Introduction: Conversation treatment for individuals with aphasia (IwAs) aims to enhance language and communication skills within naturalistic settings. Group dynamics, including psychosocial support (PSS) and vicarious learning (VL), are important components of this treatment. However, the lack of established aphasia-friendly methods for quantifying group dynamics impedes understanding of its contribution to treatment efficacy. This study addresses three key research goals: (1) Can group dynamics be reliably quantified? (2) Do measures of group dynamics vary with group size or time? (3) Are group dynamics linked to changes in self-reported psychosocial health measures? Methods: IwAs were assigned to participate in either a large group or dyadic condition as part of a larger study. Participants completed multiple standardized assessments before and after receiving conversation treatment for one hour twice a week for ten weeks. A coding system was developed to track PSS and VL during sessions. Video recordings of sessions at the start (Session 2) and end (Session 19) of the treatment period were analyzed for five large groups and six dyads, with seven additional dyads coded for Session 19 after reliability was confirmed. Intrarater and interrater reliability were assessed by recoding 21% of the videos randomly. Results: To address the first research goal, group dynamics were defined and then a code was created to represent occurrences of PSS and VL. After establishing a reliable coding system, instances of PSS and VL were compared across size conditions to address the second research goal. The results suggested that PSS differed between conditions later in treatment, but VL did not. For research goal three, the data suggest that large groups experience larger gains in quality of life measures, possibly due to increased exposure to PSS. Conclusion: Findings indicate that group dynamics can be reliably tracked and used for quantitative analysis. PSS was more common in groups than dyads later in the 10 week treatment period, but VL did not vary across conditions or at the start or end of treatment. Further, there is some evidence that PSS in larger groups contributes to improvements in quality of life measures. / Communication Sciences

In recent years, there has been an ever increasing emphasis placed on the collection and use of patient reported outcome measures (PROM) in mental health services. This emphasis stems from a culture of evidence based practice, wherein PROM are shown to improve therapeutic outcomes at the clinical level, as well as provide information for the appropriate development of services and commissioning at a national level. This study uses an online survey to explore the use of PROM by mental health staff (n=112) in various Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services across England. Attitudes toward routine outcome monitoring practices and perceived competency around PROM use were also measured. Results found that although significant numbers of staff were using PROM, the amount of data being collected falls short of policy targets. Staff’s attitudes towards the practice are shown to be ambivalent, whereas overall perceived levels of competency were reasonably good. The relationships between attitudes, competence and PROM usage are discussed and a prediction model for PROM usage is developed in light of existing psychological theory. Results showed that training played an important role in the uptake of PROM and implications for the dissemination of training programs are emphasised.

Bakgrund: Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale (IPOS) syftar till att ge en multidimensionell bild av patienters situation. IPOS används som ett sätt att bedöma patienters upplevelse av sina symtom, sin funktionsförmåga och sitt välbefinnande i relation till svår sjukdom. Få studier har dock utgått från patienternas perspektiv för att undersöka upplevelser av att använda IPOS. Syfte: Att undersöka patienters erfarenheter av att använda Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale under pågående specialiserad palliativ hemsjukvård. Metod: Studien är genomförd med en kvalitativ ansats och en tolkande beskrivande design. Rekrytering till studien gjordes från tre specialiserade palliativa hemsjukvårdsenheter. Intervjuer genomfördes med 10 patienter, sju män och tre kvinnor med medelåldern 72 år. En majoritet var diagnostiserade med obotlig cancer. Data analyserades genom tolkande beskrivning så som den beskrivs av Sally Thorne. Resultat: Patienterna upplevde att använda IPOS medförde säker vård eftersom att det underlättade för sjuksköterskorna att göra korrekta bedömningar av patienternas behov. Således var IPOS en hjälp att planera vården utifrån patienternas specifika behov. Detta gav patienterna en känsla av att vården de fick var anpassad för dem, vilket gav en känsla av trygghet. De upplevde även att använda IPOS försäkrade att information fördes vidare på ett korrekt sätt från patienterna till vårdpersonalen genom att det minskade risken för missförstånd. De uppgav att IPOS underlättade diskussioner mellan dem och sjuksköterskorna om sådant de upplevde som viktigt. Patienterna upplevde även att använda IPOS möjliggjorde för dem att reflektera över sitt välbefinnande och sin livssituation. Att göra detta tillsammans med en sjuksköterska var berikande eftersom att det kunde ge nya perspektiv. Slutsats: Resultatet indikerar att patienterna i denna studie upplever att använda IPOS var givande för dem. Det kan konstateras att IPOS med fördel kan användas i specialiserad palliativ hemsjukvård. / Background: The Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale (IPOS) is intended to provide a multidimensional view of patients’ concerns. IPOS can be used with the purpose of assessing patients’ perceptions of their functional status and wellbeing. Few studies have undertaken the patients’ perspective when exploring experiences of using IPOS. Aim: To explore patients’ experiences of using the Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale during specialized palliative home care. Method: The study adopted a qualitative approach with an interpretive descriptive design. The patients were recruited from three different specialized palliative home care settings. Interviews were performed with 10 patients, seven men and three women, with a mean age of 72 years. A majority of the patients were diagnosed with incurable cancer. Data were analysed using interpretive description, as described by Sally Thorne. Results: Patients experienced that the use of IPOS entailed secure care as it facilitated nurses in making accurate assessments of patient care needs. IPOS helped to plan the care according to patients’ specific needs, making them feel confident that the care provided was tailored to them, giving a sense of security. Patients expressed that IPOS facilitated discussions between them and the nurse about care needs. They believed that using IPOS enabled opportunities for reflection on their wellbeing and life situation. Doing so with a nurse present was enriching, providing new perspectives. Conclusions: Patients experienced that using IPOS was beneficial. It can be concluded that IPOS provide an effective way to enable person-centred care and with advantage could be used in specialized palliative home care.

The objective of this study was to compare the accuracy of self-reported skin cancer risk outcome measures proposed as standards by prevention experts to aggregated estimates of behavior from weekly diaries. Weekly electronic diaries of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) behaviors, initially validated by comparison with daily electronic diaries, were used to assess the accuracy of commonly used end-of-summer self-reported measures among 250 adults. Results revealed low biases, and good correspondence between simple open-ended self-reported estimates of days outside, hours outside, sunbathing days and hours, and days outside when not protected by either sunscreen, long-sleeved shirts, hats, or shade. Rating scale measures commonly used in the current literature and those recently recommended as standards by a workshop of experts showed evidence of being non-interval and lacking precision for more frequent behavior (e.g., >1 h sun exposure daily). These data indicated that open-ended frequency self-reports of skin cancer risk behaviors that follow procedures designed to increase accuracy were reliable over a summer-long period.

<p>The aim of this thesis was to critically examine the current use of the Camberwell Assessment of Need (CAN) in outcome assessment for service evaluation. A further aim was to propose a metric for assessing the adequacy of community mental health services in meeting ongoing needs over longer stretches of time.</p><p>We made four prospective follow-up studies of CAN assessments of patients with severe mental illness in community-based mental health care.</p><p>A factor analysis (n=741) gave support for a three-factor model, comprising only 60% of the CAN items. Need assessments (n= 92) in 1997 and 2003 were compared at both the summed total and the underlying item levels of the CAN. The mean total scores did not change, yet there were significant changes in the underlying items. Changes in mean number of needs between 1997 and 1999 were measured (n=262) with both total scores, summed over all CAN items, and with sub-total scores, summed over two sets of items reflecting the social services and the psychiatric services respectively. As indicated by the sub-total scores, all significant changes occurred within the psychiatric services, a result not possible to discern from the total scores. The Met Needs Index (MNI), defined by us as the aggregate measure of beneficial outcome, indicated that needs in general were met during 71% of the intervals between the annuals assessments from 1997 through 2004. However, the variation among particular items was large.</p><p>In conclusion, the summary scores typically used as outcome measures are likely to conceal meaningful variation at the item level. Nevertheless, sub-total scores, being more transparent, might be more useful in outcome assessment. The MNI is a continuous, normally distributed metric, estimable over any number of consecutive assessments, which seems suitable for assessing the achieved benefit of services for patients with long-term ongoing needs.</p>

The aim of this thesis was to critically examine the current use of the Camberwell Assessment of Need (CAN) in outcome assessment for service evaluation. A further aim was to propose a metric for assessing the adequacy of community mental health services in meeting ongoing needs over longer stretches of time. We made four prospective follow-up studies of CAN assessments of patients with severe mental illness in community-based mental health care. A factor analysis (n=741) gave support for a three-factor model, comprising only 60% of the CAN items. Need assessments (n= 92) in 1997 and 2003 were compared at both the summed total and the underlying item levels of the CAN. The mean total scores did not change, yet there were significant changes in the underlying items. Changes in mean number of needs between 1997 and 1999 were measured (n=262) with both total scores, summed over all CAN items, and with sub-total scores, summed over two sets of items reflecting the social services and the psychiatric services respectively. As indicated by the sub-total scores, all significant changes occurred within the psychiatric services, a result not possible to discern from the total scores. The Met Needs Index (MNI), defined by us as the aggregate measure of beneficial outcome, indicated that needs in general were met during 71% of the intervals between the annuals assessments from 1997 through 2004. However, the variation among particular items was large. In conclusion, the summary scores typically used as outcome measures are likely to conceal meaningful variation at the item level. Nevertheless, sub-total scores, being more transparent, might be more useful in outcome assessment. The MNI is a continuous, normally distributed metric, estimable over any number of consecutive assessments, which seems suitable for assessing the achieved benefit of services for patients with long-term ongoing needs.

Background: Several self-report measures exist that target different aspects of outcomes for hearing aid use. Currently, no comprehensive questionnaire specifically assesses factors that may be important for differentiating outcomes pertaining to hearing aid style. Purpose: The goal of this work was to develop the Style Preference Survey (SPS), a questionnaire aimed at outcomes associated with hearing aid style differences. Two experiments were conducted. After initial item development, Experiment 1 was conducted to refine the items and to determine its psychometric properties. Experiment 2 was designed to cross-validate the findings from the initial experiment. Research Design: An observational design was used in both experiments. Study Sample: Participants who wore traditional, custom-fitted (TC) or open-canal (OC) style hearing aids from 3 mo to 3 yr completed the initial experiment. One-hundred and eighty-four binaural hearing aid users (120 of whom wore TC hearing aids and 64 of whom wore OC hearing aids) participated. A new sample of TC and OC users (n 5 185) participated in the cross-validation experiment. Data Collection and Analysis: Currently available self-report measures were reviewed to identify items that might differentiate between hearing aid styles, particularly preference for OC versus TC hearing aid styles. A total of 15 items were selected and modified from available self-report measures. An additional 55 items were developed through consensus of six audiologists for the initial version of the SPS. In the first experiment, the initial SPS version was mailed to 550 veterans who met the inclusion criteria. A total of 184 completed the SPS. Approximately three weeks later, a subset of participants (n 5 83) completed the SPS a second time. Basic analyses were conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the SPS including subscale structure, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and responsiveness. Based on the results of Experiment 1, the SPS was revised. A cross-validation experiment was then conducted using the revised version of the SPS to confirm the subscale structure, internal consistency, and responsiveness of the questionnaire in a new sample of participants Results: The final factor analysis led to the ultimate version of the SPS, which had a total of 35 items encompassing five subscales: (1) Feedback, (2) Occlusion/Own Voice Effects, (3) Localization, (4) Fit, Comfort, and Cosmetics, and (5) Ease of Use. The internal consistency of the total SPS (Cronbach'sa5 .92) and of the subscales (each Cronbach'sa..75) was high. Intraclass correlations (ICCs) showed that the test-retest reliability of the total SPS (ICC5.93) and of the subscales (each ICC..80) also was high. TC hearing aid users had significantly poorer outcomes than OC hearing aid users on 4 of the 5 subscales, suggesting that the SPS largely is responsive to factors related to style-specific differences. Conclusions: The results suggest that the SPS has good psychometric properties and is a valid and reliable measure of outcomes related to style-specific, hearing aid preference.

Background: Several self-report measures exist that target different aspects of outcomes for hearing aid use. Currently, no comprehensive questionnaire specifically assesses factors that may be important for differentiating outcomes pertaining to hearing aid style. Purpose: The goal of this work was to develop the Style Preference Survey (SPS), a questionnaire aimed at outcomes associated with hearing aid style differences. Two experiments were conducted. After initial item development, Experiment 1 was conducted to refine the items and to determine its psychometric properties. Experiment 2 was designed to cross-validate the findings from the initial experiment. Research Design: An observational design was used in both experiments. Study Sample: Participants who wore traditional, custom-fitted (TC) or open-canal (OC) style hearing aids from 3 mo to 3 yr completed the initial experiment. One-hundred and eighty-four binaural hearing aid users (120 of whom wore TC hearing aids and 64 of whom wore OC hearing aids) participated. A new sample of TC and OC users (n 5 185) participated in the cross-validation experiment. Data Collection and Analysis: Currently available self-report measures were reviewed to identify items that might differentiate between hearing aid styles, particularly preference for OC versus TC hearing aid styles. A total of 15 items were selected and modified from available self-report measures. An additional 55 items were developed through consensus of six audiologists for the initial version of the SPS. In the first experiment, the initial SPS version was mailed to 550 veterans who met the inclusion criteria. A total of 184 completed the SPS. Approximately three weeks later, a subset of participants (n 5 83) completed the SPS a second time. Basic analyses were conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the SPS including subscale structure, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and responsiveness. Based on the results of Experiment 1, the SPS was revised. A cross-validation experiment was then conducted using the revised version of the SPS to confirm the subscale structure, internal consistency, and responsiveness of the questionnaire in a new sample of participants Results: The final factor analysis led to the ultimate version of the SPS, which had a total of 35 items encompassing five subscales: (1) Feedback, (2) Occlusion/Own Voice Effects, (3) Localization, (4) Fit, Comfort, and Cosmetics, and (5) Ease of Use. The internal consistency of the total SPS (Cronbach'sa5 .92) and of the subscales (each Cronbach'sa..75) was high. Intraclass correlations (ICCs) showed that the test-retest reliability of the total SPS (ICC5.93) and of the subscales (each ICC..80) also was high. TC hearing aid users had significantly poorer outcomes than OC hearing aid users on 4 of the 5 subscales, suggesting that the SPS largely is responsive to factors related to style-specific differences. Conclusions: The results suggest that the SPS has good psychometric properties and is a valid and reliable measure of outcomes related to style-specific, hearing aid preference.

No description available.

The World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) is a leading patient-reported outcome measure of disability. However, patients' perspective of the WHODAS 2.0 self-administered Swedish version have not been sufficiently described. Similarly, knowledge of its construct validity in the general population is missing. This creates a gap because updated norm data to use as reference is also missing. The overall aim of this study was to establish evidence of the measurement properties of the self-administered Swedish version of the WHODAS 2.0. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted. In Study I, interviews with patients (n = 12) with orthopaedic or psychiatric conditions were performed and data were analysed by deductive content analysis. In Study II, a cross-sectional general population survey (n = 3 482) was conducted, and statistical methods based on classical test theory were used in the data analysis. The results show that the items were well understood, acceptable and easy to answer by outpatients, with the exception of six items (Study I).The internal consistency reliability was good or excellent and the construct validity was overall acceptable, with partial support for the factor structure in the general populations (Study II). The self-administered Swedish 36-item version of the WHODAS 2.0 is comparable to other language versions of the instrument. Some of the previous known weaknesses of its construct validity in relation to the item content and insufficient instructions were confirmed. The evidence of overall good content and construct validity together with available norm data supports its use in clinical settings and research.