Outcome Measures and Assessment Tools Related to Neurological and Psychological Disorders
A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neurotechnology and Neuroimaging".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 July 2025 | Viewed by 2158
Special Issue Editors
Interests: rehabilitation; occupational therapy; outcome measures; systematic reviews
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: epidemiology; rehabilitation in orthopedics and neurology; validation of measuring tools; rehabilitation; psychometric and outcome measures validity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
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
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- outcome measures of neurological and psychological disorders
- rehabilitation
- assessment
- reliability
- validity
- occupational therapy
- physiotherapy
- speech language therapy
- disability
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
