Uses of the NIH Toolbox® in Clinical Samples: A Scoping Review.

Background And Objectives: The NIH Toolbox® for the Assessment of Neurologic and Behavioral Function is a compilation of computerized measures designed to assess sensory, motor, emotional, and cognitive functioning of individuals across the life span. The NIH Toolbox was initially developed for use with the general population and was not originally validated in clinical populations. The objective of this scoping review was to assess the extent to which the NIH Toolbox has been used with clinical populations.

Translation and Cultural Adaptation of NIH Toolbox Cognitive Tests into Swahili and Dholuo Languages for Use in Children in Western Kenya.

Objectives: Performing high-quality and reliable cognitive testing requires significant resources and training. As a result, large-scale studies involving cognitive testing are difficult to perform in low- and middle-income settings, limiting access to critical knowledge to improve academic achievement and economic production in these populations. The NIH Toolbox® is a collection of cognitive, motor, sensory, and emotional tests that can be administered and scored using an iPad® tablet, reducing the need for training and quality monitoring; and thus, it is a potential solution to this problem.

Performance and interaction anxiety: specific relationships with other- and self-evaluation concerns.

This study examines whether performance anxiety (PA) is specifically associated with other-evaluation concerns and interaction anxiety (IA) with self-evaluation concerns. Individuals with public speaking fears and high levels of PA or IA were distinguishable from nonanxious controls on measures taken during a public speaking challenge. In addition, high PA individuals exhibited more observer-rated negative speech characteristics in an Other-Evaluation condition compared to a Self-Evaluation condition, but high IA individuals and nonanxious individuals did not.

A narrative of resistance: presentation of self when parenting children with asthma.

Using a social constructivist perspective and narrative analysis, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate how an understanding of self-presentation in interactions may inform health care interventions. We examine how a single African American mother, living in poverty, presents her sense of self in the context of obtaining and providing asthma care for her children. By analyzing four separate encounters--two interviews with the children's mother, the clinical encounter between the mother and her children's doctor, and an interview with the doctor, we gain an understanding of the mother's self-presentation and identity and the doctor's view of the mother.

Repeatable battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status effort index performance in a medically ill geriatric sample.

Using a sample of 44 clinically referred, non-litigating, older adults, we evaluated the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status Effort Index [RBANS EI; Silverberg, N. D., Wertheimer, J.

Is the Rey 15-Item Memory Test II (Rey II) a valid symptom validity test?: comparison with the TOMM.

The Rey 15-Item Memory Test II (Rey II) is a revised version of the original Rey Memory Test and is used as a measure of test-taking effort. In the present study, the concurrent validity of the Rey II was examined by comparing Rey II test scores to a well-established measure of symptom validity, the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM). Retrospective chart review was conducted using the records of 60 veterans who were referred for outpatient neuropsychological testing and suspected of possible symptom exaggeration.

Is"chemobrain" a transient state? A prospective pilot study among persons with non-small cell lung cancer.

In patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), chemotherapy combined with radiation therapy modestly improves survival when compared with radiotherapy alone. In light of the small survival benefit,there is a need to quantify any potential loss of neurocognitive function that may result from chemotherapy in this patient population. The current study examines cognitive functioning in 14 stage III NSCLC patients who received treatment with cisplatin/etoposide/radiotherapy.

A new taxonomy for telehealth technologies.

Today, the field of telehealth lacks a comprehensive taxonomy that reflects the variety of remote interactions, technologies used, and personnel involved. The Center for Information Technology Leadership (CITL) has created a taxonomy that categorizes telehealth around four factors: type of telehealth interaction, location of the controlling medical authority, urgency of care, and timing of communication. This comprehensive taxonomy may help to define the field of telehealth and may help with adoption, research, and reimbursement.

Cost of interconnecting health information exchanges to form a national network.

Despite the demonstrated need for a national health information network (NHIN), there has been little progress in turning this need into reality beyond limited local demonstrations. One barrier is the lack of information evaluating the potential costs of connecting these local networks to form a national network. The Center for Information Technology Leadership (CITL), in conjunction with national experts, developed assumptions around the components needed to develop the NHIN.

A framework and approach for assessing the value of personal health records (PHRs).

Personal Health Records (PHRs) are a rapidly expanding area of medical informatics due to the belief that they may improve health care delivery and control costs of care. The PHRs in use or in development today support a myriad of different functions, and consequently offer different value propositions. A comprehensive value analysis of PHRs has never been conducted; such analysis is needed to identify those PHR functions that yield the greatest value to PHR stakeholders.

The value of provider-to-provider telehealth.

Telehealth has great potential to improve access to care, but its adoption in routine healthcare has been slow. The lack of clarity about the value of telehealth implementations has been one reason cited for this slow adoption. The Center for Information Technology Leadership has examined the value of telehealth encounters in which there is a provider both with the patient and at a distance from the patient.

The value proposition in the widespread use of telehealth.

Telehealth has great potential to improve access to care but its adoption in routine health care has been slow. The lack of clarity about the value of telehealth implementations has been one reason cited for this slow adoption. The Center for Information Technology Leadership has examined the value of telehealth encounters in which there is a provider both with the patient and at a distance from the patient.

Patterns of concordance and non-concordance with clinician recommendations and parents' explanatory models in children with asthma.

Objective: Many children with asthma do not take medications as prescribed. We studied parents of children with asthma to define patterns of non-concordance between families' use of asthma controller medications and clinicians' recommendations, examine parents' explanatory models (EMs) of asthma, and describe relationships between patterns of non-concordance and EM.

Methods: Qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with parents of children with persistent asthma.

IQ and scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE): controlling for effort and education among geriatric inpatients.

The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Third Edition (PPVT-III) were administered to 76 Extended Care Center inpatients of a Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 56 of whom did not carry a diagnosis associated with brain impairment, and 20 of whom had a diagnosis associated with degenerative or cerebrovascular conditions. MMSE and PPVT-III scores, the latter of which estimates verbal IQ, were significantly correlated in both groups, even when controlling for the effects of education. This correlation was attenuated, but remained significant, in the face of varying levels of patient effort.

The cost of information technology-enabled diabetes management.

As a result of the high cost of diabetes, an array of interventions for managing this disease has been developed. Estimating the cost of various approaches to diabetes disease management is critical to inform purchasing decisions. This review focuses on 5 provider- and payer-sponsored diabetes management approaches that use information technology (IT) and provides cost estimates for each approach based on a literature review and interviews with 38 provider practices, hospitals, payers, and vendors.

Benefits of information technology-enabled diabetes management.

Objective: To determine the financial and clinical benefits of implementing information technology (IT)-enabled disease management systems.

Research Design And Methods: A computer model was created to project the impact of IT-enabled disease management on care processes, clinical outcomes, and medical costs for patients with type 2 diabetes aged >25 years in the U.S.

The value of healthcare information exchange and interoperability in New York state.

With heightened interest in Regional Healthcare Information Organizations, policy makers may require guidance on the potential benefits and costs of systems that enable healthcare information exchange and interoperability (HIEI) in their communities. The United Hospital Fund of New York (UHF) engaged CITL to determine the net value of electronic transactions between state healthcare stakeholders with the goal to inform New York healthcare IT policy discussion.

Patterns of cognitive change over time and relationship to age following successful treatment of Cushing's disease.

Chronically elevated levels of cortisol have been associated with changes in cognitive functioning and brain morphology. Using Cushing's disease as a model to assess the effects of high levels of cortisol on cognitive functioning, 27 patients with Cushing's disease were examined at baseline and three successive follow-up periods up to 18 months after successful surgical treatment. At all follow-up periods, patients were administered cognitive tests as well as measures of plasma and urinary free cortisol.

Should night eating syndrome be included in the DSM?

Objective: This article examines the status of the literature on night-eating syndrome (NES) according to five criteria that have been proposed by Blashfield, Sprock, and Fuller(1) (Compr Psychiatry 1990; 31:15-19) to determine whether NES warrants inclusion in the psychiatric nosology as a distinct eating disorder.

Method: Relevant research papers were identified in Medline and PsychInfo using the search term "night-eating syndrome."

Results: None of the five criteria was met.

Incentive implementation in physician practices: A qualitative study of practice executive perspectives on pay for performance.

Pay-for-performance (P4P) programs offer health care providers financial incentives to achieve predefined quality targets. Practice executives sit at a key nexus point for determining how P4P programs are implemented in physician practices. Using a qualitative interview design, this article examines the role practice executives play in the implementation of P4P programs and how their perspectives and decisions can influence the success of these programs.

Night eating syndrome in young adult women: prevalence and correlates.

Objective: The current study examined the prevalence and clinical significance of night eating syndrome (NES) in a community cohort of Black and White women.

Method: We assessed 682 Black and 659 White women for NES, eating disorders, and psychiatric symptomatology.

Results: The prevalence was 1.

Self-harm and substance use in a community sample of Black and White women with binge eating disorder or bulimia nervosa.

Objective: This study evaluated rates of self-harm and substance use in women with either bulimia nervosa (BN) or binge eating disorder (BED) and assessed whether differences in self-harm and substance use are related to sexual or physical abuse.

Method: Alcohol abuse, self-harm, and use or abuse of various illicit drugs were evaluated in a sample of 53 women with BN and 162 women with BED.

Results: Self-harm and substance use generally did not differentiate BED and BN cases, but rates of self-harm and substance use were elevated among women with a history of sexual or physical abuse relative to women without such a history.