MethodsInstrumentAnextensive search of the literature did not uncover an instrumentsuitable for the purposes of this study. The authors subsequentlydeveloped the Mental Health Consumer Participation QuestionnaireMHCPQ, based on the Consumer Participation Questionnaire CPQdeveloped by. The CPQ hadbeen specifically developed to examine consumer participation inservice delivery and required modification to be suitable foreducational research.The CPQ was originally used to survey theopinions and perceptions of mental health professionals in a NewZealand Crown Health Enterprise CHE.The MHCPQ consists of items based on a five point Likert scale, with responses ranging fromstrongly agree to strongly disagree. Three additional questions requirea yes/no response and seek further comments. The questions were dividedinto six subsets relating to consumer participation in health care,these are: management, treatments, planning, service delivery, theconsumer academic position and the consumer perspective. Thesequestions enabled the scope for a broad understanding of the studentsâ??views regarding consumer participation in health care. A pilot of thequestionnaire was conducted with registered nurses who had recentlycompleted a postgraduate course in psychiatric nursing. The responsesof the pilot participants confirm the validity and reliability of thisinstrument.