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Issues in the assessment of outcome in mental health
1Department of Psychological Medicine, Monash University, Victoria, Australia. trauer@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au
Objective:
The purpose of this paper is to examine a number of issues in the assessment of outcome in mental health.
Method:
Issues are considered in terms of a number of dichotomies or choices. These include: intervention-dependent versus intervention-independent definitions of outcome, focusing on inputs or processes versus outcomes; individual versus organisational outcomes; outcomes for patients versus outcomes for significant others; pure versus mixed outcomes; care versus cure; direct versus indirect measures; objective versus subjective measures; descriptive versus prescriptive measures; global versus specific assessment; and assessing at significant times points versus assessing at fixed intervals.
Conclusions:
Guiding principles are formulated in terms of the foregoing issues.