Developing mental health-care quality indicators: toward a common framework.

OBJECTIVE Inconsistent performance measurement schemes hinder attempts to make international comparisons about mental health-care quality. This report describes a project undertaken by an international collaborative group that aims to develop a common framework of measures that will allow for international comparisons of mental health system performance. DESIGN Representatives from each country submitted reports of quality measurement initiatives in mental health. Indicators were reviewed, and all measurable indicators were compiled and organized. Sample Twenty-nine programs from 11 countries and two cross-national programs submitted reports. METHODS Indicators were evaluated according to measurable inclusion criteria. RESULTS These methods yielded 656 total measures that were organized into 17 domains and 80 subdomains. CONCLUSIONS No single program contained indicators in all domains, highlighting the need for a comprehensive, shared scheme for international measurement. By collecting and organizing measures through an inductive compilation of existing programs, the present study has generated a maximally inclusive basis for the creation of a common framework of international mental health quality indicators.