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The authors of this study aimed to reduce post-meal related anxiety for people with eating disorders through participation in group music therapy in an outpatient day program. A purposively-inclusive pilot study design was adopted which utilized the self-report Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS) to measure anxiety pre and post a single session. A total of 13 female participants attended a one-hour music therapy group session following a lunchtime social eating challenge and contributed to 50 occasions of data collection. A paired two-tailed t-test indicated a highly statistically significant difference (p = < 0.0001) between the pre and post session scores, suggesting that music therapy significantly decreased anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore four mental health consumers' experiences of completing self-report outcome measures in a research project. Participants were recruited from a community mental health organisation in Melbourne and were interviewed upon completion of a mixed methods research study where they were asked to complete a series of self-report outcome measures. Descriptive phenomenological micro-analysis was used to analyse interview data and is presented along with the researchers' observations during the data collection process. Results revealed that participants found the outcome measures cognitively challenging and the language used in the measures did not support the empowering intentions of mental health recovery. The authors suggest that the value of completing surveys for people with severe mental illness needs to be carefully considered so that the research process does not diminish other benefits of participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To critically examine the self-report measures most commonly used in Australian mental health research in the last 10 years.Method: A critical interpretive synthesis was conducted using seven outcome measures that were identified as most popular in 43 studies from three mental health journals.Results: Results suggest that the amount and type of language used in outcome measures is important in both increasing the accuracy of the data collected and fostering positive experiences of data collection for participants.Conclusions: Results indicate that many of the measures most often used in Australian mental health research may not align with the current contemporary philosophy of mental health clinical practice in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]