Outcome Measures
There are many ways of measuring or assessing the benefit patients want or might receive as a result of a particular treatment or therapy.
Most outcome measures specify a particular problem or symptom and then offer patients a choice of pre-defined answers to choose from. Here is an example from the frequently used ‘Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score' (HADS):
I feel tense or 'wound up'
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most of the time
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a lot of the time
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from time to time
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not at all
This type of outcome measure might be useful if ALL your patients are anxious or depressed and that is why they consult you for treatment.
However, if your patients consult you for a variety of problems then MYMOP may be the best outcome measure.
MYMOP is unusual in that the patient (rather than the researcher) decides which are the most important things/ symptoms/ problems to measure.
If you don't think that MYMOP is suitable, then you can choose another outcome measure, and there are thousands to choose from!
If you have patients with AUTISM they can complete the on-line Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) by clicking on the 'ATEC in English' link near the bottom of the page. For more information on this and other outcome measures read this document by Autism/ADHD researcher Philippa Fibert.
Some measure general health and quality of life. In the UK the most famous measure of quality of life is EQ-5D. This is often used to help measure cost effectiveness. Another well known quality of life measure is SF 36 Health Survey.
If you unsure about which outcome measure to use, please do contact us – we are very happy to discuss which outcome measure will be the best for you and your practice/ patients.
