Editorial: Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Related Care.

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the established, albeit at times conceptual, standard of care, and understanding its ongoing operational evolution is critical to JAACAP readers.

At the center of operationalizing the concept of EBM are the accurate tools for screening, diagnosis, and outcome measurement. Historically, these instruments relied on trained raters assessing the patient's signs and symptoms.

The field has evolved over time to the perception that clinician-rated scales need to be complemented with patient- and parent-rated instruments, or patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). This development and its implications are considered from multiple perspectives.