A novel experiment involving 140 University volunteers, the Metropolitan State Hospital, and $87,000 from the National Institute of Mental Health started last week at Phillips Brooks House.

Originally conceived as a two-year project to study the influence of volunteer workers upon mentally-disturbed patients, PBH hopes to obtain $200,000 more from the government to continue the unique study for five years.

"We will try to determine whether college students are a valuable untapped resource in the 'treatment' of the mentally ill," project director David Kantor stated. The PBH inquiry will follow three main lines:

* The project will first attempt to discover the effects of volunteer workers upon mental hospital patients. A professional psychologist has investigated individual patients; he will make a re-evaluation at the end of the year to discover the volunteers' effect upon patients. In this "case aid" part of the PBH program, a volunteer works directly with a single patient.

* Researchers will also try to ascertain the effect of volunteers upon the hospital as a whole. Some students will work with entire wards, trying to cheer patients and help them regain self-esteem. A sociologist has started to study selected wards, and his investigation will be repeated after the volunteers complete their duties.

* The research grant finally permits investigation of the attitudes of individual students. Volunteers for the mental hospital program must fill out a comprehensive questionnaire, 80 minutes long, both before and after working with disturbed patients. The results will be analyzed to find out the attributes of the most effective volunteers.

Professionals to Assist

Professional leaders are heading up four case aid groups and four ward groups. A research assistant will correlate and tabulate data, and help prepare results to send to the National Institute of Mental Health.