Examining concurrent validity and item selection of the Session Wants and Needs Outcome Measure (SWAN-OM) in a children and young people web-based therapy service

BACKGROUND: Single-session mental health interventions are frequently attended by children and young people (CYP) in both web-based and face-to-face therapy settings. The Session “Wants” and “Needs” Outcome Measure (SWAN-OM) is an instrument developed in a web-based therapy service to overcome the challenges of collecting outcomes and experiences of single-session therapies (SSTs). It provides pre-defined goals for the session, selected by the young person prior to the intervention, on which progress toward achievement is scored at the end of the session. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the instrument's psychometric properties, including concurrent validity against three other frequently used outcome and experience measures, at a web-based and text-based mental health service. METHODS: The SWAN-OM was administered for a period of 6 months to 1,401 CYP (aged 10–32 years; 79.3% white; 77.59% female) accessing SST on a web-based service. Item correlations with comparator measures and hierarchical logistic regressions to predict item selection were calculated for concurrent validity and psychometric exploration. RESULTS: The most frequently selected items were “Feel better” (N = 431; 11.61%) and “Find ways I can help myself” (N = 411; 11.07%); unpopular items were “Feel safe in my relationships” (N = 53; 1.43%) and “Learn the steps to achieve something I want” (N = 58; 1.56%). The SWAN-OM was significantly correlated with the Experience of Service Questionnaire, particularly the item “Feel better” [rs((109)) = 0.48, p < 0.001], the Youth Counseling Impact Scale, particularly the item “Learn the steps to achieve something I want” [rs((22)) = 0.76, p < 0.001], and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, particularly the items “Learn how to feel better” [rs((22)) = 0.72, p < 0.001] and “Explore how I feel” [rs((70)) = −0.44, p < 0.001]. CONCLUSION: The SWAN-OM demonstrates good concurrent validity with common measures of outcome and experience. Analysis suggests that lesser-endorsed items may be removed in future iterations of the measure to improve functionality. Future research is required to explore SWAN-OM's potential to measure meaningful change in a range of therapeutic settings.