Monitoring the quality of an Italian public psychiatric service: A four dimensions study of the outcome

Objective: Within the concept of the outcome of hea1th services, the user's satisfaction has to be integrated by other more objective measures of health and quality of life. Debra Srebnik and coworkers have proposed a Survey for Monitoring the Quality of Public Mental Hea1th Services (SMQPMHS), which covers the following dimensions: Satisfaction, Functioning, Quality of Life and Clinica1 Status. The research main goals were as follows: a) to study the psychometric properties of the Ita1ian version of the Survey, and b) to study possible differences between the outcome of psychiatric patients applying to our outpatient facilities vs. the American sample. Methods: The Italian version of SMQPMHS was proposed to all patients receiving care at 2 Italian outpatient psychiatric facilities over a period of 2 months. 291 subjects accepted to participate in the study and fi1led in adequately the questionnaire. Results: Mean scores of the 13 variables of the Survey were very similar to those observed in the Arnerican sample. A matrix of correlations between each variable and each of the others indicated adequate internal consistency. A principal component analysis supported the four-dimensions model of the Survey. Patients recently hospitalized showed a poorer Clinical Status and a lower Satisfaction. Patients unemployed at the time of the survey showed a poorer Clinical Status. Conclusions: The Italian version of SMQPMHS showed good psychometric properties, even though concurrent validity needs further study. No differences emerged between the present sample and the American sample.