OBJECTIVES : The aim was to systematically collate and synthesise existing, publicly available patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) information suitable for generic quality of life/wellbeing outcome measurement in health research, with specific focus on their applicability in multi-person (MP), multi-sectoral (MS), multi-national (MN) economic evaluations as per the PECUNIA project concept.

METHODS : A systematic literature search for PROMs was conducted in February 2020. Individual instruments or families of instruments (i.e. at least two related PROMs) were included for the meta-data extraction if they were generic or designed for mental health, and measured wellbeing, (health-related) quality of life, capabilities, or recovery. Five criteria were proposed to assess identified scales: i) availability of adult and child/adolescent version (MP), ii) proxy version option (MP); iii) measurement of capabilities/caregiver/family or social care outcomes (MS); iv) availability of preference-based weighting system, v) applicability of weighting for more than one country (MN).

RESULTS : Meta-data of 88 individual PROMs and 48 families of PROMs (further 118 questionnaires) were extracted. The assessment found that among the eligible PROMs 16 (12%) had both adult and child/adolescent versions, 27 (20%) had proxy completion option; 11 (8%) measured capabilities/family/caregiver outcomes, and 15 (11%) had preference-based weighting system, of which nine (7%) is applicable for more than one country. None of the (families of) instruments met all five proposed criteria for multi-person, multi-sectoral and multi-national economic evaluations. Four criteria were met by 15D, AQoL, ASCOT, EQ-5D, and three criteria were met by CarerQol, CHU9D, HUI, ICECAP, PedsQL, PROMIS and SF-36.

CONCLUSIONS : Further steps aim at developing a novel meta-data template for PROMs and the establishment of an electronic database, with a specific focus on instruments formally validated in mental health research and their applicability in multi-person, multi-sectoral, and multi-national economic evaluations of (mental) health interventions.