Research note: Identifying ‘at risk’ persons in community based research

Since the passage of the U.S. 1963 Community Mental Health Act, all social planning is supposed to be community based. This means that policy research should be guided by the principle of community sensitivity, and not merely technical or logistical concerns. In this article the general tenets of community based research are outlined and applied to analyzing the currently controversial issue of what it means for a person or community to be clinically 'at risk'. Normally this topic is addressed in a purely technical manner, yet this approach must be altered if need identification is to be consistent with a community's own self-perception, thereby producing valid data.