Das Reifegradmodell für den Öffentlichen Gesundheitsdienst:Ein Instrument zur Erfassung und Verbesserung des digitalen Reifegrades von deutschen Gesundheitsämtern

The COVID 19 crisis has highlighted the key role of the public health service (PHS), with its approximately 375 municipal health offices involved in the pandemic response. Here, in addition to a lack of human resources, the insufficient digital maturity of many public health departments posed a hurdle to effective and scalable infection reporting and contact tracing. In this article, we present the maturity model (MM) for the digitization of health offices, the development of which took place between January 2021 and February 2022 and was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Health. It has been applied since the beginning of 2022 with the aim of strengthening the digitization of the PHS. The MM aims to guide public health departments step by step to increase their digital maturity to be prepared for future challenges. The MM was developed and evaluated based on qualitative interviews with employees of public health departments and other experts in the public health sector as well as in workshops and with a quantitative survey. The MM allows the measurement of digital maturity in eight dimensions, each of which is subdivided into two to five subdimensions. Within the subdimensions a classification is made on five different maturity levels. Currently, in addition to recording the digital maturity of individual health departments, the MM also serves as a management tool for planning digitization projects. The aim is to use the MM as a basis for promoting targeted communication between the health departments to exchange best practices for the different dimensions

Development of a Questionnaire for Assessing Beliefs About Learning in Biology

Berding F, Basten M, Brauer H, et al. Entwicklung von Skalen zur Erhebung domänenspezifischer Vorstellungen über das Lernen in der Biologie. Psychologie in Erziehung und Unterricht. 2017;64(3):223-237.In this paper we describe the development of scales for assessing learners' beliefs about learning in biology. The scales can be used for conducting scientific studies or diagnosing learning prerequisites. The paper argues that reliable instruments for assessing beliefs about knowledge, knowing and learning are still missing. The need to differentiate between beliefs about knowledge and knowing on the one hand and beliefs about learning on the other hand is lined out. Based on a literature review, scales measuring the beliefs about ability, effort, and speed to learn are developed. 363 teacher students for biology and nature and life (Sachunterricht) participated in the study. Factor analyses provide evidence for the assumed beliefs about learning. All scales reach high values for Cronbach's a ranging between .71 and .86. Discriminant validity of the scales is proved by the strict Fornell-Larcker-Criterion. The paper draws conclusions for further scale development

Long-term neurocognitive function and quality of life after multimodal therapy in adult glioma patients: a prospective long-term follow-up

PURPOSE: Multimodal therapies have significantly improved prognosis in glioma. However, in particular radiotherapy may induce long-term neurotoxicity compromising patients' neurocognition and quality of life. The present prospective multicenter study aimed to evaluate associations of multimodal treatment with neurocognition with a particular focus on hippocampal irradiation. METHODS: Seventy-one glioma patients (WHO grade 1-4) were serially evaluated with neurocognitive testing and quality of life questionnaires. Prior to (baseline) and following further treatment (median 7.1 years [range 4.6-11.0] after baseline) a standardized computerized neurocognitive test battery (NeuroCog FX) was applied to gauge psychomotor speed and inhibition, verbal short-term memory, working memory, verbal and non-verbal memory as well as verbal fluency. Mean ipsilateral hippocampal radiation dose was determined in a subgroup of 27 patients who received radiotherapy according to radiotherapy plans to evaluate its association with neurocognition. RESULTS: Between baseline and follow-up mean performance in none of the cognitive domains significantly declined in any treatment modality (radiotherapy, chemotherapy, combined radio-chemotherapy, watchful-waiting), except for selective attention in patients receiving chemotherapy alone. Apart from one subtest (inhibition), mean ipsilateral hippocampal radiation dose > 50 Gy (Dmean) as compared to  50 Gy numerically deteriorated in 4/8 domains. CONCLUSIONS: Multimodal glioma therapy seems to affect neurocognition less than generally assumed. Even patients with unilateral hippocampal irradiation with > 50 Gy showed no profound cognitive decline in this series