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Qualitative Assessment of Mental Health Service Satisfaction: Strengths and Limitations of a Self-Administered Procedure

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Abstract

A qualitative procedure based on self-administered open-ended questions was assessed in three psychiatric outpatient clinics in Montreal. Acceptability to clients, mode of administration and convergent validity were evaluated. Comparison with findings from personal interviews demonstrates a lower frequency in responses but similar patterns in sources of satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Scores generated by quantification of responses to one of the open-ended questions presented a significant correlation with a standardized questionnaire (OQOS) administered to 242 psychiatric outpatients. Findings suggest that a self-administered procedure based on open-ended questions could be practical and useful for both formative evaluation and monitoring in environments with limited resources.

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Notes

  1. With Bonferroni correction, p=.0125. For clinic environment,   \(\chi^{2}(1) =1.13\), p>.0125, for clinician,   \(\chi^{2}(1)=.09\), p>.0125, for interventions,   \(\chi^{2}(1)=.95\), p>.0125.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the clients who participated in the satisfaction survey, as well as the clinical staff from the three participating clinics of the Douglas Hospital in Montreal. They would also like to thank the Reviewers for their comments.

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Correspondence to Michel Perreault Ph.D..

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Michel Perreault is affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry, Douglas Hospital, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Nicole Pawliuk is affiliated with the Douglas Hospital Research Centre, Montréal, Canada.

Renée Veilleux is affiliated with the Douglas Hospital, Montréal, Canada.

Michel Rousseau is affilited with the Faculté des Sciences de l’Education, Université de Moncton, Moncton, Canada.

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Perreault, M., Pawliuk, N., Veilleux, R. et al. Qualitative Assessment of Mental Health Service Satisfaction: Strengths and Limitations of a Self-Administered Procedure. Community Ment Health J 42, 233–242 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-005-9028-1

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