Functional Impairment as a Quality Outcome

Presented by Dr Margaret Danielle Weiss, Cambridge Health Alliance

This talk will look at the impact of capturing a patient-centered perspective that moves beyond core symptoms to evaluate how the patient’s emotional or behavior problems impacts their functioning. The development, clinical use and impact of the Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale will be used to illustrate this change in perspective on targeting clinical intervention, clinical trials, and our understanding of population characteristics of functional impairment norms.

Learning Objectives:

Identify the unique contribution of functional impairment as a clinical and research outcome, over and above symptoms.

Interpret population norms, cut off scores, functional improvement and remission using the Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale.

Comprehend how inclusion of functional outcomes has changed our understanding of psychosocial and medication effectiveness.

Incorporate functional outcome into clinical practice and training so as to provide a cross diagnostic and cross-cultural standard of quality outcomes.

About the Visiting Professor Lecture Series:

The Child Mind Institute Visiting Professor Lecture Series invites leaders in the field of child and adolescent mental health to talk about the latest research and treatment protocols. All events are open to the public. This year, all lectures will be hosted virtually over GoToWebinar. In partnership with Northwell Health, continuing medical education (CME) credits for psychiatrists and continuing education (CE) credits for psychologists are available to registered course participants.