Outcome Measures and Assessment Tools Related to Neurological and Psychological Disorders

Dear Colleagues,

In the context of rehabilitation, outcome measures are frequently used to assess the characteristics of inpatients and outpatients before any intervention, as well as determine whether patients have made meaningful changes in their recovery processes. However, these measures may influence the intensity and duration of care. As a result, researchers use outcome measures during the investigation of a given treatment intervention’s efficacy and effectiveness, and these are evaluated in both observational studies and research studies, such as in outcome research and randomized control trials.

In the literature, the validated tools have come to demonstrate strong heterogeneity within various national contexts. This heterogeneity can be seen as positive when considering the many needs present in a clinical context; however, clinicians often have conflicting or incomplete information available to use when making decisions in patient care. Furthermore, the lack of consistency and the deficiency of standardization in outcome assessment has hindered comparative research and meta-analyses.

This has undoubtedly led to a need to improve the tools in order for them to be made more suitable in various cultural contexts. A further investigation of outcome measures would benefit patients, researchers, and clinicians alike. It is important for the development of clinical practice and research that practical and appropriate measures are universally accepted; this would allow for comparisons and meta-analyses of high-quality randomized controlled trials.

Given this background, we are pleased to invite you to provide clinicians and researchers with evidence-based recommendations regarding the outcome measures that should be used in rehabilitation. In particular, we are interested in review articles describing the current state of the art, as well as validation studies that culturally adapt current assessment tools, providing new information about the psychometric properties of existing or new assessment tools.

Thus, in this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of existing assessment tools in rehabilitation;
• Validation studies of existing assessment tools;
• Psychometric studies measuring the psychometric characteristics of assessment tools;
• Comparative studies of different assessment tools measuring the same area;
• Cross-sectional studies for the cultural adaptation of assessment tools in specific countries.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Anna Berardi
Dr. Giovanni Galeoto
Guest Editors

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• outcome measures of neurological and psychological disorders
• rehabilitation
• assessment
• reliability
• validity
• occupational therapy
• physiotherapy
• speech language therapy
• disability