Validated biopsychosocial assessment scales in outpatient mental health: a literature review

Abstract

Introduction: in the biopsychosocial paradigm, the health-illness process is dynamic, and a comprehensive assessment governed by outpatient care in the basic mental health areas is necessary. Quality of life has gained prominence for assessing health status and measuring a person’s well-being. The World Health Organization’s 2013-2020 mental health action plan has the overall aim of promoting mental well-being. Objectives: to describe the validated biopsychosocial assessment scales or questionnaires that exist in Spain in the outpatient setting and to determine which scales would be the most useful in this context. Methodology: a literature review, using MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) and DeCS (Health Sciences Descriptors) terms, Boolean operators and the PICO methodology, in the LILACS, Cochrane Plus, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Cibersam, ePROVIDE, BIPFAES and BiblioPRO databases. Results: an initial selection of 520 articles, 13 of which met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. The validated scales were: Basic Everyday Living Skills (BELS), the Camberwell Assessment of Need (CAN), the World Organization of Family Doctors Assessment of Functional Status (COOP-WONCA), the Seville Quality of Life Questionnaire (CSCV), the Global Assessment of Functioning scale (GAF), the European Quality of Life-Five Dimensions questionnaire (EuroQol-5D), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), the McMaster Health Index Questionnaire (MHIQ), the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP), the Quality of Life Scale (QLS), the SF-12/36 health questionnaire (Short Form-12/36 items) and the World Health Organization’s Disability Assessment Scale II (WHO-DAS II). Conclusions: there is a wide variety of instruments to assess the psychosocial aspect. However, in people with schizophrenia or psychotic disorders, the CAN scale and the CSCV and, in other mental disorders, the BELS questionnaire, are the most recommendable. There is a need to unify the criteria of the theoretical bases and more research on the impact of applying instruments that measure overall well-being in mental health.