Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (7)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Smith, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Smith, H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1998 Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom

research-article

Needs assessment in mental health services: the DISC Framework


Helen Smith, Strategic Commissioner for Mental Health Services

Lambeth, Southward & Lewisham Health Authority 1 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7NT

People with mental health problems have a range of health and social care needs that result in both illness and disability (effects of the illness on social functioning and citizenship). If service development is to be creative and innovative, needs assessment has to focus on the identification of actual need - rather than using the existing services as the basis of planning. To be valid, needs assessment must use the experience of users and their families, yet it can be highly frustrating for all concerned if there is not a clear framework to structure the wide-ranging information that will be collected through this sort of exercise. This paper proposes a framework for structuring needs assessment and discusses how it can be used for local mental health service development through a ‘stakeholder’ approach. The framework can be used to identify a comprehensive set of service functions, that is, what a service actually needs to be doing if the range of peoples’ needs are to be met. The use of the framework to structure activity at different levels in the service system is discussed.

Keywords: needs assessment (mental health), user involvement, stakeholder approach


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Int J Soc PsychiatryHome page
R. MacPherson, L. Summerfield, R. Haynes, M. Slade, and C. Foy
The Use of Carers' and Users' Expectations of Services (CUES) in an Epidemiological Survey of Need
International Journal of Social Psychiatry, March 1, 2005; 51(1): 35 - 43.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.