At least a third of patients in general practice have common forms of depressive, anxiety or somatoform disorders, while 10% to 25% have depressive disorders severe enough to justify evidence-based treatment.  However, treatment of depression accounts for less than 4% of consultation in Australian general practice. The development of appropriate tools assessing mental health need within this context is therefore of high priority.  The assessment of need within this environment requires brief measures that are 'user-friendly', easily and quickly completed within a waiting room context, providing valid and reliable indicators of mental health needs.

This project set out to develop a stand-alone instrument addressing perceived need for mental health care, based on the Perceived Need for Care Questionnaire as used in the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, but suitable for use in the GP waiting room.  The General-practice Users Perceived-need Inventory ('GUPI') was the outcome of this development process. Participant feedback suggests that the GUPI has good 'consumer validity'.  Higher scores on items associated with adverse mental health experience were associated with perceived need on the GUPI, suggesting that perceived need as measured with the GUPI is associated with poorer general health, and a greater level of disability due to both physical and emotional difficulties.    The data suggests that reducing the five-item GUPI to three 'psychological/psychiatric need' items (i.e., the first three items) would allow the retention of psychometric properties, while creating a measure that is even more brief and simple to administer and complete.