BACKGROUND To support the use of research evidence by community-based organizations (CBOs) we have developed 'Synthesized HIV/AIDS Research Evidence' (SHARE), which is an evidence service for those working in the HIV sector. SHARE consists of several components: an online searchable database of HIV-relevant systematic reviews (retrievable based on a taxonomy of topics related to HIV/AIDS and op...

BACKGROUND Allocation of inevitably limited financial resources for health care requires assessment of an intervention's effectiveness. Interventions likely affect quality of life (QOL) more broadly than is measurable with commonly used health-related QOL utility scales. In line with the World Health Organization's definition of health, a recent Delphi procedure showed that assessment needs to ...

BACKGROUND Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability in China. Current treatments for stroke are limited and achieve no optimal effect. Acupuncture is widely used in the treatment of stroke and in improving the quality of life for patients in China. In most previous clinical studies, the effects of acupuncture have been diverse, and few well-designed randomized controlled tria...

OBJECTIVES To address the "millennial morbidities," pediatricians must partner with community-based organizations to develop interventions. Little is known about the capacity of the resulting programs for program evaluation or the importance of evaluation in project success and sustainability. The objective of this study was to examine the capacity of community-based health programs to conduct ...

Although evidence suggests that asthma onset occurs early in childhood, many standard asthma outcome measures are either impractical or unreliable in preschool-aged children. In this population, for instance, patient history and symptom reports rely on the observations of caregivers, who tend to underreport their child's asthma symptoms. Furthermore, the use of conventional measures of pulmonar...

BACKGROUND Current transfemoral prosthetic sockets are problematic as they restrict function, lack comfort, and cause residual limb problems. Development of a subischial socket with lower proximal trim lines is an appealing way to address this problem and may contribute to improving quality of life of persons with transfemoral amputation. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to illustrate...

BACKGROUND Measurement of function is an essential component of routine rehabilitation work (mainly for quantifying function at different phases in the rehabilitation process), rehabilitation policy (admission and discharge criteria, length of stay in rehabilitation), goal setting, and outcome measurement. OBJECTIVE To explore the scope of the scales used for function assessment by the variou...

BACKGROUND Homeless youth are at high risk for HIV infection as a consequence of risky sexual behaviour. Interventions for homeless youth are challenging. Assessment of the effectiveness of interventions to modify sexual risk behaviours for preventing HIV in homeless youth is needed. OBJECTIVES To evaluate and summarize the effectiveness of interventions for modifying sexual risk behaviours a...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Facial palsy manifests a broad array of deficits affecting function, form, and psychological well-being. Assessment scales were introduced to standardize and document the features of facial palsy and to facilitate the exchange of information and comparison of outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine which assessment methodologies are currently employed by those inv...

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to assess whether National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA)-funded randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published in the HTA journal were described in sufficient detail to replicate in practice. SETTING RCTs published in the HTA journal. PARTICIPANTS 98 RCTs published in the HTA journal up to March 2011. Complet...