Does outcome measurement of treatment for substance use disorder reflect the personal concerns of patients? A scoping review of measures recommended in Europe

Abstract

There are a growing number of authors stating that outcome measurement in treatment for substance use disorders should go beyond substance use and include other bio-psycho-social variables of interest. However, little is known about which topics tend to be covered by outcome measures and whether they reflect the typical concerns of this patient group. This study followed a scoping review methodology in which 42 outcome measures recommended by an EU agency for substance use disorders were reviewed. We identified the domains of problems covered by these 42 measures and then compared them with 54 domains derived from patients, in a previous study. We also explored how similar the existing measures were in terms of domains covered, and which patient derived domains tended to be represented in those measures. We identified 31domains of problems across the 42 measures, with ‘substance use’ and ‘psychological health’ among the commonest. Most measures were similar in content to each other and multidimensional. Almost all domains of problems identified in the outcome measures corresponded to concerns reported by patients. On the other hand, we found that several topics of relevance for patients were not covered by any of the measure included in our study. This suggests that existing outcome measurement does not always target aspects that affect patients’ lives, as reported directly by patients. Our study shows that outcome measurement needs to adopt a more flexible and comprehensive approach, by taking on board the problems experienced by patients in this population.