The Effect of Brand on the Evaluation of IT System Performance

In this research, we investigate the branding effect of an information technology system on the evaluation of system performance. Using Web search engines, we conducted a laboratory experiment measuring the effect of four search engine brands while controlling for the quality and presentation of search engine results. There was a 25 percent difference between the most highly and the lowest rated search engines based on average relevance ratings by users among the four search engines presenting identical results in both content and presentation. A positive brand is worth approximately fifteen percent in user perception of performance. Users place a high degree of trust in major search engines, but they are more engaged in the searching process when using lesser known search engines. It appears that branding affects overall Web search from various perspectives. We discuss implications for search engine marketing and the design of empirical studies measuring search engine performance

Towards a Learning Object pedagogical quality metric based on the LORI evaluation model

Evaluating and measuring the pedagogical quality of Learning Objects is essential for achieving a successful web-based education. On one hand, teachers need some assurance of quality of the teaching resources before making them part of the curriculum. On the other hand, Learning Object Repositories need to include quality information into the ranking metrics used by the search engines in order to save users time when searching. For these reasons, several models such as LORI (Learning Object Review Instrument) have been proposed to evaluate Learning Object quality from a pedagogical perspective. However, no much effort has been put in defining and evaluating quality metrics based on those models. This paper proposes and evaluates a set of pedagogical quality metrics based on LORI. The work exposed in this paper shows that these metrics can be effectively and reliably used to provide quality-based sorting of search results. Besides, it strongly evidences that the evaluation of Learning Objects from a pedagogical perspective can notably enhance Learning Object search if suitable evaluations models and quality metrics are used. An evaluation of the LORI model is also described. Finally, all the presented metrics are compared and a discussion on their weaknesses and strengths is provided

Evaluating Quality of Decision-Making Processes in Medicines' Development, Regulatory Review, and Health Technology Assessment : A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Introduction: Although pharmaceutical companies, regulatory authorities, and health technology assessment (HTA) agencies have been increasingly using decision-making frameworks, it is not certain whether these enable better quality decision making. This could be addressed by formally evaluating the quality of decision-making process within those organizations. The aim of this literature review was to identify current techniques (tools, questionnaires, surveys, and studies) for measuring the quality of the decision-making process across the three stakeholders. Methods: Using MEDLINE, Web of Knowledge, and other Internet-based search engines, a literature review was performed to systematically identify techniques for assessing quality of decision making in medicines development, regulatory review, and HTA. A structured search was applied using key words and a secondary review was carried out. In addition, the measurement properties of each technique were assessed and compared. Ten Quality Decision-Making Practices (QDMPs) developed previously were then used as a framework for the evaluation of techniques identified in the review. Due to the variation in studies identified, meta-analysis was inappropriate. Results: This review identified 13 techniques, where 7 were developed specifically to assess decision making in medicines' development, regulatory review, or HTA; 2 examined corporate decision making, and 4 general decision making. Regarding how closely each technique conformed to the 10 QDMPs, the 13 techniques assessed a median of 6 QDMPs, with a mode of 3 QDMPs. Only 2 techniques evaluated all 10 QDMPs, namely the Organizational IQ and the Quality of Decision Making Orientation Scheme (QoDoS), of which only one technique, QoDoS could be applied to assess decision making of both individuals and organizations, and it possessed generalizability to capture issues relevant to companies as well as regulatory authorities. Conclusion: This review confirmed a general paucity of research in this area, particularly regarding the development and systematic application of techniques for evaluating quality decision making, with no consensus around a gold standard. This review has identified QoDoS as the most promising available technique for assessing decision making in the lifecycle of medicines and the next steps would be to further test its validity, sensitivity, and reliability.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Evaluations of effective coverage of maternal and child health services: A systematic review.

Conventionally used coverage measures do not reflect the quality of care. Effective coverage (EC) assesses the extent to which health care services deliver potential health gains to the population by integrating concepts of utilization, need and quality. We aimed to conduct a systematic review of studies evaluating EC of maternal and child health services, quality measurement strategies and disparities across wealth quantiles. A systematic search was performed in six electronic databases [MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), Scopus, Web of Science and Maternity and Infant Care] and grey literature. We also undertook a hand search of references. We developed search terms having no restrictions based on publication period, country or language. We included studies which reported EC estimates based on the World Health Organization framework of measuring EC. Twenty-seven studies, all from low- and middle-income settings (49 countries), met the criteria and were included in the narrative synthesis of the results. Maternal and child health intervention(s) and programme(s) were assessed either at an individual level or as an aggregated measure of health system performance or both. The EC ranged from 0% for post-partum care to 95% for breastfeeding. When crude coverage measures were adjusted to account for the quality of care, the EC values turned lower. The gap between crude coverage and EC was as high as 86%, and it signified a low quality of care. The assessment of the quality of care addressed structural, process and outcome domains individually or combined. The wealthiest 20% had higher EC of services than the poorest 20%, an inequitable distribution of coverage. More efforts are needed to improve the quality of maternal and child health services and to eliminate the disparities. Moreover, considering multiple dimensions of quality and the use of standard measurements are recommended to monitor coverage effectively

Psychometric properties and feasibility of use of dementia specific quality of life instruments for use in care settings: a systematic review

Background: Over 400,000 people live in care home settings in the UK. One way of understanding and improving the quality of care provided is by measuring and understanding the quality of life (QoL) of those living in care homes. This review aimed to identify and examine the psychometric properties including feasibility of use of dementia-specific QoL measures developed or validated for use in care settings. Design: Systematic review. Methods: Instruments were identified using four electronic databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and CINAHL) and lateral search techniques. Searches were conducted in January 2017. Studies which reported on the development and/or validation of dementia specific QoL instruments for use in care settings written in English were eligible for inclusion. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the COSMIN checklist. Feasibility was assessed using a checklist developed specifically for the review. Results: Six hundred and sixteen articles were identified in the initial search. After de-duplication, screening and further lateral searches were performed, 25 studies reporting on 9 dementia-specific QoL instruments for use in care home settings were included in the review. Limited evidence was available on the psychometric properties of many instruments identified. Higher-quality instruments were not easily accessible or had low feasibility of use. Conclusions: Few high-quality instruments of QoL validated for use in care home settings are readily or freely available. This review highlights the need to develop a well-validated measure of QoL for use within care homes that is also feasible and accessible

A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify measures of breakthrough pain and evaluate their psychometric properties.

INTRODUCTION: Breakthrough pain is common in children and adults with cancer and other conditions, including those approaching end-of-life, although it is often poorly managed, possibly partly due to a lack of validated assessment tools. This review aims to (1) identify all available instruments measuring breakthrough pain in infants, children, adolescents or adults and (2) critically appraise, compare and summarise the quality of the psychometric properties of the identified instruments using COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) criteria. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Two searches will be carried out between October 2019 and January 2020, one for each aim of the review. The Cochrane Library, International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews, Embase, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), PsycINFO, Web of Science Core Collection, Google Scholar, the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Database, Evidence Search and OpenGrey databases will be searched from database inception until the date the search is conducted. Reference lists of eligible articles will be screened and authors in the field contacted. For search 1, articles will be screened by two reviewers by abstract, and full-text where necessary, to identify if a breakthrough pain assessment was used. Search 2 will then be conducted to identify studies evaluating measurement properties of these assessments. Two reviewers will screen articles from search 2 by title and abstract. All potentially relevant studies will be screened by full text by both reviewers. For search 2, data will be extracted in parallel with the quality assessment process, as recommended by COSMIN. Two reviewers will assess methodological quality using the COSMIN Risk of Bias checklist and the COSMIN updated criteria for good measurement properties. Findings will be summarised and, if possible, data will be pooled using meta-analysis. The quality of the evidence will be graded and summarised using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) guidelines. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Results of this review will be submitted for publication in a peer review journal and presented at conferences. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42019155583

Economic Evaluations of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Screening: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: This study aims to find evidence of the cost-effectiveness of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) screening and assess the quality of current economic evaluations which have shown different conclusions with a variation in screening methods, data sources, outcome indicators, and implementation in diverse organizational contexts. SEARCH STRATEGY: Embase, Medline, Web of Science, HTA, and NHSEED databases were searched till June 2019. SELECTION CRITERIA: Studies on economic evaluation reporting both cost and health outcomes of GDM screening programs in English language. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: The quality of the studies was assessed using Drummond's checklist. The general characteristics, main assumptions, and results of the economic evaluations were summarized. MAIN RESULTS: Our search yielded ten eligible economic evaluations with different screening strategies comparison in different settings and perspectives. The selected papers scored 81% (68%-97%) on the items in Drummond's checklist on average. In general, a screening program is cost-effective (C-E) or even dominant over no screening. The 1-step screening, with more cases detected, is more likely to be C-E than the 2-step screening. Universal screening is more likely to be C-E than screening targeting the high-risk population. Parameters affecting cost-effectiveness include: diagnosis criteria, epidemiological characteristics of the population, efficacy of screening and treatment, and costs. CONCLUSIONS: Most studies found GDM screening to be cost-effective, though uncertainties remain due to many factors. The quality assessment identified weaknesses in the economic evaluations in terms of integrating existing data, measuring costs and consequences, analyzing perspectives, and adjusting for uncertainties

Essential elements nurses have to address to promote a safe discharge in paediatrics: A systematic review and narrative synthesis

Aim: The aim of the study was to synthesize the evidence on the essential elements, nurses must address when they perform therapeutic education to patients and their caregivers to promote a safe paediatric hospital-to-home discharge. Design: A systematic review and narrative synthesis. Methods: The search strategy identifies studies published between 2016 and 2023. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklists. The protocol of this review was not registered. A search of three electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL and Web of Science) and a search in the reference lists of the included studies was conducted in February 2021 and June 2023. Results: Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The essential elements identified are grouped into the following topics: emergency management, physiological needs, medical device and medications management, long-term management and short-term management. Nurses have a critical role in ensuring patient safety and quality of care, and the nurses' competence makes the difference in the discharge's related outcomes. Our results can help the nursing profession implement comprehensive discharge projects. Our results support the improvement of nurse-led paediatric discharge programmes. Nurse managers can identify the grey areas of therapeutic education provided in their units and work for their improvement. Following the implementation of therapeutic education on these topics, measuring the discharge's related outcomes could be interesting. This study addresses the problem of managing a safe and efficient nurse-led discharge in a paediatric setting. It presents evidence on the essential elements to promote a safe paediatric discharge at home. These could impact nursing practice by using them to implement project and discharge pathways. We have adhered to relevant EQUATOR guidelines—PRISMA guidelines for reporting systematic review. No patients, service users, caregivers or public members were involved in this study due to its nature (systematic review)

Usability Testing of a Web Portal for Ornamental Plants and Flowers in Arusha, Tanzania

This research article published by Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research Vol. 10 No. 3 (2020): June 2020The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) adoption has steadily advanced in the horticulture sector in Tanzania. This study aims to test and give feedback regarding the usability of a developed web portal prototype for ornamental plants and flowers in Arusha City. The stakeholders are botanists and researchers who search for plant and flower information (taxonomy), small scale farmers, herbalists, and the Arusha City Council. The assessments were organized and conducted in groups where each stakeholder was given access to the web portal for 2 days. Questionnaires were distributed to get feedback from each participant (a total of 48 participants). Multicriteria satisfaction analysis was chosen to measure user satisfaction measuring usability factors such as service quality, technical quality, information quality, and system quality. The overall obtained results had a mean score above 3.5 (70%) on a five-point scale Likert scale analysis

High intensity interval training for people with Multiple Sclerosis: a systematic review

Background: Aerobic High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is safe in the general population and more efficient in improving fitness than continuous moderate intensity training. The body of literature examining HIIT in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is expanding but to date a systematic review has not been conducted. The aim of this review was to investigate the efficacy and safety of HIIT in people with MS. Methods: A systematic search was carried out in September 2017 in EMBASE, MEDline, PEDro, CENTRAL and Web of Science Core collections using appropriate keywords and MeSH descriptors. Reference lists of relevant articles were also searched. Articles were eligible for inclusion if they were published in English, used HIIT, and included participants with MS. Quality was assessed using the PEDro scale. The following data were extracted using a standardised form: study design and characteristics, outcome measures, significant results, drop-outs, and adverse events. Results: Seven studies (described by 11 articles) were identified: four randomised controlled trials, one randomised cross-over trial and two cohort studies. PEDro scores ranged from 3-8. Included participants (n=249) were predominantly mildly disabled; one study included only people with progressive MS. Six studies used cycle ergometry and one used arm ergometry to deliver HIIT. One study reported six adverse events, four which could be attributed to the intervention. The other six reported that there were no adverse events. Six studies reported improvements in at least one outcome measure, however there were 60 different outcome measures in the seven studies. The most commonly measured domain was fitness, which improved in five of the six studies measuring aspects of fitness. The only trial not to report positive results included people with progressive and a more severe level of disability (Extended Disability Status Scale 6.0-8.0). Conclusion: HIIT appears to be safe and effective in increasing fitness in people with MS and low levels of disability. Further research is required to explore the effectiveness of HIIT in people with progressive MS and in those with higher levels of disability