The primary purposes of this pilot study is to develop and test a measure of adolescents' perceptions of mental health services. Such a measure would be used in later outcome studies of service effectiveness and would also be used to inform service providers about ways to improve the delivery of services to adolescents. Little is known about adolescents' perceptions of, and satisfaction with, mental health services, yet these variables are expected to be strongly associated with utilization patterns and treatment outcomes. Direct input from youth who have used mental health services will be sought for the development of the measure. This direct input is essential to enhancing the relevance and validity of the measure. The development and testing of the measure of adolescents' perceptions of mental health services will be conducted in two phases. During the Year 01 first phase, qualitative data regarding perceptions of mental health services will be collected from adolescents (ages 12-18 years) in three different out-patient settings. A total of 6 youth (3 male, 3 female) from each of the following services will be interviewed: 1) a school-based mental health clinic, 2) a general out- patient psychiatry clinic, and 3) a specialized clinic for maltreated youth. Also during the first year, 12 youth from each of these services will participate in focus group discussions about their perceptions of mental health services. Qualitative data collected through the interviews and focus group will be analyzed to inform the development of a self-report measure. During the Year 02 second phase, this measure will be administered to 180 adolescents, equally divided between the three services settings, males and females, and the three major race/ethnic groups utilizing the services (Anglos, African Americans, and Mexican Americans). The scale will be readministered to one half of the subjects one week later to examine test- retest reliability. The psychometric properties of the measure will be tested, and the discriminant and convergent validity will be tested by examining its relationship to another established satisfaction measure. Group differences in perceptions of mental health services by such characteristics of the adolescents as gender, age, race/ethnicity, type and severity of behavior/emotional problems, history of mental health service use, and type of service(s) utilized will also be examined.
