The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is a common language for different professions in the health, social, educational and vocational systems for lawyers, decision makers and politicians. It deals with how to describe health conditions, functional health and disability. It gives detailed operational definitions of different functions that constitute healt...

OBJECTIVE This pilot study tested the feasibility of Family-Based Hip-Hop to Health, a school-based obesity prevention intervention for 3-5-year-old Latino children and their parents, and estimated its effectiveness in producing smaller average changes in BMI at 1-year follow-up. DESIGN AND METHODS Four Head Start preschools administered through the Chicago Public Schools were randomly assign...

Presumed consent to organ donation looks increasingly unlikely to be a palatable option for increasing organ procurement in the UK following the publication of the report into events at Alder Hey and elsewhere. Yet, given that the alternative to increasing the number of cadaveric organs available is either to accept a greater number of live donations, or accept that people will continue to die ...

Little is known about the public's perceptions about the process of obtaining informed consent for participation in medical research. A study was made of the views of patients, their attendants, parents, schoolteachers and office workers living in Karachi, Pakistan. Participants felt that informed consent was an important step in recruiting research participants but many felt that it was a trus...

International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Sets are purpose-tailored shortlists of ICF categories from the whole ICF classification for describing functioning and disability. Although the 34 ICF Core Sets developed up to now already cover many health conditions, there may still be a need to develop additional ICF Core Sets that tackle other health conditions a...

OBJECTIVE To determine public attitudes towards emergency research, exception from informed consent (EFIC) and a specific proposed clinical trial using EFIC. METHODS As part of a planned community consultation activity, a survey was conducted at a popular public venue. Participants answered demographic questions and then were asked their opinions on specifically described consent circumstance...

BACKGROUND Informed consent in research is partly achieved through the use of information sheets. There is a perception however that these information sheets are long and complex. The recommended reading level for patient information is grade 6, or 11-12 years old. AIMS To investigate whether the readability of participant information sheets has changed over time, whether particular study cha...

Information is usually supposed to be a prerequisite for people making decisions on whether or not to participate in a clinical trial. Previously conducted studies and research ethics scandals indicate that participants have sometimes lacked important pieces of information. Over the past few decades the quantity of information believed to be adequate has increased significantly, and in some ins...

Patient preferences have recently been highlighted as a potential threat to the validity of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Although there have been significant methodological and statistical developments in relation to these issues, comparatively little attention has been paid to the development of a conceptual model concerning preferences and their effects on decision-making. This articl...