Date
9-17-2026
Department
Helms School of Government
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration (PhD)
Chair
Corinne Bates
Keywords
adult behavioral health, Connecticut, funding constraints, nonprofit organizations, patient outcomes, public administration, treatment completion
Disciplines
Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
Recommended Citation
Ward, Selma Nevada, "Nonprofit Behavioral Health Continuum for Connecticut Adults: Funding, Providers, and Outcomes" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 8890.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/8890
Abstract
This applied quantitative, nonexperimental study examined the relationship among funding resources, provider type, and adult behavioral health treatment outcomes in Connecticut. Aggregate archival funding and treatment-completion data from 2019 through 2023 were analyzed for nonprofit, hospital-based, and state-operated providers and supplemented by descriptive survey responses from behavioral health stakeholders. Annual one-way analyses of variance examined provider-type differences in treatment completion, and exploratory t tests compared nonprofit providers with a combined hospital/state-operated group. Funding, cost, and survey data were analyzed descriptively because provider-level financial and outcome records were not consistently linkable. The annual analyses of variance found no statistically significant provider-type differences. An unadjusted 2019 follow-up comparison favored nonprofit providers, but the result was not replicated from 2020 through 2023. Descriptive findings showed substantially higher state-operated funding and lower reported nonprofit cost per service; however, the data did not support causal or cost-effectiveness conclusions. Survey respondents commonly perceived funding constraints as limiting service capacity and reported coordination challenges and organizational adaptations. The findings indicate that provider type alone did not consistently explain treatment completion. The proposed Collaborative Funding and Operational Model aligns funding stability, diversified revenue, performance-informed incentives, standardized reporting, workforce stabilization, and interagency coordination.
