Agreement between staff and service users concerning the clientele's mental health needs: a Quebec study.
OBJECTIVE
This article examines the differences found between clientele with severe mental health problems and their key health workers in terms of assessing service users' needs in 6 Quebec service areas.


METHODS
We questioned 165 pairs of users and staff, using the Camberwell Assessment of Needs questionnaire. The profile of serious and overall problems encountered by clientele from each of the sites was compared.


RESULTS
The sites with the greatest degree of user-staff agreement in identifying problems were also the ones where users considered that local services best met their needs.


CONCLUSIONS
The study demonstrated that, in needs assessment, major differences exist between the perceptions of users and their key workers in the various sites. These differences can be explained in part by users' individual characteristics, by types of needs, by local particularities, and by service use.
Fleury
Marie-Josée
MJ
Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. flemar@douglas.mcgill.ca
Grenier
Guy
G
Lesage
Alain
A
D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020380:Needs Assessment; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011792:Quebec / Q000453:epidemiology; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data