title: The Capabilities Questionnaire for the Community Mental Health Context (CQ-CMH): A measure inspired by the capabilities approach and constructed through consumer-researcher collaboration.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The involvement of people with psychiatric disabilities in research and service evaluation has traditionally been rare, especially in the construction of outcome measures. This study documents a collaborative process with consumers from 2 Portuguese community mental health services in the construction of the Capabilities Questionnaire for the Community Mental Health context (CQ-CMH). The measure is inspired by Nussbaum's capabilities approach and aims to measure consumers' capabilities when supported by the community mental health services.
  
  
  METHODS
  Focus groups with 50 consumers from 2 programs generated data about their gains from and goals for participation in the programs. A Steering Committee-comprising 3 consumers and 2 researchers-analyzed the data, generated a list of items, sorted them according to Nussbaum's list of capabilities, and developed a rating scale. To check face validity, the questionnaire was tested with 15 consumers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The collaborative process led to the transformation of traditional research roles, the promotion of empowerment to participants, the ecological validity of the results, and a cultural adaptation of Nussbaum's list to the context of the study. The resulting CQ-CMH is composed of 104 items organized by 10 capabilities, and 1 open-ended question about service improvements.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The capabilities approach and the collaborative process undertaken both support the exercise of choice and control by people with psychiatric disabilities. The capabilities measure-constructed by consumers-may be used as an outcome measure in service evaluation. The questionnaire will undergo further testing of its validity and psychometric qualities.
authors: Department of Community Psychology, ISPA-Instituto Universitário.
authors: Beatrice
authors: B
authors: Sacchetto
authors: Department of Community Psychology, ISPA-Instituto Universitário.
authors: Rita
authors: R
authors: Aguiar
authors: Department of Community Psychology, ISPA-Instituto Universitário.
authors: Maria João
authors: MJ
authors: Vargas-Moniz
authors: Department of Community Psychology, ISPA-Instituto Universitário.
authors: Maria Fátima
authors: MF
authors: Jorge-Monteiro
authors: Portuguese Network of People With Lived Experience of Mental Illness.
authors: Maria João
authors: MJ
authors: Neves
authors: Portuguese Network of People With Lived Experience of Mental Illness.
authors: Maria Adelaide
authors: MA
authors: Cruz
authors: Portuguese Network of People With Lived Experience of Mental Illness.
authors: José António
authors: JA
authors: Coimbra
authors: Department of Community Psychology, ISPA-Instituto Universitário.
authors: José
authors: J
authors: Ornelas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D003256:Community Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000070516:Intersectoral Collaboration; D008297:Male; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011174:Portugal; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012108:Research Personnel; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*