The perceived utility of six selected measures of consumer outcomes proposed for routine use in Australian mental health services

Objective: This paper aims to assess the utility of six measures of consume r outcomes: the Behaviour and Symptom Identification Scale, the Mental Heal th Inventory (MHI), the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Survey, t he Health of the Nation Outcome Scales, the Life Skills Profile (LSP) and t he Role Functioning Scale previously recommended for the routine assessment in Australian mental health services. Method: Consumers and service providers were invited through focus group di scussions and surveys to describe the perceived utility of these selected m easures. Results: All six measures were rated favourably. The qualitative and quanti tative findings suggest that the MHI elicited the most positive results of the consumer measures. No observer-rated scale was clearly preferred. Conclusion: The qualitative feedback obtained indicated that process and co ntext issues may be as important to the successful use of routine instrumen ts for the measurement of consumer outcomes in clinical practice as the cho ice of instrument.