Measures of satisfaction with care during labour and birth: a comparative review

Background Satisfaction is the one of the most frequently reported outcome measures for quality of care. Assessment of satisfaction with maternity services is crucial, and psychometrically sound measures are needed if this is to inform health practices. This paper comparatively reviews current measures of satisfaction with care during labour and birth. Methods A review of the literature was conducted. Studies were located through computerised databases and hand searching references of identified articles and reviews. Inclusion criteria were that the questionnaire was a multi-item scale of satisfaction with care during labour and birth, and some form of psychometric information (either information about questionnaire construction, or reliability, or validity) had to be reported. Results Nine questionnaires of satisfaction with care during labour and birth were identified. Instruments varied in psychometric properties and dimensions. Most described questionnaire construction and tested some form of reliability and validity. Measures were generally not based on the main theoretical models of satisfaction and varied in scope and application to different types of samples (e.g. satisfaction following caesarean section). For an in-depth measure of satisfaction with intrapartum care, the Intrapartal-Specific Quality from the Patient’s Perspective questionnaire (QPP-I) is recommended. Brief measures with good reliability and validity are provided by the Six Simple Questions (SSQ) or Perceptions of Care Adjective Checklist (PCACL-R). Conclusions Despite the interest in measures of satisfaction there are only a small number of validated measures of satisfaction with care during labour and birth. It is important that brief, reliable and valid measures are available for use in general and specific populations in order to assist research and inform practice

Financial and economic analysis of agroforestry:key issues

Agroforestry is seen by many as a solution to environmental problems and a sustainable enterprise especially suited to resource poor farmers. Is agroforestry amenable to economic analysis? Have we any basis for making rational decisions as to promoting agroforestry? Especially, can the perceived advantages of agroforestry - better use of resources, erosion control, multiple products - be quantified and valued? This paper addresses cost-benefit analysis as a method for systematically assessing the excess of benefits over costs of agroforestry enterprises for individuals, households and institutions and from the perspective of society as a whole. The major steps of CBA relevant to agroforestry are described and the paper reviews a number of prediction models, including erosion prediction models and the only one specifically designed for agroforestry: SCUAF (Soil Changes Under Agroforestry). Six cost-benefit studies of agroforestry are reviewed and it concludes with an identification of the key issues that will need to be addressed before further advance can be made

3D hand pose estimation with neural networks

We propose the design of a real-time system to recognize and interprethand gestures. The acquisition devices are low cost 3D sensors. 3D hand pose will be segmented, characterized and track using growing neural gas (GNG) structure.The capacity of the system to obtain information with a high degree of freedom allows the encoding of many gestures and a very accurate motion capture. The use of hand pose models combined with motion information provide with GNG permits to deal with the problem of the hand motion representation. A natural interface applied to a virtual mirrorwriting system and to a system to estimate hand pose will be designed to demonstrate the validity of the system