Abstract
This study assessed the perceived quality of care by consumers with severe mental disorders. A questionnaire investigating service quality was developed by a consumer focus group and filled by 204 consumers. In five areas the negative evaluations exceeded or closely approximated the positive ones: choice of professionals, waiting times, information about illness and medications. All five do not refer to the outcomes of care, but to the concept of responsiveness. The results confirmed that people with severe mental disorders can give value judgments on various aspects of care. However, even in a service strongly oriented towards community care, the consumers’ needs in sensitive areas concerning choices, respect and autonomy are not met. The application of the concept of responsiveness to quality improvement may help services to meet consumers’ expectations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Avis, M., Bond, M., & Arthur, A. (1997). Questioning patient satisfaction: An empirical investigation in two outpatient clinics. Social Science and Medicine, 44, 88–92.
Barbato, A. (1998). Psychiatry in transition: Outcomes of mental health policy shift in Italy. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 32, 673–679.
Bowling, A. (2005). Mode of questionnaire administration can have serious effects on data quality. Journal of Public Health, 27, 281–291.
Bramesfeld, A., Kippel, U., Seidel, G., Schwartz, F. W., & Dierks, M. L. (2007). How do patients expect the mental health service system to act ? Testing the WHO responsiveness concept for its appropriateness in mental health care. Social Science and Medicine, 65, 880–889.
Bridges, J. F. P., Slawik, L., Schmeding, A., Reimer, J., Naber, D., & Kuhnigk, O. (2013). A test of concordance between patient and psychiatrist valuations of multiple treatment goals for schizophrenia. Health Expectations, 16, 164–176.
Buckley, P. F., Wirshing, D. A., Bhushan, P., Pierre, J. M., Resnick, S. A., & Wirshing, W. C. (2007). Lack of insight in schizophrenia: Impact on treatment adherence. CNS Drugs, 21, 129–141.
Clark, C. C., Scott, E. A., Boydell, K. M., & Goering, P. (1999). Effects of client interviewers on client-reported satisfaction with mental health services. Psychiatric Services, 50, 961–963.
Cleary, M., Horsfall, J., & Hunt, G. E. (2003). Consumer feedback on nursing care and discharge planning. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 42, 269–277.
Cohen, J. (1968). Weighted kappa. Nominal scale agreement with provision for scaled disagreement or partial credit. Psychological Bulletin, 70, 213–220.
Collins, K., & O’Cathain, A. (2003). The continuum of patient satisfaction—from satisfied to very satisfied. Social Science and Medicine, 57, 2465–2470.
Cornwall, A., & Jewkes, R. (1995). What is participatory research? Social Science and Medicine, 41, 1667–1676.
De Haan, L., Van Raaij, B., Van den Berg, R., Jager, M., Houweling, P., Stockmann, M., et al. (2001). Preferences for treatment during a first psychotic episode. European Psychiatry, 16, 83–89.
Eisen, S. V., Shaul, J. A., Leff, H. S., Stringfellow, V., Clarridge, B. R., & Cleary, P. D. (2001). Toward a national consumer survey: Evaluation of the CABHS and MHSIP Instruments. Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research, 28, 347–369.
Frankel, R. M., & Hourigan, N. T. (2004). Thirty-five voices in search of an author: What focus groups reveal about patients’ experiences in managed care settings. Communication and Medicine, 1, 45–58.
Gigantesco, A., Picardi, A., Chiaia, E., Balbi, A., & Morosini, P. (2002). Patients’ and relatives’ satisfaction with psychiatric services in a large catchment area in Rome. European Psychiatry, 17, 139–147.
Groenewegen, P. P., Kerssens, J. J., Sixma, H. J., Van der Eijk, I., & Boerma, W. G. W. (2005). What is important in evaluating health care quality? An international comparison of user views. BMC Health Services Research, 5, 16.
Haggerty, J. L. (2010). Are measures of patient satisfaction hopelessly flawed? British Medical Journal, 341, 790–791.
Hopkins, J. E., Loeb, S. J., & Fick, D. M. (2009). Beyond satisfaction, what service users expect of inpatient mental health care: A literature review. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 16, 927–937.
Howard, P. B., El-Mallakh, P., Rayens, M. K., & Clark, J. J. (2003). Consumer perspectives on quality of inpatient mental health services. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 17, 205–217.
Jorm, A., & Oh, E. (2009). Desire for social distance from people with mental disorders. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 43, 183–200.
Landis, J., & Koch, J. J. (1977). The measurement of observed agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33, 159–174.
Laugharne, R., & Priebe, S. (2006). Trust, choice and power in mental health. A literature review. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 41, 843–852.
Linhorst, D. M., & Eckert, A. (2002). Involving people with severe mental illness in evaluation and performance improvement. Evaluation and the Health Professions, 25, 284–301.
Marshall, S. L., Crowe, T. P., Oades, L. G., Dean, F. F., & Kavanagh, D. J. (2007). A review of consumer involvement in evaluations of case management: Consistency with a recovery paradigm. Psychiatric Services, 58, 396–401.
Mason, K., Olmos-Gallo, A. O., Bacon, D., McQuilken, M., Henley, A., & Fisher, S. (2004). Exploring the consumers’ and providers’ perspective on service quality in community mental health care. Community Mental Health Journal, 40, 33–46.
McColl, E., Jacoby, A., Thomas, L., Soutter, J., Bamford, C., Steen, N., et al. (2001). Design and use of questionnaires: A review of best practice applicable to surveys of health service staff and patients. Health Technology Assessment, 5, 1–256.
Noble, L. M., Douglas, B. C., & Newman, S. P. (2001). What do patients expect of psychiatric services? A systematic and critical review of empirical studies. Social Science and Medicine, 52, 985–998.
Rogers, A., & Pilgrim, D. (1993). Service users’ views of psychiatric treatments. Sociology of Health & Illness, 15, 612–631.
Roth, D., & Crane-Ross, D. (2002). Impact of services met needs, and service empowerment on consumer outcomes. Mental Health Services Research, 4, 43–56.
Ruggeri, M., & Dall’Agnola, R. (1993). The development and use of the Verona expectations for care scale (VECS) and the Verona service satisfaction scale (VSSS) for measuring expectations and satisfaction with community-based psychiatric services to patients, relatives and professionals. Psychological Medicine, 23, 511–523.
Ruggeri, M., Lasalvia, G., Salvi, G., Cristofalo, D., Bonetto, C., & Tansella, M. (2007). Application and usefulness of routine measurement of patients’ satisfaction with community-based mental health care. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 116(suppl. 437), 53–65.
Shojania, K. G., & Grimshaw, J. M. (2005). Evidence-based quality improvement: The state of the science. Health Affairs, 24, 138–150.
Shumway, M., Saunders, T., Shern, D., Pines, E., Downs, A., Burbine, T., et al. (2003). Preferences for schizophrenia treatment outcomes among public policy makers, consumers, families, and providers. Psychiatric Services, 54, 1124–1128.
Simpson, E. L., & House, A. O. (2002). Involving users in the delivery and evaluation of mental health services: Systematic review. British Medical Journal, 325, 1265–1268.
Smith, M. E., & Ganju, V. (2006). The MHSIP mental health quality report: The next generation of performance measures. In R. W. Manderscheid & J. T. Berry (Eds.), Mental health, United States, 2004. DHHS Pub No. (SMA)-06-4195. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration.
Thornicroft, G., & Tansella, M. (2005). Growing recognition of the importance of service user involvement in mental health service planning and evaluation. Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale, 14, 1–3.
Weinstein, J. (2006). Involving mental health service users in quality assurance. Health Expectations, 9, 98–109.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barbato, A., Bajoni, A., Rapisarda, F. et al. Quality Assessment of Mental Health Care by People with Severe Mental Disorders: A Participatory Research Project. Community Ment Health J 50, 402–408 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-013-9667-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-013-9667-6