Respiratory and non-respiratory symptoms in patients with IPF or sarcoidosis and controls.

Introduction: Besides dyspnoea and cough, patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) or sarcoidosis may experience distressing non-respiratory symptoms, such as fatigue or muscle weakness. However, whether and to what extent symptom burden differs between patients with IPF or sarcoidosis and individuals without respiratory disease remains currently unknown.

Objectives: To study the respiratory and non-respiratory burden of multiple symptoms in patients with IPF or sarcoidosis and to compare the symptom burden with individuals without impaired spirometric values, FVC and FEV1 (controls).

Patient Activation for Self-Management in Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis or Sarcoidosis.

Background: Self-management is considered important in the management of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) or sarcoidosis. However, data about the degree of activation for self-management is lacking.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the degree of activation for self-management in patients with IPF or sarcoidosis using the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) and to evaluate the association between PAM scores, clinical characteristics, and health-related outcomes.

Severe Fatigue is Highly Prevalent in Patients with IPF or Sarcoidosis.

In patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) next to dyspnea, fatigue is expected to be the most prevalent symptom. Surprisingly, the prevalence of severe fatigue has been scarcely studied in ILD patients and limited information on its associated factors is available. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of severe fatigue in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) or pulmonary sarcoidosis and to identify the relationship between fatigue, patient characteristics, and clinical parameters.

Validation of 4-meter-gait-speed test and 5-repetitions-sit-to-stand test in patients with pulmonary fibrosis: a clinimetric validation study.

Patients with pulmonary fibrosis (PF) have a clear exercise intolerance. The 4-meter-gait-speed (4MGS) test and the 5-repetitions-sit-to-stand (5STS) test are easy, inexpensive and reliable measures of functional performance. Both tests have been validated in healthy adults and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Using Outcome Measures in Daily Practice: Development and Evaluation of an Implementation Strategy for Physiotherapists in the Netherlands.

Purpose: To describe the development of an educational programme for physiotherapists in the Netherlands, two toolkits of measurement instruments, and the evaluation of an implementation strategy.

Method: The study used a controlled pre- and post-measurement design. A tailored educational programme for the use of outcome measures was developed that consisted of four training sessions and two toolkits of measurement instruments.

Current use and barriers and facilitators for implementation of standardised measures in physical therapy in the Netherlands.

Background: In many countries, the need for physical therapists to use standardised measures has been recognised and is recommended in clinical practice guidelines. Research has shown a lack of clinimetric knowledge and clinical application of measurement instruments in daily practice may hamper implementation of these guidelines.

Objectives: The aims of our study were a) to investigate the current use of measurement instruments by Dutch physical therapists; b) to investigate the facilitators and barriers in using measurement instruments.

Comparison of international guideline programs to evaluate and update the Dutch program for clinical guideline development in physical therapy.

Background: Clinical guidelines are considered important instruments to improve quality in health care. Since 1998 the Royal Dutch Society for Physical Therapy (KNGF) produced evidence-based clinical guidelines, based on a standardized program. New developments in the field of guideline research raised the need to evaluate and update the KNGF guideline program.

Thoracic excursion measurement in children with cystic fibrosis.

Background: Measurement of thoracic excursion (TEM) during maximal ventilation is part of the physiotherapy assessment in children with cystic fibrosis (CF).

Objectives: The purpose of our study was to examine the reliability of TEM and its relation with pulmonary function.

Methods: Thoracic excursions were measured using a measuring tape.

Prolonged exercise testing in two children with a mild Multiple Acyl-CoA-Dehydrogenase deficiency.

BACKGROUND: Multiple Acyl-CoA-Dehydrogenase deficiency (MADD) is an inherited metabolic disorder characterized by impaired oxidation of fatty acids and some amino acids. METHODS: We were interested whether children with MADD could tolerate a prolonged low-intensity exercise test and if this test could have any additional diagnostic value. Therefore, we performed a maximal exercise test and a low-intensity prolonged exercise test in 2 patients with MADD and in 5 control subjects.

Reliability of the Dutch Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI).

Objective: To evaluate the reliability of the Dutch version of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI), an instrument for measuring functional status (capability and performance in self-care, mobility and social function) of young children using parent interviews.

Design: Inter-interviewer reliability was studied after scoring audiotaped interviews by a second researcher. For test-retest reliability the same parent was interviewed twice within three weeks; in inter-respondent reliability both parents of a child were interviewed independently within a few days.

Creating and being created: the changing panorama of paediatric rehabilitation.

Paediatric rehabilitation as a discipline is rapidly changing, especially during the last decades. In the past, paediatric rehabilitation was characterized by merely adult intervention strategies in a miniaturized form, delivered by a merely adult patients-oriented profession. Theories on childhood development, however, changed, as did the focus of interventions: from impairments to function, from the child itself to family, community and peers.

Dutch adaptation and content validity of the 'Pediatric Evaluation Of Disability Inventory (PEDI)'.

Purpose: To adapt the American PEDI into a Dutch version, and to establish the content validity of this pediatric functional status instrument.

Methods: The adaptation process was based on current scientific guidelines in the field of cross-cultural research. Thirty-one allied health professionals completed a validity questionnaire for the content validity study.