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52 APPENDICES Physiotherapy KCE reports vol. 40
APPENDICES OF CHAPTER III: LITERATURE REVIEW
ON FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT IN PHYSIOTHERAPY
A: PROCEDURE FOR LITERATURE SEARCH
This appendix describes the procedure followed to search the medical literature for the purpose of the study
and presents the number of retrieved references. The literature search focused on four specific areas: i) the
identification of functional tests, ii) psychometric qualities of the tests, iii) the ICF dimensions covered by
functional test and iv) the use of functional tests in health care policy. The literature search was carried out in
4 steps.
STEP 1: KEYWORDS
The following list of keywords was preliminarily identified in order to cover the scope of the study: physical
therapy, functional, evaluation, assessment, outcome, disability, impairment, handicap, participation, quality of life, life
satisfaction, validation, reliability, psychometrics, health care financing, ICF, ICIDH.
STEP 2: MESH TERMS
The keywords were entered into the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH,
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2005/MBrowser.html) in order to find their most relevant counterpart in the
MeSH terms. The first MeSH term identified allowed the field of investigation to be specified.
Physiotherapy / Physical Therapy. The auxiliary health profession which makes use of physical therapy techniques
to prevent, correct, and alleviate movement dysfunction of anatomic or physiologic origin.
Additional MeSH terms were selected in order to cover each focal domain of the literature search: i)
functional evaluation, ii) psychometric qualities, iii) health policy and iv) functional classification (ICF and ICIDH,
the former name of the ICF classification). The list and description of each MeSH term is detailed hereunder.
Functional evaluation
Activities of Daily Living. The performance of the basic activities of self care, such as dressing, ambulation, eating,
etc., in rehabilitation.
Disability Evaluation. Determination of the degree of a physical, mental, or emotional handicap. The diagnosis is
applied to legal qualification for benefits and income under disability insurance and to eligibility for Social
Security and workmen's compensation benefits.
Outcome Assessment. Research aimed at assessing the quality and effectiveness of health care as measured by
the attainment of a specified end result or outcome. Measures include parameters such as improved health,
lowered morbidity or mortality, and improvement of abnormal states (such as elevated blood pressure).
Quality of Life. A generic concept reflecting concern with the modification and enhancement of life attributes,
e.g., physical, political, moral and social environment; the overall condition of a human life.
Psychometric qualities
Evaluation Studies. Studies determining the effectiveness or value of processes, personnel, and equipment, or
the material on conducting such studies. For drugs and devices, CLINICAL TRIALS; DRUG EVALUATION;
and DRUG EVALUATION, PRECLINICAL are available.
Psychometrics. Assessment of psychological variables by the application of mathematical procedures.
Reproducibility of Results. The statistical reproducibility of measurements (often in a clinical context), including
the testing of instrumentation or techniques to obtain reproducible results. The concept includes
reproducibility of physiological measurements, which may be used to develop rules to assess probability or
prognosis, or response to a stimulus; reproducibility of occurrence of a condition; and reproducibility of
experimental results.