Development of a consumer constructed scale to evaluate mental health service provision

Authors

Lindsay G. Oades, University of WollongongFollow
Sarah Marshall, University of WollongongFollow
Josephine Law

RIS ID

36326

Publication Details

Oades, L. G., Law, J. & Marshall, S. L. (2011). Development of a consumer constructed scale to evaluate mental health service provision. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 17 (6), 1102-1107.

Abstract

Objective Most mental health outcome and satisfaction measures have been developed byacademic researchers or service providers. Consumers have been limited to the role ofparticipant or advisor. The validity and reliability of these satisfaction measures have beenchallenged. This paper reports the development of a consumer satisfaction questionnairein which consumers work as collaborative researchers to increase its face validity andrelevance.Method Eleven themes from a previous participatory study were used by consumerresearchers and university-based researchers to generate questionnaire items, with fouritems reflecting each theme. The internal consistency and factor structure were examined inpublic and non-government mental health service centres based on data of 202 mentalhealth consumers.Results Principal Components Analysis with oblique rotation yielded a two-factor structure:Empowerment and Dehumanization. The two factors together explained 36.7% of thetotal variance. The scale demonstrated high internal consistency, with Cronbach¿s alpha forthe total scale at 0.92, and for the two factors at 0.92 and 0.80.Conclusions The questionnaire was developed in accordance with an evaluation frameworkof consumer directed evaluation of mental health services. The final questionnaireconsists of 26 items. It has satisfactory internal consistency and appeared to be useful withinpatients and outpatients. Further research will be performed to establish its test¿retestreliability and criterion validity.