Routine Outcome Measurement: A Survey of UK Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services

Abstract

Research suggests that the routine measurement of treatment outcomes is a neglected area of clinical practice within mental health care settings. Still it is not clear to what extent such findings apply to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). A cross-sectional survey of UK CAMHS revealed that although quantitative clinical measures are commonly used within these services, there is little uniformity in the instruments utilised, and they rarely inform a system of routine outcome measurement. However, in general, respondents did not have a philosophical or scientific objection to the practice of routinely measuring outcomes, but rather felt that they lacked the necessary resources to facilitate such initiatives.