Objectives: Current study explores the potential of the safety rating scale in order to determine the surplus value for evidence based practise. This study wants to contribute to this knowledge gape by exploring the safety scale by analysing the change between two safety ratings. First, the absolute change in safety is investigated. Secondly the study explores to what extent family background characteristics and case management characteristics determine the extent of change in perceived safety. Materials and Methods: The study analysed 105 Dutch child protection cases who had registration files with filled out LIRIK checklist, Action Plan and additional baseline safety and end safety measure as perceived by case managers. Results: On average perceived safety increased from an insufficient level to sufficient level. Significant regression coefficients with larger changes for primary school children (6 - 12 years) and lower changes for children within the ‘socio economic problems cluster’. The results reveal significant vulnerability for preschool children and families attending the socio-economic cluster due to limited improvement. Conclusion: According to this study the safety measure can be of value to outcome monitoring. The safety measure is a practical measure that reflects on the current state of safety within a family according to professionals and can be used on several occasions during case management. In addition, on aggregated level pre and post measures can be analysed for quality management purpose. Further exploration of this measure is needed. Publishers article: https://www.ecronicon.com/ecpe/ECPE-10-00873.php
Background: Outcome assessment is essential to understand the impact and recovery of burns of the hand and tailor treatment. There is however, a large variety of measures and outcome assessment is often incomplete. The aim was therefore to initiate a set of outcome assessments for use in a clinical setting. Method: A concept set was drafted, based on the framework of the International Classification of Functioning, which distinguished two phases, three patient states and included both patient reported and clinical outcomes. Subsequently, potential assessments were allocated to the various outcomes. This concept was discussed during the European Burns Association congress in 2013 and revised. The revision was sent to 65 colleagues from 28 institutions, accompanied by a survey. Results: Eleven surveys were returned from 16 persons representing 9 institutions from 6 countries. Based on the feedback, final revisions were made. Points raised were time investment and translations of not all assessments already available. Conclusions: With multidisciplinary and international input, a multidimensional set of outcome assessments for burns of the hand has been established, covering almost all domains of functioning. This first step towards more uniform clinical evaluation, will contribute to knowledge on outcome and effectiveness of treatment of hand burns.
Introduction The Integrated Recovery Scales (IRS) was developed by the Dutch National Expertise board for routine outcome monitoring with severe mental illnesses. This board aimed to develop a multidimensional recovery measure directed at 1. clinical recovery, 2. physical health, 3. social recovery (work, social contacts, independent living) and 4. existential, personal recovery. The measure had to be short, suited for routine outcome monitoring and present the perspective of both mental health professionals and service users with severe mental illnesses. All aspects are assessed over a period of the pas 6 months. Objectives The objective of this research is validation of the Integral Recovery Scales and to test the revelance for clinical practice and police evaluation. Methods The instrument was tested with 500 individuals with severe mental illnesses (80% individuals with a psychotic disorder), of whom 200 were followed up for 1 year. For the questions concerning clinical recovery, physical health and social recovery mental health care workers conducted semi structured interviews with people living with serious illnesses. The questions concerning personal health were self-rated. We analyzed interrater reliability, convergent and divergent validity and sensitivity to change. Results The instrument has a good validity and is easy to complete for service users and mental health care workers and appropriate for clinical and policy evaluation goals. Conclusions The Integrated Recovery Scales can be a useful instrument for a simple and meaningful routine outcome monitoring. Page: 121
The pressure on the European health care system is increasing considerably: more elderly people and patients with chronic diseases in need of (rehabilitation) care, a diminishing work force and health care costs continuing to rise. Several measures to counteract this are proposed, such as reduction of the length of stay in hospitals or rehabilitation centres by improving interprofessional and person-centred collaboration between health and social care professionals. Although there is a lot of attention for interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP), the consortium senses a gap between competence levels of future professionals and the levels needed in rehabilitation practice. Therefore, the transfer from tertiary education to practice concerning IPECP in rehabilitation is the central theme of the project. Regional bonds between higher education institutions and rehabilitation centres will be strengthened in order to align IPECP. On the one hand we deliver a set of basic and advanced modules on functioning according to the WHO’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health and a set of (assessment) tools on interprofessional skills training. Also, applications of this theory in promising approaches, both in education and in rehabilitation practice, are regionally being piloted and adapted for use in other regions. Field visits by professionals from practice to exchange experiences is included in this work package. We aim to deliver a range of learning materials, from modules on theory to guidelines on how to set up and run a student-run interprofessional learning ward in a rehabilitation centre. All tested outputs will be published on the INPRO-website and made available to be implemented in the core curricula in tertiary education and for lifelong learning in health care practice. This will ultimately contribute to improve functioning and health outcomes and quality of life of patients in rehabilitation centres and beyond.
The denim industry faces many complex sustainability challenges and has been especially criticized for its polluting and hazardous production practices. Reducing resource use of water, chemicals and energy and changing denim production practices calls for collaboration between various stakeholders, including competing denim brands. There is great benefit in combining denim brands’ resources and knowledge so that commonly defined standards and benchmarks are developed and realized on a scale that matters. Collaboration however, and especially between competitors, is highly complex and prone to fail. This project brings leading denim brands together to collectively take initial steps towards improving the ecological sustainability impact of denim production, particularly by establishing measurements, benchmarks and standards for resource use (e.g. chemicals, water, energy) and creating best practices for effective collaboration. The central research question of our project is: How do denim brands effectively collaborate together to create common, industry standards on resource use and benchmarks for improved ecological sustainability in denim production? To answer this question, we will use a mixed-method, action research approach. The project’s research setting is the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (MRA), which has a strong denim cluster and is home to many international denim brands and start-ups.
Physical rehabilitation programs revolve around the repetitive execution of exercises since it has been proven to lead to better rehabilitation results. Although beginning the motor (re)learning process early is paramount to obtain good recovery outcomes, patients do not normally see/experience any short-term improvement, which has a toll on their motivation. Therefore, patients find it difficult to stay engaged in seemingly mundane exercises, not only in terms of adhering to the rehabilitation program, but also in terms of proper execution of the movements. One way in which this motivation problem has been tackled is to employ games in the rehabilitation process. These games are designed to reward patients for performing the exercises correctly or regularly. The rewards can take many forms, for instance providing an experience that is engaging (fun), one that is aesthetically pleasing (appealing visual and aural feedback), or one that employs gamification elements such as points, badges, or achievements. However, even though some of these serious game systems are designed together with physiotherapists and with the patients’ needs in mind, many of them end up not being used consistently during physical rehabilitation past the first few sessions (i.e. novelty effect). Thus, in this project, we aim to 1) Identify, by means of literature reviews, focus groups, and interviews with the involved stakeholders, why this is happening, 2) Develop a set of guidelines for the successful deployment of serious games for rehabilitation, and 3) Develop an initial implementation process and ideas for potential serious games. In a follow-up application, we intend to build on this knowledge and apply it in the design of a (set of) serious game for rehabilitation to be deployed at one of the partners centers and conduct a longitudinal evaluation to measure the success of the application of the deployment guidelines.
