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Semin Speech Lang 2021; 42(03): 192-210
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1731365
Review Article

Clinical Use of PROMIS, Neuro-QoL, TBI-QoL, and Other Patient-Reported Outcome Measures for Individual Adult Clients with Cognitive and Language Disorders

Matthew L. Cohen 
1   Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
2   Center for Health Assessment Research and Translation, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
,
Alyssa M. Lanzi
1   Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
,
Aaron J. Boulton
2   Center for Health Assessment Research and Translation, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
› Author Affiliations Funding Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation 5299. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. National Institute of General Medical Sciences U54-GM104941.
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Abstract

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) assess health outcomes from the patient's perspective. The National Institutes of Health has invested in the creation of numerous PROMs that comprise the PROMIS, Neuro-QoL, and TBI-QoL measurement systems. Some of these PROMs are potentially useful as primary or secondary outcome measures, or as contextual variables for the treatment of adults with cognitive/language disorders. These PROMs were primarily created for clinical research and interpretation of group means. They also have potential for use with individual clients; however, at present there is only sparse evidence and direction for this application of PROMs. Previous research by Cohen and Hula (2020) described how PROMs could support evidence-based practices in speech-language pathology. This companion article extends upon that work to present clinicians with implementation information about obtaining, administering, scoring, and interpreting PROMs for individual clients with cognitive/language disorders. This includes considerations of the type and extent of communication support that is appropriate, implications of the relatively large measurement error that accompanies individual scores and pairs of scores, and recommendations for applying minimal detectable change values depending on the clinician's desired level of measurement precision. However, more research is needed to guide the interpretation of PROM scores for an individual client.

Keywords

patient-reported outcome measures - speech-language pathology - evidence-based practice - communication disorders

Disclosures

No author has a conflict of interest with the content of this manuscript.




Publication History

Article published online:
14 July 2021

© 2021. Thieme. All rights reserved.

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