techniques. The techniques will be further evaluated by conducting and monitoring test applications of the techniques in additional mental health service development research areas - e.g., deinstitutionalizing, financing, prevention - and in other NIMH programs - e.g., crime and delinquency, and minority mental health. Experimental diffusion and utilization efforts will be conducted, in collaboration with The American University, to assess the generality of the techniques to R&D programs outside the NIMH.