HoNOS in the consultation liaison psychiatry setting: is it valid?

The aim of this paper was to assess whether the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) is a valid outcome measure in the consultation liaison psychiatry (CL) setting.

Statistical analysis was performed on 6 months of HoNOS data from a busy metropolitan CL service.

There were statistical differences between the HoNOS scores of groups referred for different types of mental health follow up, but also wide ranges within, and substantial overlap between, each of these groups. HoNOS item analysis demonstrated significant contributions to changes in HoNOS scores across multiple items.

Although the HoNOS appears to have validity as a measure of severity of mental illness in the CL setting at a population level, concerns can be raised about its usefulness as a measure of change in the severity of mental illness in this setting.