Clients' perceptions of outcome following contact with a community mental health team

Abstract

Forty-five clients of a community mental health team (CMHT) were followed-up between 12 and 18 months after their initial contact with the service, and asked about their perceptions of outcome. Psychological ill-health at follow-up was also measured using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). The commonest mental health problems at referral were anxiety and/or depression, and threequarters had one or more significant personal/social problems. 5 or more on the GHQ at follow-up, and reports of having received no help from the CMHT with mental health problems were associated with higher GHQ scores. help from the CMHT with their mental health problems than they did with their personal/social problems. Those who received no help with personal/social problems were less likely to report receiving help with mental health problems. Although clients had also sought help from sources other than the CMHT, these were mostly informal or voluntary. intervene effectively with clients' personal/social problems may limit the CMHT's capacity to improve their mental health. Forty-four per cent of clients scored Clients reported that they received more These findings suggest that inability to