Measuring the progress and outcome of forensic mental health patients

Implementation of Routine Outcome Measures to assess clinical and mental health functioning has become common practice since the early 1990’s. However, concern has been expressed about the use of these tools with forensic mental health populations. Over a series of four studies, this thesis examined the outcome measures that are currently mandated for use within forensic mental health settings in Victoria, Australia. These tools were compared with a series of forensic-specific tools to identify which were most useful for this task. The findings of this thesis have significant implications for forensic mental health services internationally.