Development and validation of a tool able to describe and characterize the mental health services networks for schizophrenic patients.

Abstract

The development of policies for health care reform, including the area of mental health, requires the generation of an assessment tool and to this end, the availability of tools enabling the study of the structure and the functioning of health care networks remains crucial. The purpose of the present work was the development of such tool, by introducing an initial validation including a pilot application in three care networks.

The work started with the making of a preliminary version of the tool, continued with the assessment of the validity of its contents and semantics through an evaluation by experts, and finished with a pilot application in three care networks.

The present work contributes to the conclusion that the tool (named EvaRedCom - TMS, version 1.0) meets the objectives that guided its construction and that it has a good degree of applicability.