Crisis resolution: consumer, family and referrer perspectives on care

To systematically assess the service satisfaction of consumers, their families and referrers with crisis resolution (CR).

Consecutive consumers discharged after receiving CR over a five-week period were potentially eligible for participation, together with their family and referrer (broadly defined). Structured telephone interviews were conducted and involved forced-choice questions assessing global satisfaction and satisfaction with specific aspects of care, plus two open-ended questions.

Participants were 75 consumers, 22 family and 16 referrers. High levels of satisfaction were seen for all participants for both global (86-96%) and most specific aspects of care (>75%). If consumers were dissatisfied with their overall care, they were significantly more likely to be aged 25-34 years of age. High levels of agreement among raters were found for global satisfaction (>85%) and most specific aspects of care (>70%), which provides some level of reassurance for staff. Open-ended questions showed that having effective treatment of sufficient duration and staff manner were most important to participants.

High levels of satisfaction and agreement were found among consumers, family and referrers with CR. Open-ended questions identified which issues matter the most to key stakeholders, which may have implications for service evaluation tools.