METHODS develops a living evidence synthesis platform for the psychometric properties of 4 major mental health measures

METHODS develops a living evidence synthesis platform for the psychometric properties of 4 major mental health measures

Astrid Chevance (PI) and Karolin Krause (Co-PI), members of the METHODS team at CRESS, were successful in obtaining funding from the Wellcome Trust to develop a living evidence synthesis platform on the psychometric properties of four widely used mental health measures.Launched in December 2025 for a duration of two years, the project aims to make available an open-access, continuously updated platform that brings together and synthesizes evidence on the psychometric properties of four mental health measurement instruments:

• Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) – adult depression
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) – adult anxiety
• Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS-25) – anxiety and depression in children and adolescents
• World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule-12 (WHODAS 2.0) – functional impairment in adults

These instruments were selected within the framework of the Common Measures in Mental Health Science (CMMHS) initiative to address the substantial fragmentation of outcome measurement in mental health research. Such fragmentation severely limits the comparability of studies and represents a major barrier to the synthesis of robust evidence.The project is grounded in the principle that the use of common measures must rely on strong and regularly updated psychometric evidence, in order to support informed decisions about the appropriateness of these instruments across populations, cultural contexts, and settings (research, clinical practice, and routine outcome monitoring).The project is structured around three main workstreams:

• Living evidence synthesis: the conduct of four “living” systematic reviews, including the appraisal of psychometric properties and assessment of risk of bias.
• Platform development: the design of a digital platform integrating continuous evidence-updating infrastructure, alongside a web interface informed by behavioural research with measure users to support appropriate use of findings.
• Integration of lived experience: a cross-cutting workstream embedding lived experience across all stages of the project, including a review of the literature on the impact of completing mental health measures on respondents, and an ethnographic evaluation of lived-experience participation throughout the project.

The project is supported by an international collaboration of partners, including the Epistemonikos Foundation (Santiago) for platform development; The Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto), with Dr Suneeta Monga and her team leading the review of the RCADS-25; the GALENOS project (Universities of Oxford and Bern), with Professor Andrea Cipriani and Dr Georgia Stellantis contributing expertise on living evidence platforms; the COSMIN group (Amsterdam UMC), with Dr Wieneke Mokkink providing methodological guidance on psychometric appraisal; and the Centre for Anthropology and Mental Health Research in Action (SOAS University of London), with Dr Neil Armstrong leading work on lived-experience integration.

By Karolin Krause & Astrid Chevance