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 2073

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Guest Editor
Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: rehabilitation; occupational therapy; outcome measures; systematic reviews
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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

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Keywords

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

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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9 pages, 228 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Psychometric Proprieties of Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability (MASA) in Italian Language: A Cross-Sectional Study
by Arianna Sterbini, Patrizia Marroni, Annamaria Servadio, Giulia Rossi, Anna Berardi, Rachele Simeon and Giovanni Galeoto
Brain Sci. 2024, 14(9), 900; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14090900 - 5 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1389
Abstract
The aim of this cross-sectional study was to translate, culturally adapt, and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability (MASA) in post-stroke individuals. The original MASA scale was translated and culturally adapted from English to [...] Read more.
The aim of this cross-sectional study was to translate, culturally adapt, and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability (MASA) in post-stroke individuals. The original MASA scale was translated and culturally adapted from English to Italian following the international guidelines. The internal consistency and test–retest reliability of the MASA-IT were assessed, and its concurrent validity was examined through Pearson correlation coefficients with the Italian versions of two established gold standard scales for dysphagia assessment: the Dysphagia Outcome Severity Scale (DOSS) and the De Pippo Test—Three Oz Water Swallow. The MASA-IT was administered to 78 participants. The items demonstrated excellent internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha ranging between 0.86 and 0.89. The interclass correlation coefficient was 0.98 for inter-rater reliability and 0.99 for intra-rater reliability, indicating high reproducibility. Regarding concurrent validity, the MASA-IT showed a strong direct correlation with the DOSS scale (r = 0.949, p = 0.01) and an inverse correlation with the De Pippo Test (r = −0.783, p = 0.01), confirming its good concurrent validity. The Italian version of the Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability (MASA-IT) is a reliable and valid tool for assessing swallowing ability in post-stroke patients. Its strong psychometric properties make it well suited for clinical use in Italy. Full article
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