Health Qual Life Out
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Health Qual Life Out · Jan 2012
Patients undergoing subacute rehabilitation have accurate expectations of their health-related quality of life at discharge.
Expectations held by patients and health professionals may affect treatment choices and participation (by both patients and health professionals) in therapeutic interventions in contemporary patient-centered healthcare environments. If patients in rehabilitation settings overestimate their discharge health-related quality of life, they may become despondent as their progress falls short of their expectations. On the other hand, underestimating their discharge health-related quality of life may lead to a lack of motivation to participate in therapies if they do not perceive likely benefit. There is a scarcity of empirical evidence evaluating whether patients' expectations of future health states are accurate. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the accuracy with which older patients admitted for subacute in-hospital rehabilitation can anticipate their discharge health-related quality of life. ⋯ Patients admitted for subacute in-hospital rehabilitation were able to anticipate their discharge health-related quality of life on the EQ-5D instrument with a moderate level of accuracy. This finding adds to the foundational empirical work supporting joint treatment decision making and patient-centered models of care during rehabilitation following acute illness or injury. Accurate patient expectations of the impact of treatment (or disease progression) on future health-related related quality of life is likely to allow patients and health professionals to successfully target interventions to priority areas where meaningful gains can be achieved.
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Health Qual Life Out · Jan 2012
Factors associated with health-related quality of life among Chinese caregivers of the older adults living in the community: a cross-sectional study.
Under the culture of filial piety and due to the Confucianism spirit in China, family caregivers usually undertake the responsibilities of caring for the older adults. They usually suffer from a heavy burden which is believed to impair their mental and physical health. Thus this study aims to describe the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among Chinese caregivers of the older adults living in the community and explore the predictors of caregivers' HRQOL. ⋯ The mental QOL of the caregivers of older adults was disrupted more seriously than physical QOL. Additionally, Subjective Caregiver Burden might decrease caregiver' health. A decrease in caregiver burden could promote better management of caregiving tasks, and improve HRQOL. Also, coping capabilities, like SOC, are needed to decrease the impact of caregiving on HRQOL of Chinese caregivers of the older adults.
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Health Qual Life Out · Jan 2012
An observational study of patient versus parental perceptions of health-related quality of life in children and adolescents with a chronic pain condition: who should the clinician believe?
Previous pediatric studies have observed a cross-informant variance in patient self-reported health-related quality of life (HRQoL) versus parent proxy-reported HRQoL. This study assessed in older children and adolescents with a variety of chronic pain conditions: 1) the consistency and agreement between pediatric patients' self-report and their parents' proxy-report of their child's HRQoL; 2) whether this patient-parent agreement is dependent on additional demographic and clinical factors; and 3) the relationship between pediatric patient HRQoL and parental reported HRQoL. ⋯ We observed clinically significant variation between pediatric chronic pain patients' self-reports and their parents' proxy-reports of their child's HRQoL. While whenever possible the pediatric chronic pain patient's own perspective should be directly solicited, equal attention and merit should be given to the parent's proxy-report of HRQoL. To do otherwise will obviate the opportunity to use any discordance as the basis for a therapeutic discussion about the contributing dynamic with in parent-child dyad.
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Health Qual Life Out · Jan 2012
Correlations between disease-specific and generic health status questionnaires in patients with advanced COPD: a one-year observational study.
Longitudinal studies analyzing the correlations between disease-specific and generic health status questionnaires at different time points in patients with advanced COPD are lacking. The aim of this study was to determine whether and to what extent a disease-specific health status questionnaire (Saint George's Respiratory Questionnaire, SGRQ) correlates with generic health status questionnaires (EuroQol-5-Dimensions, EQ-5D; Assessment of Quality of Life instrument, AQoL; Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey, SF-36) at four different time points in patients with advanced COPD; and to determine the correlation between the changes in these questionnaires during one-year follow-up. ⋯ At four, eight and 12 months after baseline, SGRQ total scores and EQ-5D index scores, AQoL total scores and SF-36 PCS scores were moderately to strongly correlated, while SGRQ total scores were weakly correlated with SF-36 MCS scores. The correlations between changes over time were weak or even absent. Disease-specific health status questionnaires and generic health status questionnaires should be used together to gain complete insight in health status and changes in health status over time in patients with advanced COPD.
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Health Qual Life Out · Jan 2012
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyThe validity and precision of the Leicester Cough Questionnaire in COPD patients with chronic cough.
A validated instrument to assess the effects of chronic cough on health status in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is currently not available. The Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) is a cough-specific health status questionnaire which is originally validated for a population of general patients presenting with chronic cough. We examined the psychometric performance of the LCQ in patients with COPD and chronic productive cough. ⋯ The LCQ is a valid, reliable, responsive instrument to measure health status in COPD patients with chronic productive cough.