Staff burnout is widely believed to be problematic in mental healthcare, but few studies have linked burnout directly with quality of care. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between burnout and a newly developed scale for quality of care in a sample of community mental health workers (N=113). The Self-Reported Quality of Care scale had three distinct factors (Client-Centered Care, General Work Conscientiousness, and Low Errors), with good internal consistency. Burnout, particularly personal accomplishment, and to a lesser extent depersonalization, were predictive of overall self-reported Quality of Care, over and above background variables.

Objective Funding cuts have increased job demands and threatened clinicians’ ability to provide high-quality, person-centered care. One response to increased job demands is for clinicians to work more than their official scheduled work hours (i.e., overtime). We sought to examine the frequency of working overtime and its relationships with job characteristics, work-related outcomes, and quality of care in community health clinicians. Methods One hundred and eighty-two clinicians completed demographic and job characteristics questions and measures of burnout, job satisfaction, turnover intention, work-life conflict, and perceived quality of care. Clinicians also reported the importance of reducing stress and their confidence in reducing their stress. Clinicians who reported working overtime were compared to clinicians that did not on demographic and job characteristics and work-related outcomes. Results Ninety-four clinicians (52%) reported working overtime in a typical week. Controlling for exempt status and group differences in time spent supervising others, those working overtime reported significantly increased burnout and work-life conflict and significantly lower job satisfaction and quality of care than those not working overtime. Clinicians working overtime also reported significantly greater importance in reducing stress but less confidence in their ability to reduce stress than those not working overtime. There were no significant group differences for turnover intention. Conclusions and Implications for Practice Working overtime is associated with negative consequences for clinician-related work outcomes and perceived quality of care. Policies and interventions aimed at reducing overtime and work-related stress and burnout may be warranted in order to improve quality of care.

Measuring quality of care can transform care, but few tools exist to measure quality from the client's perspective. The aim of this study was to create concordant clinician and client self-report quality-of-care scales in a sample of community mental health clinicians (n = 189) and clients (n = 469). The client scale had three distinct factors (Person-Centered Care, Negative Staff Interactions, and Inattentive Care), while the clinician scale had two: Person-Centered Care and Discordant Care. Both versions demonstrated adequate internal consistency and validity with measures related to satisfaction and the therapeutic relationship. These measures are promising, brief quality assessment tools.

Appreciative Inquiry is an organizational change methodology that discovers what works well in an organization and then pursues strategies to enhance those factors. The initial discovery process itself provides data ripe for qualitative analysis. Narratives were collected from 27 community mental health staff about times when they were at their best. An emergent, consensus-based analysis was used to understand the stories and exemplary work -- with competent, caring staff and elements needed to support them. Findings are discussed in light of self-determination theory that people are at their best with a sense of mastery, connection, and autonomy.

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