Patient-reported outcomes in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS): use of idiographic and standardized measures.

Background: There is increasing emphasis on use of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in mental health but little research on the best approach, especially where there are multiple perspectives.
Aims: To present emerging findings from both standardized and idiographic child-, parent- and clinician-rated outcomes in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and consider their correlations.
Method: Outcomes were collected in CAMHS across the UK. These comprised idiographic measures (goal-based outcomes) and standardized measures (practitioner-rated Children's Global Assessment Scale; child- and parent-rated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire).
Results: There was reliable positive change from the beginning of treatment to later follow-up according to all informants. Standardized clinician function report was correlated with standardized child difficulty report (r  =  - 0.26), standardized parent report (r  =  - 0.28) and idiographic joint client-determined goals (r  =  0.38) in the expected directions.
Conclusions: These results suggest that routine outcome monitoring is feasible, and suggest the possibility of using jointly agreed idiographic measures alongside particular perspectives on outcome as part of a PROMs approach.