Quality of Life, Functional Health Status, and Patient Satisfaction, are primary measures of outcome for health programs, becoming routine in the assessment of the effects of disease and health care interventions. These patient-centred global measures aim to comprehensively assess an individual’s health state or health-related experience, and characteristically investigate a broad range of aspects of perceived importance to the individual. Health outcomes research and evaluation is increasingly centred on the application of such measures to improve healthcare services.

The course introduces the skills needed for patient-centred health outcomes measurement, where health state as perceived by the patient is assessed as well as physiological or clinician-based measures (ie. the Harvard School of Public Health sense of the term). The course aims to equip participants with the ability to evaluate and select tests for use in their own workplace.