The Checklist of Unit Behaviours (CUB): Validation within a Canadian outpatient day hospital programme

What is known on the subject?: The psychometrics of the CUB measure have been tested within an inpatient psychiatric setting. Results show that the CUB has two factors that reflect patients' approach and avoidance of dimensions of the treatment milieu, and that an increase of approach and decrease of avoidance are correlated with discharge. No empirical research has examined the validity of the CUB in a day hospital programme. What this article adds to existing knowledge?: This study was the first to address the validity of this questionnaire within a psychiatric day hospital setting. This now allows other mental health service providers to use this questionnaire following administration of patient engagement interventions (such as behavioural activation), which are routinely used within this type of a setting. What are the implications for practice?: Our results can enable healthcare providers to employ an effective and psychometrically validated tool in a day hospital setting to measure treatment outcomes and provide reflections of patients' approach behaviours and avoidance behaviours. Abstract: Introduction We evaluated the Checklist of Unit Behaviours (CUBs) questionnaire in a novel mental health setting: a day hospital within a large acute care general hospital. No empirical evidence exists, as of yet, to look at the validity of this measure in this type of a treatment setting. The CUB measures two factors, avoidance or approach, of the patients' engagement with the treatment milieu within the previous 24 hr. Aim A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to validate the CUB's original two factor structure in an outpatient day programme. Methods Psychiatric outpatients (n = 163) completed the CUB daily while participating in a day hospital programme in Toronto, Canada. Results A CFA was used to confirm the CUB factors but resulted in a poor fitting model for our sample, χ² (103) = 278.59, p <.001, CFI = 0.80, RMSEA = 0.10, SRMR = 0.10. Questions 5, 8 and 10 had higher loadings on a third factor revealed through exploratory factor analysis. We believe this factor, “Group Engagement,” reflects the construct of group-related issues. Discussion The CUB was a practical and useful tool in our psychiatric day hospital setting at a large acute care general hospital. Implications for practice Our analysis identified group engagement, a critical variable in day programmes, as patients have autonomy regarding staying or leaving the programme.