Expert medico-legal reports: The relationship between levels of consistency and judicial outcomes in asylum seekers in the Netherlands.

Introduction: If asylum applicants need to prove that they have been persecuted in their home country, expert judgment of the psychological and physical consequences of torture may support the judicial process. Expert medico-legal reports can be used to assess whether the medical complaints of the asylum seeker are consistent with their asylum account. It is unclear which factors influence medical expert judgement about the consistency between an asylum seeker's symptoms and story, and to what extent expert medico-legal reports are associated with judicial outcomes.

Undocumented asylum seekers with posttraumatic stress disorder in the Netherlands.

: To date, most studies on the mental health of refugees in Europe have focused on the prevalence and treatment of psychopathology. Little is known about those who illegally reside in the host country, referred to, in the Netherlands, as undocumented asylum seekers. There are indications that mental health and psychosocial problems are more prevalent in this group than among refugees in general, with unsatisfactory treatment outcomes.

General population and medical student perceptions of good and bad doctors in Mozambique.

Context: A key element of the doctor-patient relationship is to understand the patient's and doctor's perceptions of quality care.

Objectives: To assess the perceptions of good and bad doctors among first-year medical students and local community members in a semi-urban, African settings.

Methods: Using open-ended and closed dichotomous questions, 115 first-year medical students in Beira, Mozambique were surveyed regarding their perceptions of a 'good' and 'bad' doctor.

Progress testing in resource-poor countries: a case from Mozambique.

A wealth of evidence for the effectiveness of progress testing in problem-based learning curricula has been collected in the Western academic world, but whether the progress testing can be equally effective in problem-based medical schools in resource-poor countries is a question that remains to be answered. In order to provide an initial answer to this question, we describe our experiences with progress testing in a medical school in Mozambique since its establishment in 2001, specifically focusing on test acceptability, formative educational impact, test validity and test reliability. After 7 years of experience, we think that the conclusion is justified that the progress testing can be a feasible and effective assessment instrument even in a resource poor setting.