Dr. Anne Klassen

Departments of Surgery and Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI) at McMaster University

Traditionally in health care, measurement of outcomes has tended to be from the perspective of clinicians. Today, many people survive diseases that used to be fatal, and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are needed to measure what it’s like for them to live with a chronic disease. PROMs are increasingly used to inform clinical care, measure quality and value, and as outcome tools in comparative effectiveness research. This session will describe the Q-Portfolio program of research to develop a series of PROMs for plastic and reconstructive surgery. Our team uses a rigorous mixed methods approach to develop PROMs that includes qualitative interviews to elicit concepts important to patients, and a modern psychometric approach (i.e., Rasch Measurement Theory) to examine scale psychometric performance (reliability and validity). The WOUND-Q and SCAR-Q will serve as examples. The WOUND-Q was designed to measure the concerns of adults with nonhealing chronic wounds. The SCAR-Q measures appearance, symptoms, and psychosocial concerns of children and adults with surgical, traumatic and burns scars (www.qportfolio.org).