Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation
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The benefits of health and social care are not confined to patient health alone and therefore broader measures of wellbeing may be useful for economic evaluation. This paper reports the development of a simple measure of capability wellbeing for adults (ICECAP-A). ⋯ The ICECAP-A capability measure represents a departure from traditional health economics outcome measures, by treating health status as an influence over broader attributes of capability wellbeing. Further work is required to value and validate the attributes and test the sensitivity of the ICECAP-A to healthcare interventions.
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The Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) is a questionnaire that was developed to assess scar quality. It consists of two separate six-item scales (Observer Scale and Patient Scale), both of which are scored on a 10-point rating scale. After many years of experience with this scale in burn scar assessment, it is appropriate to examine its psychometric properties using Rasch analysis. ⋯ The Rasch model demonstrated that the POSAS is a reliable and valid scale that measures the single-construct scar quality.
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To evaluate the reliability and validity of the EQ-5D in a general population sample in urban China. ⋯ The Chinese version of the EQ-5D demonstrated acceptable construct validity and fair to moderate levels of test-retest reliability in an urban general population in China.
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To compare adolescent self-reports with two types of parent reports regarding the quality of life (QoL) of adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs): (1) standard parent reports, in which parents give their own perspective on their adolescent child's QoL and (2) parent proxy reports, in which parents indicate how they believe their adolescent child would answer. ⋯ These results demonstrate that parents of adolescents with ASDs have different opinions about their children's quality of life than their children do, and that they are aware of these differences. If the goal is to reduce discrepancy between the reports of parents and their adolescent children with ASDs, it may be advisable to ask parents to report on their child's QoL as they believe their children would.