Contextual adaptation and reliability testing of the Community Planning Questionnaire (CPQ): a tool for planning the transition of persons living for long periods in psychiatric hospitals to the community

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) is coordinating a study to contextually adapt and test the reliability of the Community Planning Questionnaire (CPQ). The CPQ is a structured instrument for conducting a rapid assessment of the supports required for planning the transition of people from long-term care in psychiatric hospitals to community living. Methods and analysis: The mixed methods observational study will be conducted across seven countries in three phases. At each country, 50-60 individuals who have been residents of psychiatric hospitals for six months or more (persons of concern) will be considered for inclusion in the study. To conduct the observational ratings on the CPQ items, 15 raters selected from existing care providers of person of concern will be trained at each site. Qualitative individual interviews will be conducted with a purposively selected subgroup of persons of concern before CPQ assessments to understand their views about key sections of the tool and incorporate required local changes. Internal and external (test-retest and inter-rater) reliability of the CPQ will be measured through repeated assessments at two time points. Post assessments, focus group discussions will be conducted to understand the experiences of raters on the administration of the CPQ. Quantitative analysis will focus on data quality, completeness and reliability of the instrument. Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approval has been obtained from the WHO Ethics Research Committee (Protocol ID: ERC.0004250). Local ethics approvals have been obtained from all participating countries. Study findings will be disseminated by publishing them in peer-reviewed journals and through global and countries’ dissemination efforts.