The proposed project is highly relevant to NIMH research topic # 96 ("Developing Technologies for Psychotherapy Research"). A microcomputer- based software application will be developed and field-tested at an outpatient mental health clinic that trains clinicians and conducts treatment outcome research. In addition to providing an entirely electronic patient record, the system will enable users to define their own treatment outcome measures (symptomatology, quality of life, customer satisfaction, etc.) with multiple items and subscales, and will automatically score and interpret these measures against user-defined criteria and include them in the clinical notes. A flexible interface will assist users in decision-making at multiple levels (e.g., individual patient progress, program evaluation, psychometric properties of outcome measures, etc.) The test site will be the Psychological Services Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; the subjects will be the clinicians and clinical trainees at the site. The feasibility of the system will be measured in terms of user information satisfaction, end- user computing satisfaction, record completeness, record accessibility, and accounts receivable collections. The results of the study will be used to plan additional program improvements and to formulate a larger field test across different clinic types and geographical areas. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The project will develop a networked, computerized system for outcome measurement, patient records, and managerial decision-making. It will be an attractive product to practitioners, researchers and supervisors because of its ability to store a wide range of multiple-scale user-defined treatment outcome measures, to provide graphical output of patient progress and program efficacy (e.g., for managed care inquiries), to enable "real time" to patient records, and to monitor provider activity.
