Project description:PURPOSE:To identify and monitor the developmental and participation needs of visually impaired (VI) children, the Participation and Activity Inventory for Children and Youth (PAI-CY) has recently been developed involving end-users as stakeholders. The aim was to investigate psychometric properties of the PAI-CY for children between 0 and 2 years. METHODS:Responses from 115 parents were included in item analyses, after which a combination of classical test theory and item response theory (IRT) was used. Internal consistency, known-group validity, and test-retest reliability at item and scale level were investigated. RESULTS:After deleting four items, the PAI-CY met IRT assumptions, i.e., unidimensionality, local independence, and monotonicity, and satisfactory model fit was obtained. Participants with more severe VI and comorbidity scored significantly worse than those with less severe VI and without comorbidity, supporting known-group validity. Satisfactory internal consistency and test-retest reliability were obtained (Cronbach's alpha 0.95, kappa 0.60-0.91, ICC 0.920). CONCLUSIONS:The PAI-CY 0-2 years has acceptable psychometric properties and can be used to systematically assess and monitor developmental and participation needs of very young children with VI from parents' perspectives in low vision practice and research. Confirmation of psychometric properties is necessary, possibly facilitating further item reduction, increased precision, and improved user-friendliness.
Project description:Participation in after-school programs is an important lever to improve adolescents' health and well-being; however, well-defined measurement of the quality of participation in these programs is limited. The present study validated a newly designed measure of participation in a sample of urban youth enrolled in community-based after-school programs. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to test the structure of the 20-item Tiffany-Eckenrode Program Participation Scale (TEPPS). Results suggest that the scale is comprised of four subscales (Personal Development, Voice/Influence, Safety/Support and Community Engagement). The TEPPS was also correlated with several commonly used measures of program participation. Findings from this paper provide support for the use of the newly designed scale as a valid and reliable measure of quality program participation by youth.
Project description:BackgroundNeck pain is the fourth leading cause of years lost to disability in children warranting a comprehensive assessment of neck pain and its impact on activities and participation. Hence, the purpose of this study was to develop a new measure (i.e., Activities and Participation Children and Adolescents -neck [APCAN]) specific to evaluating activity limitation and participation restrictions in children and adolescents and to establish its content validity.MethodsDevelopment and content validation of the APCAN was completed in four steps: (1) item development, (2) item evaluation by content experts, (3) content validity calculation, and (4) cognitive testing via interviews to ensure readability and comprehension of the items on the APCAN.ResultsAn initial pool of 52 items was created that was revised to 20 items after modified Delphi process and cognitive interviews. Each item was rated on a 0-10 numeric rating scale (0 = not difficult at all, 10 = extremely difficult) with higher scores indicating higher perceived disability secondary to neck pain. All 20 items retained the content validity ratio critical value and the overall content validity index was 0.88 indicating excellent content validity.ConclusionThe APCAN provides an easy to use, comprehensive assessment of functional limitations associated with neck pain in children.
Project description:Participation in everyday activities at home and in the community is essential for children's development and well-being. Limited information exists about participation patterns of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examines these participation patterns in both the home and community, and the extent to which environmental factors and social communication abilities are associated with participation. Fifty-four parents of preschool-aged children with ASD completed the Participation and Environment Measure for Young Children and the Autism Classification System of Functioning: Social Communication. The children had a mean age of 48.9 (8.4) months. Patterns of participation were studied using descriptive statistics, radar graphs, and Spearman correlations. Children with ASD participated in a variety of activities at home and in the community, but showed a higher participation frequency at home. Parents identified different barriers (e.g., social demands) and supports (e.g., attitudes) in both settings. There was a moderate positive association between children's social communication abilities and their levels of involvement during participation and the diversity of activities. This study highlights the importance of social communication abilities in the participation of preschool children with ASD, and the need to support parents while they work to improve their child's participation, especially within their communities.
Project description:BackgroundPractitioner and family experiences of pediatric re/habilitation can be inequitable. The Young Children's Participation and Environment Measure (YC-PEM) is an evidence-based and promising electronic patient-reported outcome measure that was designed with and for caregivers for research and practice. This study examined historically minoritized caregivers' responses to revised YC-PEM content modifications and their perspectives on core intelligent virtual agent functionality needed to improve its reach for equitable service design.MethodsCaregivers were recruited during a routine early intervention (EI) service visit and met five inclusion criteria: (1) were 18 + years old; (2) identified as the parent or legal guardian of a child 0-3 years old enrolled in EI services for 3 + months; (3) read, wrote, and spoke English; (4) had Internet and telephone access; and (5) identified as a parent or legal guardian of a Black, non-Hispanic child or as publicly insured. Three rounds of semi-structured cognitive interviews (55-90 min each) used videoconferencing to gather caregiver feedback on their responses to select content modifications while completing YC-PEM, and their ideas for core intelligent virtual agent functionality. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, cross-checked for accuracy, and deductively and inductively content analyzed by multiple staff in three rounds.ResultsEight Black, non-Hispanic caregivers from a single urban EI catchment and with diverse income levels (Mdn = $15,001-20,000) were enrolled, with children (M = 21.2 months, SD = 7.73) enrolled in EI. Caregivers proposed three ways to improve comprehension (clarify item wording, remove or simplify terms, add item examples). Environmental item edits prompted caregivers to share how they relate and respond to experiences with interpersonal and institutional discrimination impacting participation. Caregivers characterized three core functions of a virtual agent to strengthen YC-PEM navigation (read question aloud, visual and verbal prompts, more examples and/or definitions).ConclusionsResults indicate four ways that YC-PEM content will be modified to strengthen how providers screen for unmet participation needs and determinants to design pediatric re/habilitation services that are responsive to family priorities. Results also motivate the need for user-centered design of an intelligent virtual agent to strengthen user navigation, prior to undertaking a community-based pragmatic trial of its implementation for equitable practice.
Project description:BackgroundIn the last decade, there has been a rapid increase in research on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve child and youth participation in daily life activities, which is a key rehabilitation outcome. However, existing reviews place variable focus on participation, are narrow in scope, and are restricted to select diagnoses, hindering interpretability regarding the existing scope of AI applications that target the participation of children and youth in a pediatric rehabilitation setting.ObjectiveThe aim of this scoping review is to examine how AI is integrated into pediatric rehabilitation interventions targeting the participation of children and youth with disabilities or other diagnosed health conditions in valued activities.MethodsWe conducted a comprehensive literature search using established Applied Health Sciences and Computer Science databases. Two independent researchers screened and selected the studies based on a systematic procedure. Inclusion criteria were as follows: participation was an explicit study aim or outcome or the targeted focus of the AI application; AI was applied as part of the provided and tested intervention; children or youth with a disability or other diagnosed health conditions were the focus of either the study or AI application or both; and the study was published in English. Data were mapped according to the types of AI, the mode of delivery, the type of personalization, and whether the intervention addressed individual goal-setting.ResultsThe literature search identified 3029 documents, of which 94 met the inclusion criteria. Most of the included studies used multiple applications of AI with the highest prevalence of robotics (72/94, 77%) and human-machine interaction (51/94, 54%). Regarding mode of delivery, most of the included studies described an intervention delivered in-person (84/94, 89%), and only 11% (10/94) were delivered remotely. Most interventions were tailored to groups of individuals (93/94, 99%). Only 1% (1/94) of interventions was tailored to patients' individually reported participation needs, and only one intervention (1/94, 1%) described individual goal-setting as part of their therapy process or intervention planning.ConclusionsThere is an increasing amount of research on interventions using AI to target the participation of children and youth with disabilities or other diagnosed health conditions, supporting the potential of using AI in pediatric rehabilitation. On the basis of our results, 3 major gaps for further research and development were identified: a lack of remotely delivered participation-focused interventions using AI; a lack of individual goal-setting integrated in interventions; and a lack of interventions tailored to individually reported participation needs of children, youth, or families.
Project description:In outcome measures, item response theory (IRT) validation can deliver interval-scaled high-quality measurement that can be harnessed using computerized adaptive tests (CATs) to pose fewer questions to patients. We aimed to develop a CAT by developing an IRT model for the Patient Evaluation Measure (PEM) for patients undergoing cubital tunnel syndrome (CuTS) surgery. Nine hundred and seventy-nine completed PEM responses of patients with CuTS in the United Kingdom Hand Registry were used to develop and calibrate the CAT. Its performance was then evaluated in a simulated cohort of 1000 patients. The CAT reduced the original PEM length from ten to a median of two questions (range two to four), while preserving a high level of precision (median standard error of measurement of 0.27). The mean error between the CAT score and full-length score was 0.08%. A Bland-Altman analysis showed good agreement with no signs of bias. The CAT version of the PEM can substantially reduce patient burden while enhancing construct validity by harnessing IRT for patients undergoing CuTS surgery.
Project description:Providing economic opportunities for youth in agriculture is essential to securing the future of agriculture in Africa, addressing poverty, unemployment, and inequality. However, barriers limit youth participation in agriculture and the broader food system. This scoping review aimed to investigate the opportunities and challenges for youth in participating in agriculture and the food system in Africa. This review conducted a scoping review using the PRISMA guideline. Published studies were retrieved from online databases (Web of Science, Cab Direct, and Science Direct) for 2009 to 2019. The findings showed that existing agricultural interventions are production-centric and provide low-income earnings and inadequate social protection. We also found that the youth have pessimistic perceptions about agriculture's capability of improving their living standards. This could be ascribed to the minimal youth involvement in agricultural activities and the youth's shared understanding of the agricultural sector's contribution to general economic growth. From a policy perspective, the literature revealed that current agricultural development programs do not adequately address structural issues underpinning youth participation in the economy. Therefore, to enhance the involvement of youths in agriculture, there is a need for policy implementation in the area of integrated agricultural-based interventions that are context-specific and promote meaningful youth participation in shaping future food systems.
Project description:It is known that diversity matters to improve scientific excellence and that scientific events are important occasions to discuss new ideas and create networks, beyond the fact that it helps to put the work of the scientists in evidence. Hence, increasing diversity in scientific events is crucial to improve their scientific quality and help to promote minorities. In Brazil, important physics scientific events are organized by the Brazilian Physical Society (SBF, in Portuguese), and in this work, some aspects related to the participation of women in these physics events are analyzed from 2005 to 2021. The analysis shows that women's participation has increased over the years, reaching in some areas of Physics the same percentage as the one observed in the SBF community (always below 25%). However, female participation as members of organizing committees and as keynote speakers is always lower. Some proposals are listed to change the current picture of inequality.
Project description:IntroductionSATIS-Stroke was developed to measure satisfaction regarding activities and participation among stroke survivors based on the concepts contained in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health. However, this measure is only available in English and French.ObjectivePerform the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of SATIS-Stroke to Brazilian Portuguese and test the preliminary reliability of this measure.MethodsThe translation process followed standardized guidelines and consisted of six phases: initial translation, back-translation, analysis of expert committee, test of final version, submission, and assessment of all written reports. To test the preliminary test-retest reliability, the measure was administered by a single observer on two occasions with an interval of 7 to 14 days for the determination of intraobserver agreement and administered again by a second observer for the determination of interobserver agreement. Reliability was analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC2,1) and respective 95% confidence intervals (CI).ResultsAll stages of the cross-cultural adaptation process were respected and the final translated version of SATIS-Stroke exhibited semantic, idiomatic, cultural, and conceptual equivalence to the original version. The preliminary analysis revealed excellent intraobserver and interobserver reliability (ICC = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.83-0.97, p = 0.001 and ICC = 0.90; 95% CI: 0.74-0.96; p = 0.001, respectively). The items demonstrated adequate internal consistency, although ceiling and floor effects were considered beyond acceptable standards for some items. In the exploratory factor analysis, three factors were extracted that aggregated more than one construct to each component, but all were related to the "Activities and Participation" component of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health.ConclusionThe final version of the SATIS-Stroke scale in Brazilian Portuguese proved to be adequate and reliable for use on the Brazilian population. Further studies are underway to give continuity to the validation process and analyze the others measurement properties of the scale in the Brazilian population.