The assessment of satisfaction with mental health services is important because it provides unique information pertaining to consumers' subjective experience of the treatment process. However, there are problems related to the measurement of client satisfaction. Clients generally report high levels of satisfaction with a variety of treatments modalities, and this leads to ceiling effects, a restriction of range, and non-normal distributions. Uniformly high levels of reported client satisfaction threatens the criterion-related and construct validity of the available instruments. The purpose of this research is to develop a methodology that can improve the assessment of client satisfaction, leading to more valid data. The effects of open-ended questions and ranking procedures on ratings provided on the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8 (CSQ-8) items will be assessed. Rankings and open- ended questions may facilitate greater processing of issues related to treatment, leading to greater discrimination among items when completing the satisfaction surveys. Mental health clients (N =180) will complete the CSQ-8 in one of four conditions. Group 1 will rank the items on the CSQ-8 in terms of importance and then provide rating on the CSQ-8 using standard instructions. Group 2 will rate CSQ-8 items and then provide rankings. Group 3 will be asked a series of open-ended questions regarding their treatment experience and then complete ratings of the CSQ-8 using standard instructions. Group 4 will first complete the CSQ-8 under standard instructions and then respond to the open-ended questions. All participants will also complete a symptom measure (BSI- 18) and a measure of client-perceived outcome. It is hypothesized that the mean satisfaction scores of Groups l and 3 will be significantly lower than those in Groups 2 and 4. That is, both the ranking task and the open- end questions will result in lower CSQ-8 scores and a more normal distribution. Additionally, it is predicted that this new methodology will result in a stronger association between satisfaction and criterion variables (self-perceived symptoms and outcome). Improving the validity of client satisfaction scales may give mental health providers more accurate information about services which can be used for program modifications. These modifications may result in better meeting the needs of clients and increasing client persistence in treatment.
| Meeker, Kirsten; Harang, Richard; Webb, Alexis B et al. (2011) Wavelet measurement suggests cause of period instability in mammalian circadian neurons. J Biol Rhythms 26:353-62 |
