Evaluation of patient engagement in medicine development: A multi-stakeholder framework with metrics.

Background: Patient engagement is becoming more customary in medicine development. However, embedding it in organizational decision-making remains challenging, partly due to lack of agreement on its value and the means to evaluate it. The objective of this project was to develop a monitoring and evaluation framework, with metrics, to demonstrate impact and enhance learning.

'I hate having nobody here. I'd like to know where they all are': Can qualitative research detect differences in quality of life among nursing home residents with different levels of cognitive impairment?

Objective: To ascertain if similarities or differences exist in perceptions of quality of life (QoL) amongst nursing home (NH) residents with different levels of cognitive impairment (CI).

Method: Face-to-face interviews using a simple 15-item semi-structured interview schedule with 61 older people with a CI (13 mild, 20 moderate and 28 severe) living in three Dublin area based NHs.

Results: Four key themes of QoL with accompanying sub-themes were identified: (1) social contact, (2) attachment, (3) pleasurable activities and (4) affect.