A qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde tem aparecido, com frequência, entre as metas dos estudos clínicos destinados ao desenvolvimento de novos tratamentos para a hipertensão arterial pulmonar (HAP). Embora os novos tratamentos melhorem o desempenho ao exercício na fase inicial de 12 - 16 semanas, não se sabe se existe associação entre tolerância ao exercício e qualidade de vida (QV), sobretudo em médio e longo prazo. Os objetivos do estudo foram: a) verificar, em pacientes com HAP, a existência ou não de correlação entre a QV e desempenho físico; b) verificar como as possíveis associações entre QV e desempenho ao exercício se comporta ao longo de um ano de observação sob tratamento medicamentoso específico; c) verificar se a aplicação de um protocolo de orientação de enfermagem, especificamente planejado para pacientes com HAP, poderia exercer impacto sobre a QV e o desempenho físico. Foram incluídos 34 pacientes no estudo, adolescentes ou adultos com o diagnóstico de HAP idiopática, hereditária ou associada a cardiopatias congênitas. Para o comprimento do terceiro objetivo, os pacientes foram organizados em pares, seguindo-se randomização para o tipo de seguimento a que seriam submetidos: apenas orientação médica ou orientação médica seguida de consulta de enfermagem. O acompanhamento constou de cinco visitas, a saber, no início, e aos três, seis, nove e 12 meses. Nas visitas, foram avaliados o desempenho físico, através da classe funcional e do teste de caminhada de seis minutos, e a QV mediante aplicação do questionário SF-36. A idade variou entre 14 e 58 anos (mediana de 35,5 anos). Houve dez pacientes com o diagnostico de hipertensão arterial pulmonar idiopática, dois na forma hereditária e 22 indivíduos com a forma associada a cardiopatias congênitas. Com relação à classe funcional, 25 pacientes estavam em classe II e nove em classe III. A distância caminhada inicialmente foi 177 a 564 metros (mediana 399 metros). A saturação periférica de oxigênio em repouso esteve entre 63 e 98% (mediana 94,5%), e ao final do exercício, foi de 38 a 98% (mediana de 84%). Com relação aos escores de QV iniciais (valores de zero a 100, representando respectivamente pior e melhor estado de saúde), somente duas das oito categorias analisadas através do questionário SF-36 mostraram valores medianos abaixo de 50, ambas relacionadas à saúde física. Analisando-se os 31 pacientes que completaram 12 meses de seguimento, observou-se que não houve modificação com significância estatística na classe funcional, distância caminhada aos seis minutos, na saturação periférica de oxigênio e nos escores do questionário SF-36, componentes físico e mental da QV. Analisando-se todas as 40 possíveis correlações entre a distância caminhada e as oito diferentes categorias do questionário, observou-se 12 associações significantes ao longo do seguimento (p< 0,05, relacionado ao coeficiente rS de Spearman). O limite em termos de distância caminhada abaixo do qual os pacientes passariam a expressar maior insatisfação em relação à sua QV (escores 25) situou-se entre 235 e 285 metros percorridos, com especificidade superior a 0,90. Entretanto, a baixa sensibilidade (máxima 0,42) sugeriu que diversos pacientes expressariam tal descontentamento mesmo com desempenho físico acima do intervalo mencionado. Com relação ao tipo de consulta, ainda que subjetivamente se tenha observado maior esclarecimento quanto à doença e seu tratamento em alguns pacientes acompanhados com a consulta suplementar de enfermagem, não houve diferenças estatísticas quanto à classe funcional, distância percorrida aos seis minutos ou escores de QV. Os dados observados permitiram concluir que pacientes portadores de HAP, nas subcategorias diagnósticas analisadas, uma vez colocados em tratamento específico, se mantêm estáveis, em médio prazo, sem deterioração significante de seu desempenho físico e QV. Apesar do tratamento em curso, o maior grau de insatisfação está relacionado à percepção da saúde física. Evolutivamente, a associação entre desempenho físico e QV existe em apenas 30% das oportunidades avaliadas. Pacientes caminhando, menos de 235 metros no teste de caminhada, quase certamente expressarão insatisfação marcante em relação à sua QV. Finalmente, com respeito à consulta de enfermagem, embora subjetivamente se tenha tido impressão de seu real papel, não houve impacto demonstrado objetivamente com significância estatística. Assim, desempenho físico e QV se mostram como aspectos complementar a serem avaliados em pacientes com HAP / Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has been explored as an additional end point in clinical studies for development of new therapies in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Although treatments have been shown to improve the exercise capacity in 12-16 weeks, little is known of how patients do over the medium and long term on these therapies, in terms of HTQOL. The objectives of the present study were: 1- to observe how PAH patients do on specific therapies over 12 months of follow-up in terms of the exercise capacity and HRQOL; 2- to test for possible associations between the exercise capacity and HRQOL, and determine if such associations persist over the medium term (12 months); 3- to examine if a PAH-specific nursing approach (following conventional visits to the doctor) has a positive impact on patients exercise capacity and quality of life. Thirty-four patients were enrolled, with PAH associated with congenital heart disease (N=22) or idiopathic/hereditary PAH (N=12). Patients were seen at baseline, and three, six, nine and twelve months thereafter. The exercise capacity was assessed by performing the six-minute walk test, and the quality of life using the SF-36 questionnaire. The functional class was recorded according to the World Health Organization classification. The age range was 14 to 58 years (median 35.5 years). Patients were in functional class II (N=25) or III (N=9), and baseline six-minute walked distance was 177 to 564 meters (median 399 meters). Peripheral oxygen saturation was 63% to 98% (median 94.5%) at rest, and 38% to 98% (median 84%) at the end of the exercise. At baseline, in two of the eight domains of the SF-36 questionnaire (physical functioning and physical role), median score were lower than 50 (0-100 scale, 100 indicating best health). In 31 patients who completed the follow-up, there were no statistically significant changes in the functional class, six-minute walked distance, peripheral oxygen saturation and SF-36 scores. All these variables remained stable in the whole patient group. Of 40 possible associations between the exercise capacity and aspects of HRQOL analyzed over 12 months, only 12 were statistically significant (p<0.05, Spearmans coefficient of correlation). Using regression models, it was observed that patients walking less than 235-280 meters during the six-minute test had a severe depression in HRQOL (SF-26 scores 25). Although the specificity was adequate (> 0.90) the low sensitivity of prediction ( 0.42) indicated that many patients would be unsatisfied with their quality of life even above this range. Nursing assistance did not add a significant benefit in terms of the sixminute walked distance or the SF-36 scores in PAH patients on treatment with specific therapies. On the basis of the present data, it is possible to conclude that patients on specific PAH therapies tend to remain stable over 12 months of observation in terms of the exercise capacity and HRQOL. It is noticeable that most patients in the study had PAH associated with congenital heart disease (no patients with systemic sclerosis included). Dissatisfaction in terms of HRQOL is mainly related to the perception of physical health. Over the medium term, associations between HRQOL and the exercise capacity are present in only 30% of instances, suggesting that these are different perspectives of patients health. Anyway, patients walking less than 235 meters in six-minutes are very likely to express severely depressed HRQOL. Finally, further studies possibly using qualitative research methodology are warranted for a better understanding of the role of nursing assistance in this disorder

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Objetivo: Determinar la variación de la función visual y calidad de vida en pacientes con cataratas antes y después de la facoemulsificación más colocación de LIO. Métodos: Estudio longitudinal en pacientes mayores de 50 años, intervenidos de catarata con la cirugía de facoemulsificación con colocación de LIO. Se evaluó la variación de la función visual con el VFQ 25 y la calidad de vida con el QOL.Q 40 antes de la intervención quirúrgica y luego de 3 meses. Resultados: La edad media de los pacientes fue de 74 años ± 7,4, 55%, de los cuales 37,5% tuvieron una cirugía previa de cataratas. Se evidenció una variación favorable de la función visual en las subescalas de Salud general (p<0,001), Visión General (p< 0,001), Visión de cerca (p= <0,001), Visión de lejos (p< 0,001), Limitaciones (p= 0,001) y Visión Periférica (p< 0,001). La calidad de vida medida con el QOLQ.40, también presentó cambio favorable evidenciándose una diferencia significativa en la subescala de Satisfacción con un (p=0,0001.). Se calculó la correlación entre la variación de la función visual medida con el VFQ 25 y la variación del número de células endoteliales, hallando una mejora en la subescala de “Limitación” con un rho de Spearman de 0.3456. Conclusión: Los pacientes presentaron respuesta favorable a la intervención tanto a nivel clínico, observando un incremento de la agudeza visual, como en la función visual y calidad vida. Los cuestionarios de calidad de vida son adaptables a nuestra población, su uso permitirá una medición integral de los resultados de la cirugía. / Tesis

Social desirability refers to the need for social approval or acceptance (Toh, Lee, & Hu, 2006). This need results in the oft-observed human tendency to present oneself in the best possible light (Fisher, 1993), a tendency that may entail research participants giving or selecting the responses that they perceive to be most socially acceptable when completing self-report questionnaires. Whether the product of self-deception or deliberate impression management (Toh et al., 2006), the failure of participants to respond truthfully or accurately when completing self-reports can distort research results (Fisher, 1993; Schriesheim, 1979; Toh et al., 2006) and cast doubt on the validity of findings. This workshop will familiarize attendees with information on the causes of social desirability bias and simple techniques to assess and control social desirability bias in survey research.

Background: The evaluation of care strategies at the end of life is particularly important due to the globally increasing proportion of very old people in need of care. The ICECAP-Supportive Care Measure is a self-complete questionnaire developed in the UK to evaluate palliative and supportive care by measuring patient’s wellbeing in terms of ‘capability’. It is a new measure with high potential for broad and international use. The aims of this study were the translation of the ICECAP-Supportive Care Measure from English into German and the content validation of this version. Methods: A multi-step and team-based translation process based on the TRAPD model was performed. An expert survey was carried out to assess content validity. The expert panel (n = 20) consisted of four expert groups: representative seniors aged 65+, patients aged 65+ living in residential care, patients aged 65+ receiving end-of-life care, and professionals in end-of-life care. Results: The German version of the ICECAP-Supportive Care Measure showed an excellent content validity on both item- and scale-level. In addition, a high agreement regarding the length of the single items and the total length of the questionnaire as well as the number of answer categories was reached. Conclusions: The German ICECAP-SCM is a valid tool to assess the quality of life at the end of life that is suitable for use in different settings. The questionnaire may be utilized in multinational clinical and economic evaluations of end-of-life care.

Software development companies strive to produce high-quality software. In commercial software development environments, due to resource and time constraints, software is often developed hastily which gives rise to technical debt. Technical debt refers to the consequences of taking shortcuts when developing software. These consequences include making the system difficult to maintain and defect prone. Technical debt can have financial consequences and impede feature enhancements. Identifying technical debt and deciding which debt to address is challenging given resource constraints. Project managers must decide which debt has the highest priority and is most critical to the project. This decision-making process is not standardized and sometimes differs from project to project. My research goal is to develop a framework that project managers can use in their decision-making process to prioritize technical debt based on its potential impact. To achieve this goal, we survey software practitioners, conduct literature reviews, and mine software repositories for historical data to build a framework to model the technical debt decision-making process and inform practitioners of the most critical debt items.

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Objectives: To complete the validation and to study the psychometric properties of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Vocal Fatigue Index (IFV). Material and methods: This is a validation study of a diagnostic instrument utilizing a cross-sectional design and phases with quasi-experimental design. The total sample was composed of 212 participants, divided into two groups: Dysphonic Group and Vocally Healthy Group. All participants answered the VFI protocol. Data analysis consisted of the following steps: exploratory factor analysis, validity analysis, reliability analysis, sensitivity analysis, receiver operating characteristic, and area under the curve analysis. Results: The Brazilian Portuguese version of the VFI called Índice de Fadiga Vocal-IFV, has 17 items and four factors. The IFV is a valid, reliable and sensible instrument to measure the self-perception of vocal fatigue. The threshold values for each factor was: 4.50 for tiredness and voice impairment; 3.50 for avoidance of voice use; 1.50 for physical discomfort and 8.50 for improvement of voice symptoms with rest. The threshold value for the total score was 11.50. Conclusion: The Brazilian Portuguese version of the VFI is a valid instrument to assess the self-perception of vocal fatigue, especially in dysphonic individuals.

Objectives To complete the validation and to study the psychometric properties of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Vocal Fatigue Index (IFV). Material and methods This is a validation study of a diagnostic instrument utilizing a cross-sectional design and phases with quasi-experimental design. The total sample was composed of 212 participants, divided into two groups: Dysphonic Group and Vocally Healthy Group. All participants answered the VFI protocol. Data analysis consisted of the following steps: exploratory factor analysis, validity analysis, reliability analysis, sensitivity analysis, receiver operating characteristic, and area under the curve analysis. Results The Brazilian Portuguese version of the VFI called Índice de Fadiga Vocal-IFV, has 17 items and four factors. The IFV is a valid, reliable and sensible instrument to measure the self-perception of vocal fatigue. The threshold values for each factor was: 4.50 for tiredness and voice impairment; 3.50 for avoidance of voice use; 1.50 for physical discomfort and 8.50 for improvement of voice symptoms with rest. The threshold value for the total score was 11.50. Conclusion The Brazilian Portuguese version of the VFI is a valid instrument to assess the self-perception of vocal fatigue, especially in dysphonic individuals.