BACKGROUND The objective of this process evaluation study was to gain insight into the reach, compliance, appreciation, usage barriers, and users' perceived effectiveness of a web-based intervention http://www.wiagesprek.nl. This intervention was aimed at empowerment of disability claimants, prior to the assessment of disability by an insurance physician. METHODS Reach was determined by regis...

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs compensates 13 percent of the nation’s military veterans for service‐related disabilities through the Disability Compensation (DC) program. In 2001, a legislative change made it easier for Vietnam veterans to receive benefits for diabetes associated with military service. In this paper, we investigate this policy’s effect on DC enrollment and expenditures...

INTRODUCTION The study aims to investigate two kinds of treatment in patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and consequently compares its efficacy on improving the symptoms and mental health of patients; one with just medical treatment and another through a combination of psychotherapy and medical treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS Applying general sampling, 50 IBS patients were ...

The task of evaluating psychiatric disability poses several ethics-related and practical challenges for psychiatrists, especially when they are responding to a request from a third party for a disability evaluation on their own patient. This study sought to evaluate the differences in how forensic and nonforensic psychiatrists approach and view evaluations for Social Security disability benefit...

Objective To evaluate a set of psychometric properties (i.e., data completeness, targeting, and external construct validity) of the Parkinson's disease Activities of Daily Living Scale (PADLS) in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). Specific attention was paid to the association between PADLS and PD severity, according to the Hoehn & Yahr (H&Y) staging. Methods The sample included 251 person...

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at risk of work disability from the very start of their symptoms. Prospective cohorts including patients with early RA show that 20-30% become permanently work disabled during the first 2-3 years of the disease. Risk factors for early work disability include a physically demanding job, older age, and lower educational level, as well as the level of fu...

BACKGROUND This study evaluated the validity and reliability of the Italian version of the Non-Communicating Children's Pain Checklist-Postoperative version (I-NCCPC-PV). METHODS The original NCCPC-PV version was translated into Italian following the guidelines for "the translation, adaptation, and validation of instruments or scales for cross-cultural healthcare research". We tested the Ital...

BACKGROUND Rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) involve group financial self-help activities. These voluntary financial cooperative associations-mujin in Japanese-are found in some rural areas of Japan. Cross-sectional evidence suggests that active participation in mujin correlates with rich social capital and better functional capacities among older adults. However, the effect of ...

In mainstream offender samples, several risk assessments have been evaluated for predictive validity. This study extends this work to male offenders with intellectual disabilities. Participants from high-, medium-, and low-security settings, as well as community settings, were compared on a range of risk assessments. The Violence Risk Appraisal Guide, HCR-20-Historical Scale, the Risk Matrix 20...