Patient-Completed Questionnaires as Regional Outcome Measures

摘要

Injuries and disease commonly affect the ability of an individual to perform activities of daily living. The use of regional outcome measures or scoring systems is important as it allows comparison between these injuries and disease, and allows clinicians to assess progression and the effects of different treatment modalities. A patient-completed questionnaire is efficient in terms of time and resources, and allows the assessment of outcome without the need to attend an outpatient clinic. It is important that the scoring system allows satisfactory regional outcome measurements. The validity, reliability, responsiveness and bias are used for the assessment of various questionnaires. There are also many practical issues concerning the use of questionnaires including feasibility of use for the patient and the clinician. This paper looks at why these measures should be used, their advantages and disadvantages, how they are developed and also how they should be presented. It aims to be useful to those who are developing new questionnaires, as well as those who are using them.