A client‐generated psychometric instrument: The development of ‘PSYCHLOPS’

Abstract

PSYCHLOPS (Psychological Outcome Profiles) is a recently developed, client‐generated, psychometric instrument that can be used as an outcome measure. Based on a similar instrument developed primarily for use in physical illnesses (MYMOP — ‘Measure Your Medical Outcome Profile’), it seeks the client's perspective on their psychological distress. It asks them to describe and then score the problem that troubles them the most at the start of counselling. We describe the development of PSYCHLOPS, including the involvement of the Plain English Campaign and two national mental health organisations: the mental health charity and support group, Depression Alliance (DA) and Primary Care Mental Health Education (PRIMHE). We review the literature and suggest that PSYCHLOPS, by focusing on the problems of greatest priority to the client, might prove a sensitive measure of improvement after counselling.

The clinical utility of the Personal Questionnaire (PQ): a mixed methods study

“…There is no formally defined age limit to apply the PQ, thus it would be pertinent to test and possibly to adapt the PQ to different age groups including children. For instance, other individualized measures like the PSYCHLOPS (Ashworth et al, 2004) have already been adapted to children and teenagers (www.psychlops.org.uk/).…”

“There Are Things I Want to Say But You Do Not Ask”: a Comparison Between Standardised and Individualised Evaluations in Substance Use Treatment

“…The evaluation protocol included (a) two individualised measures: Psychological Outcome Profiles (PSYCHLOPS; Ashworth et al 2004), a self-report individualised outcome measure in which patients are invited to answer three open-ended questions: "Choose the problem that troubles you the most", "Choose another problem that troubles you" and "Choose one thing that is hard to do because of your problem (s)". PSYCHLOPS includes a fourth standardised six-point scale question about overall well-being; and the Personal Questionnaire (PQ; Elliott et al 2016), an interview-based individualised outcome measure whose items are elicited in a semi-structured format.…”

“…These are open-ended questionnaires, tailored to each individual, and whose items (problems or goals) are generated by patients, in their own words (Ashworth et al 2004). Items in the individualised questionnaire reflect the patient's reality (e.g.…”

“…Psychological Outcome Profiles, PSYCHLOPS; Ashworth et al 2004); and open-ended interviews, where patients are asked, in a dialogue, to talk about their problems (e.g. Simplified Personal Questionnaire, PQ; Elliott et al 2016).…”

Service users' perceptions of quality of life measurement in psychiatry

“…Another measure, developed in partnership with the Depression Alliance (a service user organisation), is a simple self-report HRQoL measure to enable primary care patients to assess their state of mental health before and after talking treatments (Ashworth 2004). The measure (Psychological Outcome Profiles or PSYCHLOPS) is based on the Measure Yourself Medical Outcome Profile (MYMOP; Paterson 1996), a freely available primary care health outcome measure that enables patients to specify the symptoms they find most troublesome, the activities they are prevented from engaging in by their illness and their own views on their well-being.…”