Exploration of the psychometric properties of the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure in Ecuador

Clara Paz,Guido Mascialino,Chris Evans

doi:10.1186/s40359-020-00443-z

Abstract

BackgroundThe Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) is a pan-theoretical and pan-diagnostic measure of mental health designed to cover issues that people wish to change in psychotherapy. The objective of this study was to explore the psychometric properties of the Spanish translation of the CORE-OM, in a country, Ecuador for which there is not a single measure suitable for this purpose with empirically demonstrated local acceptability and psychometric properties.MethodsIn total, 886 adults not currently receiving psychotherapy treatment or taking psychotropic medication were included in the analysis. The analyses broadly followed and compared with results from previous studies. These analyses consisted of assessment of acceptability, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, influences of demographic variables, correlations between domain scores, and convergent validity with Spanish versions of the Outcome Questionnaire 45.2 and Schwartz Outcome Scale-10.ResultsThe questionnaire showed good acceptability (overall omission rate of 0.56%), good reliability (α = .93 [.92, .94], test-retest correlations ranged from .59 to .85), and good convergent validity with the Outcome Questionnaire 45.2 (r = .84) and the Schwartz Outcome Scale-10 (r = −.73). Statistically significant gender differences were found in two domains: females scored higher on Well-being (M = 1.23) than males (M = 1.01), though effect size was small (g = 0.31); and males (M = 0.31) scored higher than females on Risk (M = 0.25), with even smaller effect size (g = 0.06). Age was negatively correlated with psychological distress in all domains and coefficients ranged from −.14 for Risk to −.29 for Functioning.ConclusionsThe results support the use of the CORE-OM as a valid and reliable instrument in a non-clinical Ecuadorean population. Exploration of the psychometric properties in a clinical population is recommended to assure its use in clinical settings.

Highlights

The Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) is a pan-theoretical and pan-diagnostic measure of mental health designed to cover issues that people wish to change in psychotherapy
The objective of this study is to explore the psychometric properties of the Spanish translation of the CORE-OM [19] in Ecuador, a country in which there is, as far as we have been able to determine, not a single measure suitable for assessment of change in psychological therapies with empirically demonstrated acceptability and psychometric properties [21]
Despite the inevitable limitations, we believe the findings support the use of the CORE-OM as a valid and reliable measure for a non-clinical Ecuadorean population

Summary

Introduction

The Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) is a pan-theoretical and pan-diagnostic measure of mental health designed to cover issues that people wish to change in psychotherapy. Increasing recognition of the substantial burden of disease created by mental health disorders [1] across all regions of the world has underscored the need for measures that allow comparison of different interventions across geographic regions, multiple clinical settings, and varying disorders. This work has been very unevenly distributed across countries and the world’s population. Growth in this area requires research into the change/ outcome measures needed by both researchers and clinicians to assess treatments. Research into, and adoption of, outcome measurement outside developed countries is even lower [4] than in developed countries

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