11 research outputs found
Bull’s-Eye and Nontarget Skin Lesions of Lyme Disease: An Internet Survey of Identification of Erythema Migrans
Introduction. Lyme disease is an emerging worldwide infectious disease with major foci of endemicity in North America and regions of temperate Eurasia. The erythema migrans rash associated with early infection is found in approximately 80% of patients and can have a range of appearances including the classic target bull’s-eye lesion and nontarget appearing lesions. Methods. A survey was designed to assess the ability of the general public to distinguish various appearances of erythema migrans from non-Lyme rashes. Participants were solicited from individuals who visited an educational website about Lyme disease. Results. Of 3,104 people who accessed a rash identification survey, 72.7% of participants correctly identified the classic target erythema migrans commonly associated with Lyme disease. A mean of 20.5% of participants was able to correctly identify the four nonclassic erythema migrans. 24.2% of participants incorrectly identified a tick bite reaction in the skin as erythema migrans. Conclusions. Participants were most familiar with the classic target erythema migrans of Lyme disease but were unlikely to correctly identify the nonclassic erythema migrans. These results identify an opportunity for educational intervention to improve early recognition of Lyme disease and to increase the patient’s appropriate use of medical services for early Lyme disease diagnosis
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The Hopkins Rehabilitation Engagement Rating Scale: Development and Psychometric Properties
Kortte KB, Falk LD, Castillo RC, Johnson-Greene D, Wegener ST. The Hopkins Rehabilitation Engagement Rating Scale: development and psychometric properties.
To conduct an initial investigation of the psychometric properties of the Hopkins Rehabilitation Engagement Rating Scale (HRERS), a 5-item, clinician-rated measure developed to quantify engagement in acute rehabilitation services.
We used a cross-sectional design to conduct correlational and multivariate analyses to establish the measure’s internal consistency, interrater reliability, construct validity, and criterion validity.
Acute inpatient rehabilitation in 3 metropolitan hospitals.
A total of 206 subjects with spinal cord injury, ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, amputation, or hip or knee replacement.
Not applicable.
The HRERS, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Brief Symptom Inventory, Levine’s Denial of Illness Scale, Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique, and FIM instrument.
The HRERS has good internal consistency (α=.91) and interrater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient, .73) and represents a unidimensional construct. It correlated negatively with symptoms of depression (
r=−.24,
P<.01), higher ratings of denial of illness (
r=−.30,
P<.001), and self-rated negative affect (
r=−.23,
P<.01), and correlated positively with self-rated positive affect (
r=.36,
P<.001) and level of functioning 3 months postdischarge (
r=.22,
P<.01).
The HRERS is a valid and reliable measure of rehabilitation engagement that relates to intermediate-term functional outcomes