Versión española del CSRI: una entrevista para la evaluación de costes en salud mental

The demands and needs for the cost information in psychiatric contexts have multiplied considerably in recent years, but the methodology of data collection has not been developed in the same way. In order to evaluate the costs of community care, a new, instrument, the CSRI (Client Service Receipt Interview) has been developed through interviews with patients and those who take care of them; the questionnaire collects restrospective information on patients services, room accommodations, community services, hospital income, and miscellaneous care. With this information it is possible to calculate the cost of the care of each individual patient.

The CSRI was built up in previous research, from relevant parts of previously-developed instruments in the mental health field, that can be adapted to the specific needs of the study being carried out. Since its introduction, the CSRI has been used in more than 40 evaluation studies in the United Kingdom, and there are international versions specifically developed for several European countries. Due to the need to start projects of cost evaluation in mental health in our country, it is necessary to have questionnaires for data collection. The CSRI has been used with success to obtain this sort of information in different studies. This paper describes the adaptation of the questionnaire to the Spanish scene. After our adaptation and verification of the CSRI, there is a Spanish version of the instrument, perfectly applicable to carry out projects of cost evaluation in mental health in Spanish-speaking settings.