Outcome Measures and Innovative Approaches in Rehabilitation—2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Due to changes in population health and features, it is anticipated that there will be an increase in the requirement for rehabilitation globally. People are living longer but with more chronic illnesses and disabilities, for instance. The requirement for rehabilitation is now largely unmet: more than 50% of people do not obtain the rehabilitative services they need in several low- and middle-income nations. Along with the promotion of health, the prevention of disease, the treatment of illness, and palliative care, rehabilitation is a crucial component of universal health coverage.

Health professionals of rehabilitation are a part of multi-professional and interdisciplinary teams targeted at improving activities of daily living and quality of life and preventing secondary complications and comorbidities. Several studies have reported the effectiveness of rehabilitative treatments including physiotherapy, speech therapy, and occupational and cognitive therapy. Recently, challenging innovative therapeutic approaches tailored to patients’ needs have progressed substantially.

There is a strong heterogeneity in validated tools among various national contexts. This heterogeneity can be assumed to have a positive meaning if one thinks about the multiple needs of the clinical context; however, clinicians 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 have hindered comparative research and meta-analysis.

With this Special Issue, we would like to offer the opportunity to increase and improve evidence about the role of rehabilitation professionals in the management and treatment of patients with different clinical conditions through conventional and innovative therapeutic approaches.

On the other hand, we encourage the use of practical and appropriate outcome measures allowing comparisons and meta-analyses of high-quality randomized controlled trials.

Dr. Marco Tramontano
Dr. Giovanni Galeoto
Guest Editors

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• rehabilitation
• physiotherapy
• rehabilitative treatments
• neurologic disorders
• speech therapy
• occupational therapy
• cognitive therapy
• outcome measures
• innovative therapeutic approaches

• Outcome Measures and Innovative Approaches in Rehabilitation in Healthcare (15 articles)

Title: The use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for cancer rehabilitation evaluation and follow-up: a structured proposal
Authors: Ana Laura Contim Ferratto MD 1, ‡, *, Munique Egle Dona PT MSc 2, Luciana Alexandra Antônia de Almeida PT 3, Adriana Naomi Hamamoto PT MSc 4, Fabiana Reis PE MSc 5,; Livia Garcia Drago Couto OT 6, Luiz Paulo Marques de Souza PsyD 7, Marta Imamura MD, PhD 8, Linamara Rizzo Battistella MD, PhD 9, Christina May Moran de Brito MD, PhD 10, ,†, ‡,*
Affiliation: 1 IMREA HCFMUSP, IIN-ELS ISD; [email protected] 2 Coordinator ICESP HCFMUSP; [email protected] 3 Manager ICESP HCFMUSP; [email protected] 4 ICESP HCFMUSP; [email protected] 5 ICESP HCFMUSP; [email protected] 6 ICESP HCFMUSP; [email protected] 7 ICESP HCFMUSP; [email protected] 8 IMREA HCFMUSP, Associate Professor FMUSP; [email protected] 9 Director IMREA HCFMUSP, Full Professor FMUSP; [email protected] 10 Medical Coordinator ICESP HCFMUSP, Assistant Professor FMUSP, Medical Coordinator HSL; [email protected] † Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Dr. Arnaldo, 251, 01246-000, São Paulo, Brazil ‡ These authors contributed equally to this work. *Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed ([email protected], [email protected])
Abstract: The aim of this study is the operationalization of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health in the rehabilitation care performed at the Institute of Cancer of the State of São Paulo through structuring a goal-oriented tool with relevant categories of evaluation and follow-up for cancer outpatients to be applied by physiatrists, physiotherapists, physical educators, occupational therapists and psychologists. A qualitative study based on a literature review and a modified Delphi exercise, Estimate-Talk-Estimate (ETE) technique, was performed with the service’s rehabilitation experts. Consensus was obtained after four rounds under the 80% agreement threshold. Forty categories were identified for neuropsychological evaluation and thirty-three for psychoaffective support, with 12 goals. Thirty-four categories with 13 goals were accounted for physiotherapy. Physical educators identified 18 categories, with 7 goals. Occupational therapists selected 54 categories, with 10 goals. A referral for personal factors was established. Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) was the quality of life tool chosen to be applied. A set of relevant ICF categories was structured, tailored by a clinically meaningful routine of assessment and follow-up of cancer outpatients based on specialists’ clinical practice and scientific literature. It will contribute for analyzable institutional health data. Its implementation and future discussion may promote the instrument’s refinement. Keywords: cancer care facilities; Delphi technique; disability evaluation; International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health; neoplasms; rehabilitation; outcome assessment (healthcare); data.