PSYCHLOPS in Polish primary care: how do clients conceptualise their problems on a patient-generated outcome measure?

BACKGROUND: PSYCHLOPS, a patient-generated mental health outcome questionnaire, invites clients to describe the problem that troubles them most. PSYCHLOPS was utilised in Polish primary care in the context of a brief CBT-based intervention for mild to moderate mental health problems. AIM: To explore how patients conceptualise their problems and the consequences of these problems with the aid of PSYCHLOPS. METHOD: 243 patients were recruited from a primary care setting; 241 completed PSYCHLOPS. Free-text data were obtained from the Problem and Function domains of PSYCHLOPS, blind translated into English and independently analysed using a pre-existing thematic framework. A total of 780 free-text responses were analysed. RESULTS: The most commonly reported responses to the pre-therapy Problem domain category were “somatic” (denoting responses relating to physical health); the most common responses to the Function domain category were “competence/performance” (denoting responses relating to the respondents’ perceived ability to achieve, cope, function). Compared with pre-therapy Problem 1 domain categories, during-therapy responses revealed a higher proportion of the “interpersonal” category (denoting responses relating to social relationships) and a lower proportion of the “somatic” category. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the brevity of clients' responses, PSYCHLOPS allowed an insight into patients' most troubling problems and their consequences. Possible reasons underlying the transition from a somatic to an interpersonal problem reporting during the course of talking therapy are discussed.