National customer feedback for mental health, substance use and addiction services

Who are these instructions intended for?

These instructions are intended for professionals working in mental health, substance abuse, and addiction treatment facilities to measure customer experiences. Measuring customer experience is entirely voluntary for treatment facilities, and THL does not require it. The forms are also used in national surveys covering the entire country. In such cases, participation in the survey is strongly recommended but not mandatory.

Use of the forms

The questionnaires can be used when you want to collect customer experience data on services. Customer experience data can be collected either at a single treatment facility or across an entire municipality or welfare area at the same time, for example over a two-week period. When the form is used separately from the national survey, THL does not participate in recording and analysing the results.

The collected data is used to develop services. 

Form content

The guide includes customer feedback forms for both outpatient and inpatient services in three languages (Finnish, Swedish, and English). All forms can be found under the "Forms" tab.

The outpatient care form has 24 statements and the inpatient care form has 23 statements. You can select only some of the statements for your own use, or you can use the form in its entirety. At the beginning of both forms, there are seven statements that are part of the national customer feedback survey on well-being areas.

The form also asks: 

  • awareness of one's own treatment/rehabilitation plan
  • whether the treatment is provided on site or remotely (only in the outpatient form) 
  • whether involuntary treatment has been prescribed (only in the inpatient form) 
  • duration of treatment
  • year of birth
  • gender
  • education. 

The form also includes the NPS, or Net Promoter Score (How likely would you be to recommend the service you received to a family member or friend in the same situation? Answer options 0-10) and a free field where you can describe in your own words what most influenced your experience.

Measuring customer experience

The response options for the statements in the forms are on a five-point Likert scale: “strongly disagree = 1 – strongly agree = 5”. The best customer experience for each statement can therefore be given a value of 5 and the worst a value of 1. The average score for a single statement among all respondents at a treatment center is calculated by adding up the scores given and dividing the result by the number of respondents. 

The statements on the forms can be divided into five subject areas. Customer feedback can also be examined for a specific topic by adding up the average scores for the statements belonging to that topic. The average score for a single topic is obtained by adding up the average scores for all statements belonging to that topic and dividing the result by the number of statements in the topic.

Topics covered by the outpatient care form

The statements on the outpatient care form are divided into five topics as follows:

Subjects Claims
Allegations concerning the visit in question
  1. I  got help when I needed it
  2. I felt that the staff cared about me as a whole
  3. The decisions concerning my treatment/the matter were made together with me
  4. I felt safe during the care/service    
  5. I know how my care/the service will continue    
  6. The information I received on the care/service was understandable
  7. I felt that the care/service I received was useful
  8. The transport connections to the treatment facility were good for me
Treatment at the place of care
  1. I have been treated with respect
  2. I have been accepted as I am
  3. I have been able to talk openly about my problems if I wish to
Effectiveness of treatment
  1. I have received support in using my own inner resources 
  2. I have been able to contact my place of treatment easily when necessary 
  3. The treatment has given me hope for the future
Practical matters at the place of care    
  1. I have been able to contact my place of treatment easily when necessary 
  2. The cooperation between the parties treating me has been smooth 
  3. In my opinion, the rules and practices of the place of treatment are justified 
  4. My family/friends have been included in the treatment process when I have wanted it
Access to information
  1. I have been informed about my rights as a patient/customer 
  2. I have received sufficient information about my medication 
  3. I have received sufficient information about my disease or symptoms 
  4. I have received sufficient information about what my treatment involves 
  5. I have been informed of peer support that can be obtained from people with experience of the same situation
  6. I have been informed about the organisational services suitable for me that can provide support for daily life (e.g. mental health, substance use and addiction associations and services, including day activities and online and telephone support)

Topics covered by inpatient care form   

The statements on the institutional care form are divided into five topics as follows:

Subjects Claims
National claims
  1. I received help when I needed it
  2. I felt that the staff cared about me as a whole
  3. The decisions concerning my treatment/matter were made together with me
  4. I felt safe during the care/service
  5. I know how my care/the service will continue
  6. The information I received on the care/service was understandable
  7. I felt that the service I received was useful
Treatment at the place of care
  1. I have been treated with respect 
  2. I have been able to talk openly about my problems if I wished to 
  3. The staff have taken my individual needs into account
Effectiveness of treatment
  1. I have received support in using my own inner resources 
  2. The treatment has given me hope for the future
Practical matters at the place of care    
  1. The staff have had time to talk with me when I have felt a need for it 
  2. I have been able to see a doctor when I have needed to 
  3. The cooperation between the parties treating me has been smooth 
  4. In my opinion, the rules and practices of the place of treatment are justified 
  5. My family/friends have been included in the treatment process when I have wanted it
  1. Access to information
  1. I have been informed about my rights as a patient/customer
  2. I have received sufficient information about my medication 
  3. I have received sufficient information about my disease or symptoms 
  4. I have received sufficient information about what my treatment involves 
  5. I have been informed of peer support that can be obtained from people with experience of the same situation
  6. I have been informed about the organisational services suitable for me that can provide support for daily life (e.g. mental health, substance use and addiction associations and services, including day activities and online and telephone support)

 

Contact details

Satu Viertiö

Senior Researcher
tel. +358 29 524 8784
[email protected]
Satu Viertiö (LinkedIn)