Crisis resolution: consumer, family and referrer perspectives on care.

AIM: To systematically assess the service satisfaction of consumers, their families and referrers with crisis resolution (CR).

METHODS: Consecutive consumers discharged after receiving CR over a five-week period were potentially eligible for participation, together with their family and referrer (broadly defined). Structured telephone interviews were conducted and involved forced-choice questions assessing global satisfaction and satisfaction with specific aspects of care, plus two open-ended questions.

RESULTS: Participants were 75 consumers, 22 family and 16 referrers. High levels of satisfaction were seen for all participants for both global (86-96%) and most specific aspects of care (>75%). If consumers were dissatisfied with their overall care, they were significantly more likely to be aged 25-34 years of age. High levels of agreement among raters were found for global satisfaction (>85%) and most specific aspects of care (>70%), which provides some level of reassurance for staff. Open-ended questions showed that having effective treatment of sufficient duration and staff manner were most important to participants.

CONCLUSION: High levels of satisfaction and agreement were found among consumers, family and referrers with CR. Open-ended questions identified which issues matter the most to key stakeholders, which may have implications for service evaluation tools.