Using patient self-report and therapist questionnaires, the authors
investigated the perceptions of patients at a community mental health
service about several aspects of their clinical care: what they expected
from treatment, what they found helpful about treatment, how they thought
treatment could be improved, their therapist preferences, and their
perceptions of their treatment outcome. The patients' desire for advice and
the perceived helpfulness of the advice given in therapy, the patients'
limited preference for a therapist of their own ethnicity, and other
findings are discussed, as is the usefulness of such consumer evaluations
in mental health care delivery.Abstract Teaser