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HoNOS-ABI: an under-utilised resource?

Lishman Brain Injury Unit, The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ, UK, e-mail: E.Leigh{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk

E. Leigh

Lishman Brain Injury Unit, The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ, UK, e-mail: E.Leigh{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk

S. Fleminger

Lishman Brain Injury Unit, The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ, UK, e-mail: E.Leigh{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk

Consistent use of outcome measures across specialist centres is vital to assess the effectiveness of interventions and guide policy development. It is important to have a global yardstick to compare outcomes. However, as noted by Gilbody et al (2002), this often does not happen.

The sequelae of brain injury are complex and rehabilitation programmes implemented to treat brain-injured individuals are multi-faceted. In response, the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales - Acquired Brain Injury (HoNOS-ABI) was designed and introduced in 1999. Courtenay (2002) proposed that the under-utilisation of outcome measures resulted from lack of training and limited availability. The HoNOS-ABI has been made widely available in the UK.

In order to evaluate the use and application of the scale nationally, we distributed a questionnaire by e-mail to consultant psychiatrists at twenty major brain injury units across the UK. There was a 35% response rate; one of the respondents used a specialised HoNOS-ABI designed for children and another two employed the scale regularly. None of the others used the scale as part of routine clinical practice, and perhaps the lack of response from others indicates the same.

There appears to be a large hiatus between the discussion of outcome measures in research literature and the application of scales in routine clinical practice. Could it be that different scales are utilised across centres? The clinical effectiveness of outcome measures can only be maximised if they are all standardised across the nation.

References

COURTENAY, K. P. (2002) Use of outcome measures by psychiatrists. British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, 551.[Free Full Text]

GILBODY, S. M., HOUSE, A. O. & SHELDON,T. A. (2002) Outcome research in mental health. British Journal of Psychiatry, 181, 8 -16.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Marke, C. Articles by Fleminger, S. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Marke, C. Articles by Fleminger, S.