Background: Psychiatric measures or tests, broadly understood as any structured method for collection of clinical information, are important for fair, high quality and cost efficient mental health services. A large number of tests are in use within Norwegian mental health care services for different purposes, such as aiding diagnostic screening, treatment planning, priority decision making, assessment of treatment effect, and potential risk. Since the origin of most tests is abroad and they have been developed in other cultural and linguistic settings, we have limited knowledge about the psychometric properties of these tests applied to a Norwegian context.
Objectives: The purpose of the Psychometric Assessment Project is to create, publish and update an overview of tests used in Norwegian mental health care, and to assess the documentation of the tests' psychometric properties in a Norwegian context.
Methods:Tests selected for systematic reviewing were the most widely used tests within Norwegian mental health care services. We performed systematic literature searches, selected publications according to predetermined criteria and evaluated the tests’ documented adaptation to Norwegian conditions, for reliability, validity and norms. Final reports were published by the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services on the internet site www.kunnskapssenteret.no and are freely available to all clinicians, users and healthcare planners.
Conclusions: By informing both clinicians and administrators about the psychometric properties of tests in a Norwegian setting, the information overload for making better decisions are filtered. Informed choices about which tools to use in clinical care for the individual patient and monitoring treatment outcomes for treatment programs are enhanced.