The effect of professional partnership on the development of a mutual-help organization.

The effects of partnership between Schizophrenics Anonymous (SA, a mutual-help organization) and the Mental Health Association in Michigan (MHAM, a professionally staffed advocacy organization) on SA's growth and development were explored. Following the initiation of a formal partnership, SA groups were more available throughout the state, more likely to be associated with formal mental health settings, and less likely to have leaders who had been participants in other SA groups. Groups with consumer leaders had significantly greater longevity than groups with professional leaders.

The adoption of innovation in collective action organizations.

This study used a quantitative/qualitative methodology to explore how collective action organizations (CAOs) remain open to organizational change and innovation. It examined the adoption of inclusion--a recent innovation in the field of disabilities--by local chapters of The Arc Michigan (a disabilities CAO). We found considerable variability in the adoption of inclusion by local Arc chapters.