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2-COM: an instrument to facilitate patient-professional communication in routine clinical practice
J van Os1, A C Altamura, J Bobes
1Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, European Graduate School of Neuroscience, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. j.vanos@sp.unimaas.nl
Objective:
A simple patient-completed self-report instrument may facilitate patient-professional carer communication.
Method:
A 19-item self-report needs schedule was used in a sample of 243 out-patients with non-affective psychosis. Patients and professional carers commented on the usefulness of the instrument. In a subgroup of 95 patient-carer dyads, the professional carer was asked to rate the needs in addition to the patient.
Results:
Patients scored their needs reliably and lower than the professionals (OR = 0.9, 95% CI: 0.9, 0.97). Concordance between patients and professional carers on individual needs was very low. More than 50% of the professional carers and more than 80% of the patients found 2-COM useful. The higher the number of needs indicated by the patient, the greater the discrepancy between patients and professional carers with regard to the usefulness of the schedule.
Conclusion:
2-COM is a useful instrument to expose, and subsequently bridge, patient-professional carer discordance on patient needs.