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Client evaluation of community mental health services: Relation to demographic and treatment variables
Author(s) -
Balch Philip,
Ireland John F.,
McWilliams Spencer A.,
Lewis Susan B.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/bf00903208
Subject(s) - mental health , health psychology , marital status , psychology , public health , patient satisfaction , psychiatry , clinical psychology , medicine , nursing , population , environmental health
Community mental health center (CMHC) outpatient clients' satisfaction and perceived problem improvement were assessed by telephoning 108 clients, representing 40% of clients discharged during the period under investigation. The CMHC's services were perceived positively, and most clients were satisfied with their therapy experience, found it helpful, and felt more able to handle future problems. Data on reasons for termination, expected future behavior, and extratherapeutic factors were also gathered. Of particular interest were the findings that satisfaction and improvement were unrelated to client age, sex, marital status, or social class, but significantly more positive outcome responses were found for those clients who terminated therapy with a mutual client--therapist decision as compared to those who terminated unilaterally.