Federal Aid and State Decisions: The Case of Community Programs for The Mentally And/or Developmentally Disabled (Financing, Grants, Mental Health)
Finnegan, Daniel James
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/71489
Description
Title
Federal Aid and State Decisions: The Case of Community Programs for The Mentally And/or Developmentally Disabled (Financing, Grants, Mental Health)
Author(s)
Finnegan, Daniel James
Issue Date
1985
Department of Study
Social Work
Discipline
Social Work
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Social Work
Abstract
The federal government followed a consistent policy for the mentally and developmentally disabled between 1960 and 1980. The policy emphasized a shift away from institutional settings for the provision of services toward the provision of services in community settings. Between 1965 and 1980, fourteen federal categorical grant programs provided more than five billion dollars to implement this policy. This study examines the impacts of these federal categorical grants by testing whether the amounts of federal monies provided directly covary with subsequent changes in state expenditures for community services.
Multiple regression analysis is used to test for the relationship between the monies provided by federal categorical grants between 1971 and 1980 for the mentally and developmentally disabled and two dependent variables reflecting changes in state services. The first dependent variable measures the change between 1970 and 1980 in the percent of state expenditures for disabled populations which are allocated for community services. The second dependent variable measures the change in per capita expenditures between 1970 and 1980 by states for community services. In addition, several contextual variables are introduced to control for the effects of the different sociodemographic, and political settings in the states on state spending behavior.
Comparable data from twenty seven states is used to examine changes in state spending behavior. The amount of federal aid per capita provided by the categorical grants and the population of a state directly covary with both of the dependent variables. Additionally, a state's reliance on institutional systems of care in 1970 is inversely related to the change in the percent of state expenditures allocated to community services, while the tax effort of a state is directly related to changes in the amount of per capita expenditures by states on community services.
The categorical grants examined in the study appear to have stimulated both fiscal and substantive changes in the way that states provide services to the mentally and developmentally disabled. The study concludes that federal categorical grants are effective instruments for implementing federal policies intended to stimulate changes in state and local provisions of services.
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