Mapping Functions in Health-Related Quality of Life: Mapping From Two Cancer-Specific Health-Related Quality-of-Life Instruments to EQ-5D-3L.

BACKGROUND: Clinical trials in cancer frequently include cancer-specific measures of health but not preference-based measures such as the EQ-5D that are suitable for economic evaluation. Mapping functions have been developed to predict EQ-5D values from these measures, but there is considerable uncertainty about the most appropriate model to use, and many existing models are poor at predicting EQ-5D values. This study aims to investigate a range of potential models to develop mapping functions from 2 widely used cancer-specific measures (FACT-G and EORTC-QLQ-C30) and to identify the best model. METHODS: Mapping models are fitted to predict EQ-5D-3L values using ordinary least squares (OLS), tobit, 2-part models, splining, and to EQ-5D item-level responses using response mapping from the FACT-G and QLQ-C30. A variety of model specifications are estimated. Model performance and predictive ability are compared. Analysis is based on 530 patients with various cancers for the FACT-G and 771 patients with multiple myeloma, breast cancer, and lung cancer for the QLQ-C30. RESULTS: For FACT-G, OLS models most accurately predict mean EQ-5D values with the best predicting model using FACT-G items with similar results using tobit. Response mapping has low predictive ability. In contrast, for the QLQ-C30, response mapping has the most accurate predictions using QLQ-C30 dimensions. The QLQ-C30 has better predicted EQ-5D values across the range of possible values; however, few respondents in the FACT-G data set have low EQ-5D values, which reduces the accuracy at the severe end. CONCLUSIONS: OLS and tobit mapping functions perform well for both instruments. Response mapping gives the best model predictions for QLQ-C30. The generalizability of the FACT-G mapping function is limited to populations in moderate to good health

Decoherence and dephasing in strongly driven colliding Bose-Einstein condensates

We report on a series of measurements of decoherence and wavepacket dephasing between two colliding, strongly coupled, identical Bose-Einstein condensates. We measure, in the strong excitation regime, a suppression of the mean-field shift, compared to the shift which is observed for a weak excitation. This suppression is explained by applying the Gross-Pitaevskii energy functional. By selectively counting only the non-decohered fraction in a time of flight image we observe oscillations for which both inhomogeneous and Doppler broadening are suppressed, in quantitative agreement with a full Gross-Pitaevskii equation simulation. If no post selection is used, the decoherence rate due to collisions can be extracted, and is in agreement with the local density average calculated rate.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Splitting in the Excitation Spectrum of A Bose-Einstein Condensate Undergoing Strong Rabi Oscillations

We report on a measurement of splitting in the excitation spectrum of a condensate driven by an optical travelling wave. Experimental results are compared to a numerical solution of the Gross Pitaevskii equation, and analyzed by a simple two level model and by the more complete band theory, treating the driving beams as an optical lattice. In this picture, the splitting is a manifestation of the energy gap between neighboring bands that opens on the boundary of the Brillouin zone.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

A conceptual comparison of well-being measures used in the UK

There is significantpolitical interest in the UK in measuring subjective well- being (SWB) and the possibility of incorporating such measures into policy, including health policy. A number of different, yet related, measures of well-being and health are used across government departments. This includes four summary subjective (personal) well -being questions which ask about life satisfaction, happiness yesterday, anxiety yesterday and worthwhileness adopted by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) under its Measuring National Well-being Programme(referred to here as the ONS-4). They have also adopted the use of the short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (S- WEMWBS) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) which is a mental health screening measure that has been used in well-being measurement. In addition to the measures used within the ONS framework, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) currently rely upon the EQ-5D, a measure of health- related quality of life (HRQoL), in the assessment of medical technologies and public health interventions while social care guidance includes measures of capability and need, ICECAP-A and Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolki

An empirical comparison of well-being measures used in the UK

A number of different, yet related, measures of subjective well-being (SWB) and health are used across government departments. Under its Measuring National Well-being Programme, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has adopted the use of the short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS) and the General Health Quest ionnaire (GHQ-12) which is a mental health screening measure, as well as four summary subjective (personal) well-being questions which ask about life satisfaction, happiness and anxiety yesterday, and worthwhileness (the ONS-4). I n addition to the measures used within the ONS framework, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) currently preferthe EQ-5D, a measure of health-related quality of life (HRQoL), in the assessment of medical technologies and public health interventions, while social care guidance includes measures of capability and need, the Investigating Choice Experiments Capability Measures for Older people/Adults(ICECAP-A and ICECAP-O) and the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT). There is limited evidence on how these measures relate to each other, which causes difficulty in the comparison of results across datasets and evaluations containing different measures as well as for informing decisions across sectors. Given that these measures are used to inform policy making throughout Government, it is important to better understand how these measures compare. The Department of Health has asked the Policy Research Unit in Economic Evaluation of Health and Care Interventions (EEPRU) to undertake a conceptual and empirical comparison of these six commonly used measures of health and well-being: SWEMWBS, GHQ-12, ONS-4, ICECAP-A, ASCOT and EQ-5D. This report summarises psychometric analysis including factor analysis which sought to compare the ONS- 4, the SWEMWBS/WEMWBS, the GHQ-12, the ICECAP-A or ICECAP- O, ASCOT, the EQ-5D and the SF-6D. The report also takes into consideration additional measures of SWB found within the datasets to shed further light on these comparisons and the concepts behind the measures

Content delivery alternatives to lectures that students don’t attend

Problem The traditional way to deliver content in chemistry units is through classroom lectures and their recordings. A great concern for us is how students are accessing content when the majority neither attend lectures nor use the recordings. Students have to learn content to meet the majority of learning outcomes in chemistry units, and lack of engagement with the traditional mode of delivery affects pass rates and progression through units. Another aspect to this problem is the job satisfaction of lecturers. Delivering lectures in a format that has to be recorded to a small percentage of enrolled students is disillusioning. Plan Different approaches to delivering and engaging students with content have been tried in some chemistry units at Murdoch University that have large and small numbers of students enrolled. There are some differences in approach as a consequence of the number of students enrolled in the unit. Implementing alternatives to better engage students with content may enhance learning quality and result in more students progressing through their units. Available technologies have been applied to these approaches. Action The poster will show how different approaches have been applied to addressing the problem in chemistry units with large and small enrolments. In the large bridging chemistry unit (Fundamentals of Chemistry) all content is delivered through the online unit (LMS) and a customised textbook. Classroom lectures have been replaced with a limited number of recordings, and an online learning platform called ‘Mastering Chemistry’ (Pearson publishing) adopted. A flipped classroom approach has been implemented to deliver the organic chemistry content in the second and third year units, Organic and Biological Chemistry 1 & 2. Lecture content is pre-recorded and made available online. Classroom time is spent with students working in small groups on structured learning activities under the guidance of the lecturer. Reflection While the efficacy of these approaches in terms of student learning and progression is to be fully evaluated, the impression of the lecturer is that more meaningful learning activities are being provided for students. Educational technologies can be used to replace classroom lectures and provide better learning experiences for chemistry units with both large and small enrolments. The classroom experience of the lecturer is certainly enhanced. Rather than stand and deliver a lecture in a restrictive recordable format, the lecturer can engage with students on a personal level and even get to know what specific content individual students need help with. There is no doubt that the work required to restructure units out of using recorded classroom lectures is challenging and time consuming. The poster aims to show that the effort is worthwhile for both student learning and lecturer job satisfaction

Estimating informal care inputs associated with EQ-5D for use in economic evaluation.

OBJECTIVES: This paper estimates informal care need using the health of the patient. The results can be used to predict changes in informal care associated with changes in the health of the patient measured using EQ-5D. METHODS: Data was used from a prospective survey of inpatients containing 59,512 complete responses across 44,494 individuals. The number of days a friend or relative has needed to provide care or help with normal activities in the last 6 weeks was estimated using the health of the patient measured by EQ-5D, ICD chapter and other health and sociodemographic data. A variety of different regression models were estimated that are appropriate for the distribution of the informal care dependent variable, which has large spikes at 0 (zero informal care) and 42 days (informal care every day). RESULTS: The preferred model that most accurately predicts the distribution of the data is the zero-inflated negative binomial with variable inflation. The results indicate that improving the health of the patient reduces informal care need. The relationship between ICD chapter and informal care need is not as clear. CONCLUSIONS: The preferred zero-inflated negative binomial with variable inflation model can be used to predict changes in informal care associated with changes in the health of the patient measured using EQ-5D and these results can be applied to existing datasets to inform economic evaluation. Limitations include recall bias and response bias of the informal care data, and restrictions of the dataset to exclude some patient groups

Outcomes of a chemistry content professional learning session: Teachers' perspectives

The national curriculum for chemistry includes topics that have not previously been taught at secondary level. In response to requests for teacher professional learning (PL) covering these topics, a course called 'Divide and Analyse' was developed. Investigations into the PL needs of chemistry teachers were carried out in conjunction with the pilot session. Pre- and post-PL survey responses and focus group discussions provided a wealth of information about the needs of chemistry teachers and how university chemists can support them. Three themes of support for chemistry teaching were identified: resources for chemistry teaching, content PL for chemistry teachers and enrichment excursions/incursions for school students. Teachers explained that this type of support may contribute to making the study of chemistry more interesting and relevant for their students. A partnership between chemistry teachers and university chemists can facilitate the provision of the identified support for chemistry teaching. It was concluded that a community of practice partnership had developed from the Divide and Analyse PL. A model that brings together the major findings of the study is proposed