| The development of psychometrics for measuring a | | | | recovery-minded centers profess the spread and |
| mental healthcare consumer's recovery from a mental | | | | development of psychometrics for the sake of |
| illness is a very technical, statistics-heavy field of | | | | creating a common language among professionals. |
| mental health recovery research. Such development | | | | Imagine a clinic implements a new treatment plan for |
| generally requires massive amounts of data collected | | | | paranoid schizophrenia; when inquired as to whether it |
| over a period of several years along with the | | | | was effective or not the clinicians reply, "yes! It |
| participation of statisticians, psychologists, psychiatrists, | | | | changed our XYZ stats by five and increased our |
| computer programmers, information systems experts, | | | | ABC readings by 30% over a three month period." |
| and clinical case managers. To say the least, the | | | | Well that sounds good...but what does it mean? |
| development of legitimate, statistically substantiated | | | | If practitioners start using instruments to speak the |
| psychometrics is no small feet, but once such | | | | same language, this conversation suddenly becomes |
| instruments have been created, they can be of | | | | much more meaningful. Furthermore, practitioners can |
| immense importance for recovery from a mental | | | | begin to compare results and determine what |
| illness and the formation of a research collaborative | | | | programs, and what methods of implementation, are |
| for faster trend recognition. | | | | conducive to furthering recovery from a mental illness |
| Psychometrics tend to vary dramatically in what they | | | | in the quickest and most effective manner possible. |
| measure and, just as importantly, what they cost. They | | | | I've come across a number of different psychometrics |
| range from Basis 24, which charges a low annual fee | | | | in my research. As mentioned before Basis 24 seems |
| plus a small charge for each extra facility the mental | | | | to be fairly widespread. Netsmart also hosts a wide |
| health facility will be using the survey at, to clinical | | | | array of IT products for healthcare practitioners. Price |
| efficiency metrics which range in the $10,000s plus | | | | ranges also tend to range from free (most often |
| hours of expensive consultation fees. In today's | | | | because the development of psychometrics is still |
| economy it might seem like such fees are asking a lot | | | | fairly new thus such instruments are often in their Beta |
| from clinics who do not have a lot to give, but is it | | | | test phase) to tens of thousands of dollars. |
| worth it? | | | | Instruments I am more familiar with are those |
| Some say yes, some say no. I've recently read in a | | | | developed by MHCD's Research and Evaluation team; |
| number of different sources that 60% of hospitals are | | | | you can check out their free research publications at |
| operating off of efficiency IT systems, which has cut | | | | Mental Health Recovery Publications [ |
| their costs dramatically. Other small mental health clinics | | | | Also you can find out about their biggest psychometric |
| likewise report gains in the bottom-line via cost savings | | | | project, Reaching Recovery [ by following the link. I'm |
| after implementing the given IT packages. So metrics | | | | not sure as to what they are doing pricing wise, but it |
| which judge clinical efficiency seem to be good | | | | will give you a great idea of what is out there and |
| investments, but what of actual, legitimate | | | | what the cutting edge of psychometric research really |
| psychometrics? | | | | is. |
| The jury is still out on that one. It seems as if | | | | Measuring mental health recovery, and the speed of |
| recovery-based clinics such as MHCD tend to hold | | | | recovery from a mental illness, seems to be |
| psychometrics for measuring a consumer's recovery | | | | characteristic of the new recovery movement. Some |
| from a mental illness in higher regard than traditional | | | | very exciting times are about to hit us as |
| treatment facilities, and certainly in a much higher | | | | psychometrics quantify even further mental healthcare |
| regard than state hospitals. | | | | trends, thus allowing for more effective treatment |
| After talking with a number of executive directors | | | | methods, and eventually, faster recoveries or even |
| from such facilities, it was gathered that | | | | cures from serious and persistent mental illnesses. |