Assessing Psychiatric Rehabilitation Service (PRS) outcomes in Israel: Conceptual, professional and social issues

Since the implementation of the legislation in Israel concerning rehabilitation of people with psychiatric disabilities in the community in 2001, an increasing number of individuals, currently estimated at nearly 15,000, have been receiving the psychiatric rehabilitation "basket of services." A systematic investigation of the extent to which these services have had a positive impact on the intended outcome is required, to evaluate the effectiveness of the newly developed psychiatric rehabilitation basket of services. This evaluation has become a priority item on the mental health agenda in Israel. This opinion paper, based on a conceptual analysis and selective review of the relevant literature, discusses concepts and principles that seem important for the development of strategies to constructively assess the outcome of psychiatric rehabilitation services (PRS) in Israel. More specifically, several fundamental issues related to outcome monitoring are reviewed, such as what outcome domains should be assessed, who should conduct the assessments and from whom should data be collected and with whom and how should it be shared. The complexity of these issues are reviewed and possible strategies to deal with them are discussed.