Contribution of discourse and morphosyntax skills to reading comprehension in Chinese dyslexic and typically developing children

This study aimed at identifying important skills for reading comprehension in Chinese dyslexic children and their typically developing counterparts matched on age (CA controls) or reading level (RL controls). The children were assessed on Chinese reading comprehension, cognitive, and reading-related skills. Results showed that the dyslexic children performed significantly less well than the CA controls but similarly to RL controls in most measures. Results of multiple regression analyses showed that word-level reading-related skills like oral vocabulary and word semantics were found to be strong predictors of reading comprehension among typically developing junior graders and dyslexic readers of senior grades, whereas morphosyntax, a text-level skill, was most predictive for typically developing senior graders. It was concluded that discourse and morphosyntax skills are particularly important for reading comprehension in the non-inflectional and topic-prominent Chinese system

Adaptation of the Ambulatory and Home Care Record for collecting palliative care service utilization data from family carers in the UK: a pilot study

Background: Measuring service use and costs is an important aspect of service delivery evaluation. In end-of-life care, there is heavy reliance on care by family/friends (informal carers) and this should be reflected in the total cost of care alongside formal services. The Ambulatory and Home Care Record, developed in Canada, is both comprehensive in coverage and validated for collecting data on formal and informal caring. This study aimed to adapt and pilot the Ambulatory and Home Care Record questionnaire for use in the UK within a study evaluating a new palliative care service. The objectives were to test if family carers could be recruited and assess acceptability and usability of data gathered. Methods: Single cohort pilot study using a structured telephone questionnaire carried out every other week. Family carers of patients newly added to the palliative care register or referred to hospice services in the South East of England were invited to participate by mail. Volunteers remained in the study for a maximum of six interviews or until the patient died. Results: In total, 194 carers were invited by mail to participate in the study, of which 23 (11.8%) completed at least one interview and 16 (8.2%) completed all possible interviews. Recruitment to the study was lower than anticipated, but most participants seemed to find the interviews acceptable. The modified questionnaire produced usable and relevant data for an economic evaluation of formal and informal caring costs. Conclusions: Modifications are needed to the process of recruitment as a postal recruitment strategy did not have a high response rate. The Ambulatory and Home Care Record has proved a viable tool for use in the UK setting, with a few minor modifications, and will be used in a larger study comparing hospice models