MEASURING THE NEED FOR PSYCHIATRIC-TREATMENT IN THE GENERAL-POPULATION - THE COMMUNITY VERSION OF THE MRC NEEDS FOR CARE ASSESSMENT

The community version of the MRC Needs for Care Assessment Schedule (N FCAS-C) is a new instrument designed for the psychiatric conditions se en in general populations. Its principles are based on the original Ne eds for Care Assessment, although that was developed for the very diff erent population of those with long-standing mental illness (Brewin er al. 1987). The NFCAS-C is designed to reproduce, in an itemized and s ystematic manner, the functioning of well-organized primary care and p sychiatric services. It is primarily intended for research purposes, i n particular, the comparison of treatment needs and services in differ ent populations. In this paper we describe the problems of assessing t he need for psychiatric care in general populations and the rationale and development of the instrument, while in its companion we present t he results of a reliability study (Lesage et al. 1995).