Social science & medicine
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Social science & medicine · Nov 1995
German translation and psychometric testing of the SF-36 Health Survey: preliminary results from the IQOLA Project. International Quality of Life Assessment.
International translation and psychometric testing of generic health outcome measures is increasingly in demand. Following the methodology developed by the International Quality of Life Assessment group (IQOLA) we report the German work with the SF-36 Health Survey. The form was translated using a forward-backward method with accompanying translation quality ratings and pilot tested in terms of translation clarity and applicability. ⋯ Furthermore convergent validity, responsiveness to treatment and discriminative power in distinguishing between healthy and ill respondents was present. The preliminary results suggest that the SF-36 Health Survey in its German form may be a valuable tool in epidemiological and clinical studies. However further work as concerns responsiveness and population based norms is necessary.
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Social science & medicine · Nov 1995
Case ReportsThe ethics of discharge planning for older adults: an ethnographic analysis.
This paper uses ethnographic data to examine ethical dilemmas in discharging elderly persons from the hospital. The focus is on two elements significantly influencing that process, the patient's decisional capacity and the involvement of family members in decision-making. Within the field of bioethics these issues have been discussed in terms of factors compromising the autonomy of the patient and the interdependency of family members. ⋯ The structure of the discharge planner's role and processes of collective decision-making shape how medical staff perceive and define patients' decisional capacity and the involvement of families. This points to unintentional and unrecognized ways in which the patient's choices and control over decisions can be restricted. The analysis supports attempts to develop bioethical models based on socially grounded principles recognizing the importance of both autonomy and interdependence in long term care decisions.