Outcome Assessment via Handheld Computer in Community Mental Health: Consumer Satisfaction and Reliability

Computerized administration of mental health-related questionnaires has become relatively common, but little research has explored this mode of assessment in “real-world” settings. In the current study, 200 consumers at a community mental health center completed the BASIS-24 via handheld computer as well as paper and pen. Scores on the computerized BASIS-24 were compared with scores on the paper BASIS-24. Consumers also completed a questionnaire which assessed their level of satisfaction with the computerized BASIS-24. Results indicated that the BASIS-24 administered via handheld computer was highly correlated with pen and paper administration of the measure and was generally acceptable to consumers. Administration of the BASIS-24 via handheld computer may allow for efficient and sustainable outcomes assessment, adaptable research infrastructure, and maximization of clinical impact in community mental health agencies.

[1]  Catherine Mathews,et al.  Rates of Missing Responses in Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) Versus Paper Assessments , 2008, Evaluation review.

[2]  J. Muehlenkamp,et al.  Emotional states preceding and following acts of non-suicidal self-injury in bulimia nervosa patients. , 2009, Behaviour research and therapy.

[3]  M. Eastwood.  Screening for psychiatric disorder , 1971, Psychological Medicine.

[4]  E. Granholm,et al.  Feasibility and Validity of Computerized Ecological Momentary Assessment in Schizophrenia , 2007, Schizophrenia bulletin.

[5]  Mustapha Mezghanni,et al.  Real-time electronic diary reports of cue exposure and mood in the hours before cocaine and heroin craving and use. , 2009, Archives of general psychiatry.

[6]  E. Chan-Pensley.  Alcohol-Use Disorders Identification Test: a comparison between paper and pencil and computerized versions. , 1999, Alcohol and alcoholism.

[7]  S. Shiffman,et al.  Equivalence of electronic and paper-and-pencil administration of patient-reported outcome measures: a meta-analytic review. , 2008, Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research.

[8]  Terry L. Schell,et al.  Computer-assisted self-assessment in persons with severe mental illness. , 2004, The Journal of clinical psychiatry.

[9]  N. Roese,et al.  Dare to Compare: Fact-Based versus Simulation-Based Comparison in Daily Life. , 2008, Journal of experimental social psychology.

[10]  Norbert Schmitz,et al.  Computerized administration of the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R) and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-C) in psychosomatic outpatients , 1999, Psychiatry Research.

[11]  Bernhard Weber,et al.  Acceptance of computerized compared to paper-and-pencil assessment in psychiatric inpatients , 2003, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[12]  Martine Thomis,et al.  Reliability, equivalence and respondent preference of computerized versus paper-and-pencil mental health questionnaires , 2007, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[13]  M. Maruish.  The Use of Psychological Testing for Treatment Planning and Outcomes Assessment : Volume 3: Instruments for Adults , 2004 .

[14]  S. Eisen,et al.  Reliability and Validity of the BASIS-24© Mental Health Survey for Whites, African-Americans, and Latinos , 2006, The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research.

[15]  A. Belanger,et al.  Reliability and Validity , 2004 .

[16]  Carlyle H. Chan,et al.  Screening for psychiatric disorders in primary care. , 2004, WMJ : official publication of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin.

[17]  K. Kobak,et al.  Computer-administered clinical rating scales A review , 1996, Psychopharmacology.

[18]  Lisa Suzuki,et al.  Handbook of Multicultural Assessment: Clinical, Psychological, and Educational Applications , 1996 .

[19]  J. Bernhardt,et al.  Alcohol assessment using wireless handheld computers: a pilot study. , 2007, Addictive behaviors.

[20]  Mikael Palmblad,et al.  Electronic diaries and questionnaires: Designing user interfaces that are easy for all patients to use , 2004, Quality of Life Research.

[21]  George Wolford,et al.  A clinical trial comparing interviewer and computer-assisted assessment among clients with severe mental illness. , 2008, Psychiatric services.

[22]  Robert Walker,et al.  Developing a new system to measure outcomes in a service coordination program for youth with severe emotional disturbance. , 2009, Evaluation and program planning.

[23]  Francis Tuerlinckx,et al.  Predicting the duration of emotional experience: two experience sampling studies. , 2009, Emotion.

[24]  Sean Mackey,et al.  Fibromyalgia symptoms are reduced by low-dose naltrexone: a pilot study. , 2009, Pain medicine.

[25]  A. Rush,et al.  Electronic source materials in clinical research: acceptability and validity of symptom self-rating in major depressive disorder. , 2007, Journal of psychiatric research.

[26]  Robert L. Leahy,et al.  The Use of Psychological Testing for Treatment Planning and Outcome Assessment , 2000, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.