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QALYs in mental health: a case study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Greg Wilkinson ,
Brian Williams ,
H. Krekorian ,
S. McLees  and
I. Falloon
Greg Wilkinson*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The London Hospital Medical College; Academic Sub-department of Psychological Medicine, North Wales Hospital, Denbigh, Clwyd; and Buckingham Mental Health Service, Buckingham
Brian Williams
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The London Hospital Medical College; Academic Sub-department of Psychological Medicine, North Wales Hospital, Denbigh, Clwyd; and Buckingham Mental Health Service, Buckingham
H. Krekorian
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The London Hospital Medical College; Academic Sub-department of Psychological Medicine, North Wales Hospital, Denbigh, Clwyd; and Buckingham Mental Health Service, Buckingham
S. McLees
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The London Hospital Medical College; Academic Sub-department of Psychological Medicine, North Wales Hospital, Denbigh, Clwyd; and Buckingham Mental Health Service, Buckingham
I. Falloon
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The London Hospital Medical College; Academic Sub-department of Psychological Medicine, North Wales Hospital, Denbigh, Clwyd; and Buckingham Mental Health Service, Buckingham
*
1 Address for correspondence: Professor Greg Wilkinson, Department of Psychiatry, The London Hospital Medical College, Turner Street, London E1 2AD.
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Synopsis

The applicability of the Charing Cross health indicator (CH-X) to the field of mental health was investigated in a community setting using descriptive statistics and principal components analysis. The CH-X is based on assessments of (i) distress and (ii) disability. Our results suggest that with respect to quality of life in mental health settings measurements of distress may be of greater importance than disability. In addition, the CH-X may be insensitive to variations in the severity of mental disorder and may primarily reflect physical disability as opposed to social disability. QALYs methodology may require the adoption of a multidimensional measure of health in order to fulfil its proposed role in comparing medical and mental health programmes.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , August 1992 , pp. 725 - 731
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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