Compliance with established standards has been the benchmark of evaluating all kinds of academic, professional, commercial and administrative endeavours over the last one hundred years or so. Academic awards, for example, have been gained by passing examinations specific to that discipline of study. The awards themselves have been subject to accreditation procedures, often established by both i...

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of mirror therapy with tasks on upper extremity unction and self-care in stroke patients. [Subjects] Thirty participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n=15) or a control group (n=15). [Methods] Subjects in the experimental group received mirror therapy with tasks, and those in the control group received a...

BACKGROUND The Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) is a tool designed to evaluate the impact of shoulder pathology. The aim of this study was to cross culturally adapt a Spanish version of the SPADI for Spanish population with a musculoskeletal shoulder pain, and to determine the psychometric properties of this instrument using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). METHODS Cross-cultural...

PURPOSE To examine a range of measures used to document client outcomes following stroke, describe the Australian Therapy Outcome Measure for Occupational Therapy (AusTOMs-OT) as a tool suitable to measure multiple outcomes, and provide an overview of three outcomes research programs using this measure. The AusTOMs-OT was developed to measure global therapy outcomes and offers therapists a choi...

The Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) is firmly established as the primary outcome measure for use in Phase III trials of interventions in traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, the GOS has been criticized for its lack of sensitivity to detect small but clinically relevant changes in outcome. The Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended (GOSE) potentially addresses this criticism, and in this study we estimate...

BACKGROUND Despite growing interest and urges by leading experts for the routine collection of patient reported outcome (PRO) measures in all general care patients, and in particular cancer patients, there has not been an updated comprehensive review of the evidence regarding the impact of adopting such a strategy on patients, service providers and organisations in an oncologic setting. METHO...

AIMS To report results from and explore use of a multicentre, parallel-group, unblinded, randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness in terms of well-being and diabetes management of a person-centred, web-based support programme for women with Type 1 diabetes, in pregnancy and postpartum. METHODS Between 2011 and 2014, 174 pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes were randomly allocated ...

PURPOSE Awareness of being monitored can influence participants' habitual physical activity (PA) behavior. This reactivity effect may threaten the validity of PA assessment. Reports on reactivity when measuring the PA of children and adolescents have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to investigate whether PA outcomes measured by accelerometer devices differ from measurement day to m...

OBJECTIVE Authors investigated, cross-nationally, the factors, including demographic, psychiatric (including cognitive), physical, and behavioral, determining whether older people take their prescribed medication. Older adults are prescribed more medication than any other group, and poor adherence is a common reason for non-response to medication. METHODS Researchers interviewed 3,881 people ...

BACKGROUND The Health and Social Care Act mandated research use as a core consideration of health service commissioning arrangements in England. We undertook a controlled before and after study to evaluate whether access to a demand-led evidence briefing service improved the use of research evidence by commissioners compared with less intensive and less targeted alternatives. METHODS Nine Cli...