Basic concepts in mental health evaluation: evaluation in mental health: why and how.

Abstract

The need for evaluation of mental health services is emphasized repeatedly by mental health leaders, state and federal officials, third-party payers, and others concerned with the quality and costeffectiveness of mental health care. Although a growing number of evaluation studies are being conducted, they are frequently criticized because of poor study design, lack of methodological rigor, and failure to produce information that has practical implications for improving mental health services. Hospital & Community Psychiatry asked several evaluation specialists to briefly discuss basic issues and approaches in mental health evaluation and to list books or articles that they consider particularly useful for mental health professionals with limited experience in conducting evaluation studies. We think their comments, presented here, are of interest to all who are concerned with improving the quality of mental health evaluation. The contributors are identified on page 731.