Abstract

We conducted a series of tests on the FORensic oUtcome Measure (FORUM), a novel tool for measuring outcomes in forensic mental health services, which consists of complementary patientreported (FORUM-P) and clinician-reported instruments (FORUMC).

Inpatients and outpatients at a UK forensic psychiatric regional service completed the FORUM-P and members of their clinical teams completed the FORUM-C.

Patients and clinicians also provided qualitative feedback on the instruments.

We assessed test-retest and inter-rater reliability in standard ways.

Sixty-two patients participated with a mean age of 41.0 years (standard deviation 11.3).

Thirty-five clinicians provided information about these patients.

For internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha for FORUM-P was 0.87 (95% confidence interval 0.80–0.93) and for FORUM-C was 0.93 (95% confidence interval 0.91–0.96).

For testretest reliability, weighted kappa for FORUM-P was 0.44 (95% confidence interval 0.24–0.63) and for FORUM-C was 0.78 (95% confidence interval 0.73–0.85).

For inter-rater reliability, Spearman correlation coefficient for overall FORUM-C score between the first rating by clinician 1 and clinician 2 was 0.47 (95% confidence interval 0.18–0.69).

For comprehensiveness, comprehensibility, and relevance FORUM-P and FORUM-C were both rated as good.

FORUM-P and FORUM-C provide a novel, robust set of complementary instruments with promising psychometric properties for monitoring outcomes in forensic mental health.

Citations

Howard Ryland , Jonathan Cook , Oana Ciobanasu , Oluwasegun Oluwabamise , Robert Cornish, Hasanen Al-Taiar , Eberechi Chris-Okoro , Catherine Hoggart , Alex Vallakalil , Ray Fitzpatrick and Seena Fazel. Reliability and validity of the FORUM-P and FORUM-C: two novel instruments for outcome measurement in forensic mental health. Psychology, Crime & Law. 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2022.2076855

URI: https://www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk/orka/title/reliability-and-validity-of-the-forum-p-and-forum-c-two-novel-instruments-for-outcome-measurement-in-forensic-mental-health/