With the international consensus towards community care of the mentally ill, there came a growing need for meaningful evaluation of services. Redressing the lack of guidance this book describes how to do mental health service research. It comprehensively reviews developments in research design, method and measurement at the level of both whole service systems and individual programmes within mental health services. Each of the issues is adeptly illustrated with practical descriptions of comprehensive evaluation projects. The important advances already achieved in knowledge about effective services are highlighted along with descriptions of future work that will further develop our understanding of meeting patient requirements. This volume will appeal to all who are involved in mental health service research as well as those who make use of their results.

How do we know if mental health services work? What are the best ways to measure the outcomes of care for people with mental health problems? This book contains five practical scales for assessing the outcomes of mental healthcare. They are the European versions of: Camberwell Assessment of Need (for unmet and met needs) Client Socio-demographic and Service Receipt Inventory (for service costs) Involvement Evaluation Questionnaire (for impact of care on family members) Lancashire Quality of Life Profile (for quality of life) Verona Service Satisfaction Scale (for service satisfaction). Each scale has been standardised (in Danish, Dutch, English, Italian and Spanish), and has been shown to be reliable and valid in all these European languages. The book contains full details of the development of these scales, manuals for their use, the scales themselves and instructions on how to use the results. These new measures will be invaluable to all those in research, evaluation, audit and management who have an interest in evidence-based policy and practice in mental healthcare.

With the emerging international consensus toward community care of the mentally ill, there comes a growing need for meaningful evaluation of services. Redressing the current lack of guidance this book describes how to do mental health service research. Contributors comprehensively review the most recent developments in research design, method and measurement at the level of both whole service systems and individual programs within mental health services. Practical descriptions of comprehensive evaluation projects illustrate each issue and many chapters examine important earlier advances in effective service knowledge as well as future work that will further develop our understanding of meeting patient requirements.