Provider and Consumer Behaviors and their Interaction for Measuring Person-Centered Care

Area of Science:

• Mental Health Services Research
• Patient-Centered Care Studies
• Healthcare Consumer Behavior Analysis

Background:

• Higher rates of person-centered care (PCC) correlate with improved treatment adherence and outcomes.
• Existing instruments for PCC assessment often focus on provider actions, not consumer engagement.
• PCC necessitates a collaborative, co-equal partnership between providers and consumers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test if consumer perceptions of involvement in care (PICS scales) correlate with provider-centered PCC measures.
• To determine if consumer perceptions of person-centeredness and involvement predict therapeutic alliance, treatment adherence, and system mistrust.
• To evaluate the relationship between consumer perspectives and key mental health care outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional survey administered to 82 mental health consumers in VHA facilities.
• Data collected on perceptions of PCC, consumer involvement, therapeutic alliance, medication adherence, and system mistrust.
• Utilized established survey instruments to gather quantitative data on consumer experiences.

Main Results:

• Mixed correlations found between consumer participation and PCC subscales.
• Higher PCC levels associated with greater therapeutic alliance and less system mistrust.
• Consumer involvement uniquely predicted reduced suspicion of mental health care systems.

Conclusions:

• The locus of outcome variables influences the measurement of person-centeredness.
• Future PCC research should align outcome measures with the chosen methods for assessing patient-centeredness.
• Understanding consumer perspectives is vital for effective PCC research and practice.