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Inpatient Adolescent
Mental Health


Person-centred idiographic measurement for inpatient adolescent psychiatry.


Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are increasingly recommended for inpatient adolescent psychiatry to assess and improve symptoms and other health outcomes. However, PROMs can inadvertently misrepresent the lived experiences of some individuals in diverse populations. This is because most PROMs focus on what matters to the average person, which may not reflect what matters to each individual.

To address this concern, idiographic patient-reported measures focus on what matters to individuals, including their goals, needs, and preferences. This research seeks to advance the use of idiographic measures in adolescent psychiatry with the goal of ultimately supporting person-centred care and quality improvement.


Aim: The aim is to develop a program theory explaining how, why, for whom, and under what circumstances idiographic measurement supports person-centred care in inpatient adolescent psychiatry as a complex intervention.

The project will include 3 steps:

  1. Develop an initial program theory to understand how and for whom idiographic measures are intended to work.
  2. Gather contextual information on the use of idiographic measures for inpatient adolescent psychiatry.
  3. Test and refine program theory.


Publication

  • Sawatzky, R., Schick-Makaroff, K., Ratner, P. A., Kwon, J.-Y., Whitehurst, D. G. T., Öhlén, J., Maybee, A., Stajduhar, K., Zetes-Zanatta, L., & Cohen, S. R. (2025). Did a digital quality of life (QOL) assessment and practice support system in home health care improve the QOL of older adults living with life-limiting conditions and of their family caregivers? A mixed-methods pragmatic randomized controlled trial. PLoS One, 20(5), e0320306. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320306 (opens in new tab)

Presentation