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It is important to identify valid and acceptable outcome measures so that interventions evaluating common mental health problems can be assessed appropriately. Some advocate the use of generic preference-based measures claimed to be applicable for all health interventions, but others argue that they are insensitive for common mental health problems. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM), to be used in cost-effectiveness studies in people with common mental health problems. The CORE-OM measure was tested for completeness, acceptability and responsiveness in a pilot study. Analyses for missing data, distribution of scores, and standardised response means (SRMs) were calculated. Missing data did not exceed 5% for any of the CORE-6D items both at baseline and follow-up. The overall comprehension rate was high, and only 19 participants (14%) requested clarifications to complete the questionnaire. As expected in a feasibility study, there was a small and non-significant SRM. CORE-OM is a valid and acceptable instrument to evaluate quality of life for people with common mental health problems. More research is needed with larger sample sizes to compare CORE-6D with other condition specific quality of life instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing interest in measuring wellbeing and mental health in a range of settings and services outside conventional mental health care settings. However, ensuring that measurement does not intrude on the primary service activity whilst promoting inclusion through minimizing literacy demands, requires ultra-brief and easy to use tools. To develop and test a brief emoji-based tool to assess mental health, wellbeing, resilience and community connection. In study 1, 672 adults completed an online questionnaire study comprising a new emoji measure and established questionnaires assessing mental health, resilience, community connection and wellbeing. In study 2, 415 participants completed a paper-and-pencil version of the emoji measure, mental health and community connection, with 212 individuals providing data at a second time point. Multidimensional scaling revealed a meaningful structure to the emoji measure with validity demonstrated through relationships to existing scales. Stability over time and sensitivity to change were also demonstrated. The emoji-based measure presented here provides an ultra-brief measure of mood and current experience, with minimal literacy demands on participants. Further research is now needed to test the properties and utility of the scale with other participant groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Psychiatric ward design may make an important contribution to patient outcomes and well-being. However, research is hampered by an inability to assess its effects robustly. This paper reports on a study which deployed innovative methods to capture service user and staff perceptions of ward design. Method: User generated measures of the impact of ward design were developed and tested on four acute adult wards using participatory methodology. Additionally, inpatients took photographs to illustrate their experience of the space in two wards. Data were compared across wards. Results: Satisfactory reliability indices emerged based on both service user and staff responses. Black and minority ethnic (BME) service users and those with a psychosis spectrum diagnosis have more positive views of the ward layout and fixtures. Staff members have more positive views than service users, while priorities of staff and service users differ. Inpatient photographs prioritise hygiene, privacy and control and address symbolic aspects of the ward environment. Conclusions: Participatory and visual methodologies can provide robust tools for an evaluation of the impact of psychiatric ward design on users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National Health Service use the Community Mental Health Service User Questionnaire (NHS-CMH) to assess care quality. However, its reliability and internal validity is uncertain. To test the NHS-CMH structure, reliability and item-level characteristics. We used data from 11,373 participants who answered the 2017 NHS-CMH survey. First, we estimated the NHS-CMH structure using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) in half of the dataset. Second, we tested the best EFA-derived model with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). We tested the internal validity, construct reliability (omega – ω), explained common variance of each factor (ECV), and item thresholds. EFA suggested a 4-factor solution. The structure derived from the EFA was confirmed, demonstrating good reliability for the four correlated dimensions: "Relationship with Staff" (ω = 0.952, ECV = 40.1%), "Organizing Care" (ω = 0.855, ECV = 21.4%), "Medication and Treatments" (ω = 0.837, ECV = 13.3%), and "Support and Well-being" (ω = 0.928, ECV = 25.3%). A second-order model with a high-order domain of "Quality of Care" is also supported. The NHS-CMH can be used to reliably assess four user-informed dimensions of mental health care quality. This model offers an alternative for its current use (item-level and untested sum scores analysis). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduced efforts to form and maintain social bonds can exist in the context of a sufficient desire for social connection. Thus, social impairment common across many psychiatric conditions may often reflect failures in social effort exertion, despite normative levels of social liking and wanting. Although there are many questionnaires available that assess sociability, desire, or lack thereof for connection and perceived social support, there is no current self-report assessment of the behavioral outputs of social motivation. We aimed to develop and validate a measure of the social effort in college students and the general population. College students (n = 981) and a broader sample of adults via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk; n = 506) participated in the study. We identified two factors that represented content related to general social effort and social effort in adherence with social norms; we named the measure the Social Effort and Conscientiousness Scale (SEACS). Results suggest the SEACS is a reliable and valid measure of social effort. Lower scores on the SEACS were associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety, highlighting the scale's potential utility in clinical populations. We include a discussion of possible applications of the SEACS, including its further use and application in psychopathology research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The development of safe and effective mental health services is a priority. This requires valid measures of personal recovery, yet these tools are not embedded in routine clinical practice. Brief “patient reported measures” are most likely to be acceptable to service-users and clinicians. The 4-item “Hope, Agency and Opportunity” (HAO) was co-produced to assess recovery outcomes and experience of mental health services. Aim: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the HAO. Method: A clinical sample from secondary healthcare services and a non-clinical sample were assessed at baseline and two weeks, on measures of personal recovery. Results: Factor analysis indicated goodness of fit for the HAO with both clinical and non-clinical samples. The measure demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, moderate to strong construct validity and substantial test-retest reliability over two weeks. Conclusions: The HAO demonstrates satisfactory psychometric properties. Co-production of the measure confers clinical credibility. The brevity of the tool means it can be incorporated into routine clinical practice to drive improvements in service quality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: This study looked at the relationship between “bright-side” and “dark-side” personality variables by focusing on the controversial trait ofPassive-Aggressiveness. Around 4800 British adults completed the NEO-PI-R which measures the Big Five Personality factors at the Domain and the Facet level, as well as the Hogan Development Survey (HDS) which has a measure of Passive-Aggressiveness called Leisurely. Aim: To determine to what extent the well-established Big Five traits measured at both domain and facet level can account for the variance in a measure of passive-aggressiveness. Findings: Correlations and regressions indicated that Leisurely individuals are introverted, closed-minded Neurotics, with particular needs for order and deliberation. Neuroticism facets accounted for most of the variance. Overall, the Big Five measured at Domain and Facet level accounted for relatively small amounts of variance, suggesting the divergent validity of this measure of PAPD. Conclusions: This scale measures something that is not captured by comprehensive taxonomies of personality. Limitations and implications for clinical practice are noted. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background:Despite the potential impact of shared decision making on users satisfaction with care and quality in health care decisions, there is a lack of knowledge and skills regarding how to work with shared decision making among health care providers. Aim:The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of three instruments that measure varied dimensions of shared decision making, based on self-reports by clients, in a Swedish community mental health context. Method:The study sample consisted of 121 clients with experience of community mental health care, and involved in a wide range of decisions regarding both social support and treatment. The questionnaires were examined for face and content validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability and construct validity. Results:The instruments displayed good face and content validity, satisfactory internal consistency and a moderate to good level of stability in test-retest reliability with fair to moderate construct correlations, in a sample of clients with serious mental illness and experience of community mental health services in Sweden. Conclusions:The questionnaires are considered to be relevant to the decision making process, user-friendly and appropriate in a Swedish community mental health care context. They functioned well in settings where non-medical decisions, regarding social and support services, are the primary focus. The use of instruments that measure various dimensions of the self-reported experience of clients, can be a key factor in developing knowledge of how best to implement shared decision making in mental health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The working or helping alliance is one of the most widely studied constructs in psychotherapy process research. Aim: The aim of this study was to adapt the patient and therapist forms of the Revised Helping Alliance Questionnaire II (HAq-II-P and HAq-II-T, respectively) into Spanish. Method: The two measurement instruments were adapted through a systematic translation process, a pilot study and a clinical study. The psychometric properties were examined following the third psychotherapy session. Results: Mean scores on the Spanish-language HAq-II-P and HAq-II-T were high. The corrected item-total correlations for >94% of the items were >0.30. Cronbach's α values for internal consistency were 0.88 and 0.93, respectively. Correlations for convergent validity with the respective versions of the Spanish-language Working Alliance Inventory were 0.80 and 0.87, respectively. In terms of predictive validity, there was a significant correlation between HAq-II-T and the patients' residual gain scores on the Spanish-language Beck Depression Inventory after the tenth psychotherapy session. Conclusions: These results are consistent with studies using the original English versions of the HAq-II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a preference for economic evaluations to measure outcomes in terms of quality-adjusted life years, generic measures of outcome are rarely used in mental health research involving young people. To explore the validity and responsiveness of the EQ-5D measure of health-related quality of life in adolescents with major depression. Data came from a clinical trial involving adolescents with persistent major depression (n = 199). Construct validity was tested using socio-demographic constructs and baseline clinical outcome scores. To assess convergent validity, correlation between EQ-5D and clinical outcome scores was tested. To assess responsiveness, the mean change in EQ-5D scores of participants categorised as improved versus not improved on clinical outcome measures was tested. Significant differences in mean EQ-5D score were found for co-morbidity and three of four severity measures but not gender, age, treatment history or suicide attempts. Mean EQ-5D scores were significantly correlated with all clinical outcome measures, although relationships were moderate or weak. A change in mean EQ-5D score was significantly related to clinical assessments of improvement on all outcome measures. Results provide initial evidence to support the relevance of the EQ-5D in adolescents with major depression, but this evidence is weak. Replication studies are needed to assess the generalisability of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]