title: Clinical outcome, consumer satisfaction, and ad hoc ratings of improvement in children's mental health.
abstract: Mental health clinics and managed care organizations assess treatment effectiveness with consumer satisfaction measures and ad hoc measures of improvement obtained from a single informant; some of these measures are as simple as asking clients whether they improved during treatment. In the present correlational study of 199 treated adolescents, we used a multitrait-multimethod analysis to examine psychometrically measured pathology change (pre- and postassessment of symptoms and functioning), consumer satisfaction, and perceived improvement reported by multiple informants. Confirmatory factor-analytic results indicate that (a) outcome variance due to multiple informants cannot be ignored, (b) consumer satisfaction is unrelated to pathology change, and (c) parent-reported perceived improvement ratings are more akin to satisfaction than to pathology change.
authors.affiliation: Center for Mental Health Policy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37212, USA. lambert@uansv5.vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Salzer
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bickman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D016896:Treatment Outcome