This study was designed to test the concurrent validity of the revised Task-Oriented Assessment (TOA) component of the Bay Area Functional Performance Evaluation (BaFPE) (Bloomer & Williams, 1979) with Part 1 of the American Association on Mental Deficiency Adaptive Behavior Scale (ABS) (Nihira, Foster, Shellhaas, & Leland, 1969, 1974) and to develop a means of interpretation for the numeric sc...

Material and methods. The study involved 10 patients, aged 21–48 years, of both sexes, randomly selected from a group of 120 patients treated with relaxation occlusal splints (60 patients, group I) and intramuscular injection of botulinum toxin type A (60 patients, group II), suffering from temporomandibular joint dysfunction with the dominant muscle component. In all subjects, a specialized fu...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Cerebral artery aneurysms rupture when wall tension exceeds the strength of the wall tissue. At present, risk-assessment of unruptured aneurysms does not include evaluation of the lesions shape, yet clinical experience suggests that this is of importance. We aimed to develop a computational model for simulation of fluid-structure interaction in cerebral aneurysms based on...

OBJECTIVES Investigate factors associated with employee participation rates in health risk assessments. METHODS This cross-sectional study using multiple regression analyzed data from 124 employers with 882,275 eligible employees who completed 344,825 health and productivity assessments (HPAs). RESULTS Incentive value and Communications and Organizational Commitment Level (Com/Org Level) we...

The Fresno American Indian Health Project (FAIHP) Youth Council developed and pilot tested a strength-based, holistic, and youth-friendly self-assessment tool grounded in the Medicine Wheel, a framework and theoretical orientation for teaching wellness in many tribal communities. This paper summarizes the development of the Youth Personal Balance Tool and the methods used for tool revisions thr...

Since the 1990s, health policy makers in Finland have been supportive of evidence-based medicine and approaches to implement its results. The Finnish Office for Health Technology Assessment (Finohta) has grown from a small start in 1995 to a medium-sized health technology assessment (HTA) agency, with special responsibility in providing assessments to underpin national policies in screening. Ex...

Literature confirms the lack of any consistent approach by nurses to the assessment of cancer pain. This study represents an initial and limited experience on the application of pain documentation and pain assessment tools to improve cancer pain management. The study was based on research conducted by Faries et al. (1991) with modifications especially regarding the way of analyzing results. A g...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this article is to describe and analyze the stages toward recognition and implementation of health technology assessment (HTA). METHODS System analysis of structures and institutions and their use of HTA. RESULTS Austria is a latecomer in implementing evaluations/HTA as decision support. It can to a certain degree absorb the increasing international knowledge. Austria ...

OBJECTIVE To conduct a cross-cultural adaptation of the Foot Health Status Questionnaire into Brazilian-Portuguese and to assess its measurement properties. INTRODUCTION This instrument is an outcome measure with 10 domains with scores ranging from 0-100, worst to best, respectively. The translated instrument will improve the examinations and foot care of rheumatoid arthritis patients. METH...

In the theme section on information retrieval for health technology assessment (HTA), we are pleased to present a series of high-quality articles. The articles address various approaches to HTA searching and information management. Information retrieval and management is an integral part of the HTA review process. Those conducting searches must, therefore, understand the nature of the different...