Using Client Outcomes Information to Improve Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment (New Directions for Youth Development)

The ultimate criterion for judging the quality of health care is that it lead to positive health outcomes that are valued by the consumer, the payer, and society. Traditionally outcomes assessment has focused on mortality and complications, but neither of these has been particularly useful in examining results of mental health care. A new way of assessing outcomes of care is the measurement of health status across its multiple dimensions of physical, mental, and social domains of functioning, with additional measures of quality of life and satisfaction with health outcomes experienced. The chapters in this volume were commissioned by the Outcomes Roundtable from leaders in mental health outcomes research and application to examine critically the state of the science of outcomes measurement in mental health and substance abuse care.