The relationship between the INTERMED patient complexity instrument and Level of Care Utilisation System (LOCUS)

Steven Thurber, Ann Wilson, George Realmuto, Sheila Specker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the concurrent and criterion validity of two independently developed measurement instruments, INTERMED and LOCUS, designed to improve the treatment and clinical management of patients with complex symptom manifestations. Methods: Participants (N = 66) were selected from hospital records based on the complexity of presenting symptoms, with tripartite diagnoses across biological, psychiatric and addiction domains. Biopsychosocial information from hospital records were submitted to INTERMED and LOCUS grids. In addition, Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) ratings were gathered for statistical analyses. Results: The product moment correlation between INTERMED and LOCUS was 0.609 (p=.01). Inverse zero-order correlations for INTERMED and LOCUS total score and GAF were obtained. However, only the beta weight for LOCUS and GAF was significant. An exploratory principal components analysis further illuminated areas of convergence between the instruments. Conclusions: INTERMED and LOCUS demonstrated shared variance. INTERMED appeared more sensitive to complex medical conditions and severe physiological reactions, whereas LOCUS findings are more strongly related to psychiatric symptoms. Implications are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)80-82
Number of pages3
JournalInternational Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice
Volume22
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

  • Adult psychiatry
  • biopsychosocial
  • clinical assessment
  • community mental health services

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