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The World Health Organization emphasizes the importance of providing integrated care for older people. Taiwan is the fastest aging country in the world. In 2016, Taiwan implemented the Long-Term Care Plan 2.0 (TLTCP 2.0), aimed at providing integrated long-term care (LTC) services in communities. However, LTC service agencies have not been able to evaluate the level of integrated care they provide due to the lack of an effective assessment tool. To address this need, this study sets out to develop an integration assessment tool, namely the Self-Assessment for Service Integration in Long-Term Care (SASI-LTC), which will allow LTC agencies to self-evaluate their current level of integration from multiple perspectives. The SASI-LTC was developed based on Evashwick's framework, underwent two rounds of Delphi panels with twenty-six experts, and a pilot test with 243 valid questionnaires from administrators of Tier A agencies who are responsible for integrating LTC. The Delphi experts assessed the content with high levels of agreement using medians, the scale content validity index (SCVI) and item content validity index (ICVI). The SASI-LTC included four domains (inter-entity organization and management, integrated care coordination, integrated resources, and integrated information systems) with thirty items. The SASI-LTC showed good reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.94) and good validity, and a confirmatory factor analysis showed a good model fit index [χ2/df = 1.38; RMSEA = 0.040; CFI = 0.963; SRMR = 0.049] in pilot testing. While the SASI-LTC is a useful and feasible tool for Taiwan's LTC service agencies to evaluate their level of integration in providing LTC services, it could also be used in other countries with minor adjustments to localization of items related to financial integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethical and sustainable thinking is an important competence in the engineering education to support students' abilities to act and perform in a responsible manner in corporate contexts, and consequently contribute to a sustainable future. This paper investigates engineering students' attitudes towards ethical and sustainable thinking focusing on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles in the context of entrepreneurship courses as a part of larger research project. Engineering students from a Finnish and an Estonian university (N = 342) responded to a self-assessment survey. The students' attitudes towards CSR principles were assessed both on the enterprise level and the individual level as expectations of potential future employees. The findings indicate that engineering students acknowledge the need to take into account responsible thinking and that it is important for enterprises to be both socially and environmentally responsible in their activities. The self-assessment tool of ethical and sustainable thinking associated with the entrepreneurship competence model and CSR principles can be helpful in practice when university teachers wish to support and assess their students' attitudes towards CSR principles among other entrepreneurship competencies when creating new course content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, in 2013, 610,042 people were estimated homeless in one night. Improving the effectiveness of homeless assistance programs, particularly aligning programs' practices with their goals, is critical to serving this population. Using a theory that predicts homeless exits, this study presents an innovative, low-cost evaluation tool that can be used by a wide range of human service providers to conduct more frequent "in-house" process evaluations. The Gap Assessment of Policy and Practice (GAPP) tool streamlines process evaluations thus improving social programs. To test this tool's effectiveness, we compared the results of a traditional process evaluation and a GAPP tool evaluation of a homeless assistance program. Both evaluations revealed a consistent disparity between program activities and expressed goals. The GAPP tool is less time intensive and provides a useful road map for structuring a process evaluation for program providers, thus increasing program impact by encouraging more frequent and efficient self-assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-assessment is considered one of the formative assessment tools, and it is helpful for teachers and students. The instructors use self-assessment to track students' progress in lessons, while the students use it to identify their strengths and weaknesses and learn how to overcome the points of weakness in their learning. This study examines the impact of using self-assessment strategies to enhance English language skills in the online learning environment. Therefore, this study is significant as it investigates the advantages and efficacy of self-assessment tools for improving English language proficiency in an online learning setting. This research paper is trying to answer the main question which is to what extent using self-assessment tools could improve learners' English language skills in the online learning environment. The current study has followed a qualitative research method to explore the instructors' perspectives towards the self-assessment tools used to evaluate learners' performance. The research instrument comprises semi-structured interviews conducted with six university instructors from three universities in the United Arab Emirates. The findings revealed the positive outcomes of the self-assessment tools by indicating progress in students' performance in English language skills. These findings will be used to provide recommendations that may inspire teachers to adopt practical self-assessment tools in lectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Until now a comprehensive, consensus-based tool that can be used by a variety of health care organizations for assessing their organizational health literacy (OHL) is not available. Therefore, we aimed to develop and test a literature- and consensus-based self-assessment tool. Methods The study is based on a scoping review that was previously published by the authors. For the development of the self-assessment tool, the criteria identified in the literature were synthesized with criteria gained through group discussions with representatives of different types of health care organizations (N = 27) all based in Hamburg (Germany). Consensus on the criteria was reached by conducting a Delphi process (N = 22). A review by the project’s patient advisory council was included in the process. The self-assessment tool was converted into an online tool and refined by a pretest. Finally, the online survey was piloted (N = 53) and the reliability and item loadings for each scale were analyzed. Results In total, 77 criteria (items) characterizing a health literate health care organization were developed and grouped into five main categories (scales): (1) “easy access and navigation”, (2) “integration, prioritization, and dissemination of OHL”, (3) “qualification, quality management, evaluation, and needs assessment”, (4) “communication with target groups”, and (5) “involvement and support of target groups”. The results of the online survey showed that the tool is suitable for assessing an organization’s status quo on OHL. The psychometric analysis showed good to excellent internal consistency. Item analyses of the developed self-assessment tool was satisfactory. Conclusions We were able to define a set of 77 items to characterize OHL, which were integrated into a new, comprehensive, and consensus-based self-assessment tool to identify areas for improvement. We found evidence that the self-assessment tool, based on the identified criteria, consists of the assumed five scales. Further research should analyze the validity of the self-assessment tool on a higher detail level.

Objective: Participation is one of the key goals of re/habilitative processes. Since participation impacts adolescents' social–emotional development and overall health, this goal is particularly important for them. However, to date, no German‐speaking self‐assessment tool for participation among adolescents is available. This study sought therefore to develop such a tool and to test its psychometric properties. Methods: Based on a preliminary qualitative study, we developed 133 items for a pilot version of the Social Participation Inventory (SPI). The SPI assesses the objective dimension (i.e., attendance) and the subjective dimension (i.e., involvement and satisfaction) of participation. To test the psychometric properties of the SPI, we conducted a quantitative cross‐sectional survey and applied the SPI to n = 151 adolescents with and without disabilities and/or chronic diseases. Results: By using principal component analyses, we examined the SPI's consistency and verified the theoretical considerations regarding the two components of participation (i.e., objective and subjective dimensions). Items that did not load sufficiently on components were removed after careful theoretical‐based consideration. The condensed version of the SPI consists of 39 items that assess participation and 18 items to assess the perceived importance of respective areas of life. The SPI shows very good overall reliability (Cronbach's α =.920) and good validity. Conclusion: This study provides a new psychometrically tested participation self‐assessment scale for adolescence with and without disabilities and/or chronic diseases. Further research is needed to re‐evaluate its psychometric properties and to evaluate the application of the SPI in clinical and scientific contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times, a paradigm shift is observed in the manufacturing domain through the inception of the smart manufacturing (SM) system. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries are striving hard to catch up with this transition. Thus, a need arises to assess their preparedness and subsequently develop an appropriate mechanism for transition. In this context, readiness assessment is a suitable approach that clearly depicts the quantification and qualification of readiness stages through various dimensions. To this effect, this study proposes a generic readiness assessment model with 5 stages, 6 building blocks, and 22 dimensions. Furthermore, the dimensions are ranked using 'Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA)' to understand their influence on overall readiness attainment. The practical viability of the proposed readiness assessment model is tested on five Indian SMEs. Based on the readiness level of each organization, recommendations are made to further improve their preparedness for transformation. Other SMEs can utilize this tool as a self-assessment methodology to check their status and subsequently strategize their policies for future transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Until now a comprehensive, consensus-based tool that can be used by a variety of health care organizations for assessing their organizational health literacy (OHL) is not available. Therefore, we aimed to develop and test a literature- and consensus-based self-assessment tool. Methods: The study is based on a scoping review that was previously published by the authors. For the development of the self-assessment tool, the criteria identified in the literature were synthesized with criteria gained through group discussions with representatives of different types of health care organizations (N = 27) all based in Hamburg (Germany). Consensus on the criteria was reached by conducting a Delphi process (N = 22). A review by the project's patient advisory council was included in the process. The self-assessment tool was converted into an online tool and refined by a pretest. Finally, the online survey was piloted (N = 53) and the reliability and item loadings for each scale were analyzed. Results: In total, 77 criteria (items) characterizing a health literate health care organization were developed and grouped into five main categories (scales): (1) "easy access and navigation", (2) "integration, prioritization, and dissemination of OHL", (3) "qualification, quality management, evaluation, and needs assessment", (4) "communication with target groups", and (5) "involvement and support of target groups". The results of the online survey showed that the tool is suitable for assessing an organization's status quo on OHL. The psychometric analysis showed good to excellent internal consistency. Item analyses of the developed self-assessment tool was satisfactory. Conclusions: We were able to define a set of 77 items to characterize OHL, which were integrated into a new, comprehensive, and consensus-based self-assessment tool to identify areas for improvement. We found evidence that the self-assessment tool, based on the identified criteria, consists of the assumed five scales. Further research should analyze the validity of the self-assessment tool on a higher detail level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Simulations are part of nursing education. To obtain good results, simulation facilitators need to be competent in simulation pedagogy. Part of this study was the transcultural adaptation and validation of the Facilitator Competency Rubric into German (FCRG) and the evaluation of the factors associated with higher competencies. Method A written-standardized cross-sectional survey was conducted. N = 100 facilitators (mean age: 41.0 (9.8), female: 75.3%) participated. Test–re-test, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and ANOVAs were conducted to evaluate the reliability and validity of, and the factors associated with, FCRG. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values > .9 indicate excellent reliability. Results The FCRG achieved good intra-rater reliability (all ICC > .934). A moderate correlation (Spearman-rho .335, p < .001) with motivation indicates convergent validity. The CFA showed sufficient to good model fits (CFI = .983 and SRMR = .016). Basic simulation pedagogy training is associated with higher competencies (p = .036, b = 17.766). Conclusion The FCRG is a suitable self-assessment tool for evaluating a facilitator’s competence in nursing simulation.

The challenges to food safety in Lebanon are many and have worsened due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Lebanese economic crisis. Against a backdrop of loosely enforced food laws and regulations, a cross-sectional study was carried out in 23 Lebanese food companies on 204 participants using a validated online food safety culture self-assessment tool consisting of 28 indicators. Food safety motivation, burnout/job stress and conscientiousness and their impact on food safety culture were also investigated. Overall, the perceived food safety culture was “good” with a mean value of 119.1 over 140 (equivalent to 4.3/5). A young workforce, the female gender, a science background, and a university degree were associated with a higher food safety culture. The food safety culture score was also perceived higher among participants who attended food safety trainings, and among those working at the managerial level and in the quality department. In addition, the results showed that the food safety culture was significantly better in companies exporting their goods than companies with no international market exposure (121.6 vs 118.1). Moreover, Food safety motivation (mean score 4.1/5) and conscientiousness (3.5/5) were moderately associated with a positive food safety culture. However, the low burnout/job stress scores (2.8/5) may exhibit a negative impact on the food safety culture and could be related to several consequences caused by the Lebanese economic crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. Further studies are to be conducted to understand better the causal effects relationship.

Background: Simulations are part of nursing education. To obtain good results, simulation facilitators need to be competent in simulation pedagogy. Part of this study was the transcultural adaptation and validation of the Facilitator Competency Rubric into German (FCRG) and the evaluation of the factors associated with higher competencies. Method: A written-standardized cross-sectional survey was conducted. N = 100 facilitators (mean age: 41.0 (9.8), female: 75.3%) participated. Test–re-test, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and ANOVAs were conducted to evaluate the reliability and validity of, and the factors associated with, FCRG. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values >.9 indicate excellent reliability. Results: The FCRG achieved good intra-rater reliability (all ICC >.934). A moderate correlation (Spearman-rho.335, p <.001) with motivation indicates convergent validity. The CFA showed sufficient to good model fits (CFI =.983 and SRMR =.016). Basic simulation pedagogy training is associated with higher competencies (p =.036, b = 17.766). Conclusion: The FCRG is a suitable self-assessment tool for evaluating a facilitator's competence in nursing simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To develop and psychometrically test two newly developed Cancer Nurse Self-Assessment Tools for early and metastatic breast cancer (CaN-SAT-eBC and CAN-SAT-mBC)., Design: Instrument development and psychometric testing of content validity, reliability and construct validity., Methods: A three-phase procedure was conducted. Phase 1: An expert working group was formed to design and develop each tool using Benner's Model of Clinical Competence. Phase 2: The Content Validation Index (CVI) was used to assess the relevance and clarity of each item on the tools with breast cancer nurse experts and nursing educators. A CVI ≥ 0.78 was required for an item to be included in each tool. Phase 3: The tools were tested for internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha and construct validity using principal component analysis (PCA). The Guidelines for Reporting Reliability and Agreement Studies were followed in reporting this study., Results: Each tool underwent two rounds of content validation. Ten experts were involved in the content validation for the CaN-SAT-eBC and 12 experts involved for CaN-SAT-mBC. The final versions comprised 18 (CAN-SAT-eBC) and 22 elements (CaN-SAT-mBC). All items obtained a satisfactory CVI of 0.83-1.0. Data from 159 and 126 nurses were analysed to evaluate reliability for CaN-SAT-eBC and CaN-SAT-mBC, respectively. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for all elements were between 0.83 and 0.98. The PCA supported that each element was unidimensional and composed of internally correlated items, with the exception of the 'Diagnostics' element of practice which has a two-component structure measuring basic and advanced diagnostic tasks., Conclusions: The two CaN-SATs are comprehensive, valid and reliable. They can be used for self-assessment by nurses in relation to breast cancer care and for identifying learning needs for long-term professional development. The self-assessment tools can also be used to develop education initiatives for specialised breast cancer nurses., Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution., (© 2025 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Good preconception health reduces the incidence of preventable morbidity and mortality for women, their babies, and future generations. In Australia, there is a need to increase health literacy and awareness about the importance of good preconception health. Digital health tools are a possible enabler to increase this awareness at a population level. The Healthy Conception Tool (HCT) is an existing web-based, preconception health self-assessment tool, that has been developed by academics and clinicians., Objective: This study aims to optimize the HCT and to seek user feedback to increase the engagement and impact of the tool., Methods: In-depth interviews were held with women and men aged 18-41 years, who spoke and read English and were residing in Australia. Interview transcripts were analyzed, and findings were used to inform an enhanced HCT prototype. This prototype underwent user-experience testing and feedback from users to inform a final round of design changes to the tool., Results: A total of 20 women and 5 men were interviewed; all wanted a tool that was quick and easy to use with personalized results. Almost all participants were unfamiliar with the term "preconception care" and stated they would not have found this tool on the internet with its current title. User-experience testing with 6 women and 5 men identified 11 usability issues. These informed further changes to the tool's title, the information on how to use the tool, and the presentation of results., Conclusions: Web-based self-assessment tools need to be easy to find and should communicate health messages effectively. End users' feedback informed changes to improve the tool's acceptability, engagement, and impact. We expect that the revised tool will have greater reach and prompt more people to prepare well for pregnancy., (© Edwina Dorney, Karin Hammarberg, Raymond Rodgers, Kirsten I Black. Originally published in JMIR Human Factors (https://humanfactors.jmir.org).)

Dans un contexte d’enseignement distant ou hybride, les enseignants des cycles supérieurs sont confrontés à de nombreux défis technopédagogiques. Le dispositif d’autoformation dynamique pour l’innovation (DADI) offre des ressources et un outil d’autoévaluation fondé sur le modèle théorique du savoir technopédagogique disciplinaire (STPD) de Bachy (2014). Cette recherche visait à construire et à valider cet outil d’autoévaluation. La méthodologie de validation a combiné des approches qualitatives et quantitatives, impliquant des experts en sciences de l’éducation et des enseignants des cycles supérieurs issus de disciplines volontairement variées. Cet article se concentre sur les résultats quantitatifs. L’évaluation statistique a été menée auprès de 173 enseignants québécois via un questionnaire en ligne. Les analyses factorielles semi-confirmatoires, à la suite des analyses exploratoires, confirment la validité de l’outil avec 60 items. Elles examinent également la pertinence de cloisonner certains domaines de connaissances dans la pratique effective des enseignants.

This article analyses differences in sustainability performances across supplier groups in the automotive industry using a multiple regression approach. The supplier sustainability performance is proxied by the self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ), a document-based assessment tool widely used in the automotive industry. The supplier groups are divided according to their headcount, business category and the region suppliers are located in. The analysis shows that the sustainability performance increases significantly with a supplier’s headcount. Furthermore, it shows that manufacturing suppliers perform significantly better compared to service providers. While there exist regional performance differences, the development stage of a country is found to be only a small significant factor influencing suppliers’ sustainability performances. Our results suggest OEM requirements in their assessments to be a major driver for supplier sustainability performance and that further analysis of regional factors is necessary.

Abstract Background New competence requirements have emerged for pharmacists as a result of changing societal needs towards more patient-centred practices. Today, medication review competence can be considered as basic pharmaceutical competence. Medication review specific competence criteria and tools for self-assessing the competence are essential in building competences and a shared understanding of medication reviews as a collaborative practice. The aim of this study was to develop and pilot a self-assessment tool for medication review competence among practicing pharmacists in Finland. Methods The development of the self-assessment tool was based on the national medication review competence criteria for pharmacists established in Finland in 2017 and piloting the tool among practicing pharmacists in a national online survey in October 2018. The pharmacists self-assessed their medication review competence with a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 for “very poor/not at all” to 5 for “very good”. Results The internal consistency of the self-assessment tool was high as the range of the competence areas’ Cronbach’s alpha was 0.953–0.973. The competence areas consisted of prescription review competence (20 items, Cronbach’s alpha 0.953), additional statements for medication review competence (11 additional items, Cronbach’s alpha 0.963) and medication review as a whole, including both the statements of prescription review and medication review competence (31 items, Cronbach’s alpha 0.973). Competence items closely related to routine dispensing were most commonly self-estimated to be mastered by the practicing pharmacists who responded (n = 344), while the more clinical and patient-centred competence items had the lowest self-estimates. This indicates that the self-assessment tool works logically and differentiates pharmacists according to competence. The self-assessed medication review competence was at a very good or good level among more than half (55%) of the respondents (n = 344). Conclusion A self-assessment tool for medication review competence was developed and validated. The piloted self-assessment tool can be used for regular evaluation of practicing pharmacists’ medication review competence which is becoming an increasingly important basis for their contribution to patient care and society.

The aim of this research is to determine the current and desired level of lean maturity level in the local manufacturing industries of Pakistan. This can certainly assist the local industry of Pakistan to optimize their processes, shrink wastes and increase the productivity by using this method. The developed lean assessment model evaluates the lean manufacturing and measures the leanness of the industries in terms of lean maturity model. It comprises of three categories. The assessment model consists of twelve factors on which the lean manufacturing is assessed which include leadership, communication, trainings, inventory, quality, continuous improvement, production processes, lean tools, maintenance, cost, on-time-delivery and energy-efficiency. A series of stages involved in developing lean assessment model, named as modified LESAT, are subdivided into four main phases: detailed literature review, development of lean assessment, data analysis and AS-IS and TO-BE analysis with gap identification. Current maturity level of the industries of Pakistan comes out to be 3.00, that managers and all the staff have knowledge about lean. The future state comes out to 4.00 that lean will be implemented to a greater extent and industry is striving to achieve more via continuous improvement. The gaps identified in many industries are weak in terms of energy efficient, inventory, quality, training, production processes and lean tools. The Pakistani industries must work and improve in view of factors identified. This will aid in achieving more productivity, better performance and excellent quality to survive in the market.

Summary: Managing food integrity within a food business represents a novel dimension in food safety management. In this study, the prevailing food integrity climate of different food companies was analysed and compared across two distinct countries (Belgium and Saudi Arabia), and its relation with various organisational characteristics was examined. A quantitative questionnaire was filled up by the principal quality manager of forty‐three food companies. Results show that the overall food integrity climate in the participating Saudi Arabian (n = 15) and Belgian food companies (n = 28) was estimated as medium–high. Scores varied substantially across the different participating food organisations, but only slightly between the two countries. The companies' certification status was found statistically significantly related to a higher perceived food integrity climate, in particular for ISO 9000 as well as FSSC 22000 in both countries and IFS only in the Saudi Arabian sample. It was also demonstrated that the prevailing food integrity climate is associated with the company's product type or sector, but only in the Belgian participating food companies, since Belgian quality managers employed in plant‐based food companies estimated their food integrity climate higher than their counterparts in animal‐based food companies. This horizontal comparative study, based on an intercontinental quantitative assessment of food integrity performance in food companies, contributes to enhance the understanding of food integrity in relation to specific organisational characteristics of food businesses, offering both theoretical and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital competences are considered a particularly important component of key competences of modern people. The documents of the European Parliament and the respective Polish Teacher Training Standards indicate the need for educators to acquire computer and information technology competences that can be used in their work, professional development, and personal development. The importance of those competences in everyday life has increased dramatically due to the current pandemic of COVID-19, with distance learning becoming the only form of education available. The need to acquire or improve digital skills has also increased. This paper discusses the European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu) and a self-assessment tool designed based on this framework. With the universality and practical applicability of the tool, it can become an inspiration for lifelong improvement of digital competences both in organized forms and as self-learning activities.

On the current environment, companies face risks and threats to the systems they need to operate often known as cyber threats. Most of these companies are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and they are exposed to these cyber threats. To mitigate the risks and be able to thrive with as little disruption as possible, SMEs require cyber resilience capabilities. However, due to their limited resources, SMEs usually have no dedicated personnel for cyber resilience operationalization and thus lack the experience this discipline requires to implement. To aid SMEs in their cyber resilience operationalization, the current literature offers several kinds of solutions, but these solutions are usually targeted for companies with more resources than SMEs and do not aid in the complete process of assessing their current cyber resilience, deciding actions to improve it and prioritizing these actions. To aid companies in this systematic process to operationalize or implement cyber resilience, this article develops and tests an operational web-based tool in which companies can follow the complete process described before. To achieve this, a cyber resilience framework with the essential policies for SMEs, descriptions of their natural progressions in a progression model and a prioritization of these policies have been developed. In this article, this framework, progression model and prioritization are later transformed into one cyber resilience self-assessment tool (CR-SAT) and are tested in three case studies to qualitatively evaluate the tool by trying to ascertain its usefulness and completeness as well as improving it with the feedback from the end-users.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has sped up the implementation of telehealth solutions in medicine. A few symptom checkers dedicated for COVID-19 have been described, but it remains unclear whether and how they can affect patients and health systems. Objective: This paper demonstrates our experiences with the COVID-19 risk assessment (CRA) tool. We tried to determine who the user of the web-based COVID-19 triage app is and compare this group with patients in the infectious diseases ward's admission room to evaluate who could benefit from implementing the COVID-19 online symptom checker as a remote triage solution. Methods: We analyzed the answers of 248,862 people interacting with an online World Health Organization-based triage tool for assessing the probability of SARS-CoV-2 infection. These users filled in an online questionnaire between April 7 and August 6, 2020. Based on the presented symptoms, risk factors, and demographics, the tool assessed whether the user's answers were suggestive of COVID-19 and recommended appropriate action. Subsequently, we compared the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of tool users with patients admitted to the Infectious Diseases Admission Room of J. Gromkowski Hospital in Wrocław. Results: The CRA tool tended to be used by asymptomatic or oligosymptomatic individuals (171,226 [68.80%] of all users). Most users were young (162,432 [65.27%] were below 40 years of age) and without comorbidities. Only 77,645 (31.20%) of the self-assessment app users were suspected of COVID-19 based on their reported symptoms. On the contrary, most admission room patients were symptomatic--symptoms such as fever, cough, and dyspnea were prevalent in both COVID-19-positive and COVID-19-negative patients. COVID-19-suspected patients in the CRA tool group presented similar COVID-19 symptoms as those who presented to the admission room. These were cough (25,062/40,007 [62.64%] in the CRA tool group vs 138/232 [59.48%] in the admission room group), fever (23,123/40,007 [57.80%] in the CRA tool group vs 146/232 [62.93%] in the admission room group), and shortness of breath (15,157/40,007 [37.89%] in the CRA tool group vs 87/232 [37.50%] in the admission room group). Conclusions: The comparison between the symptomatology of the users interacting with the CRA tool and those visiting the admission room revealed 2 major patient groups who could have benefited from the implementation of the self-assessment app in preclinical triage settings. The primary users of the CRA tool were young, oligosymptomatic individuals looking for screening for COVID-19 and reassurance early in the COVID-19 pandemic. The other group were users presenting the typical symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 at that time. The CRA tool recognized these individuals as potentially COVID-19 positive and directed them to the proper level of care. These use cases fulfil the idea of preclinical triage; however, the accuracy and influence on health care must be examined in the clinical setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate about inclusive education has gained considerable attention in policy, research, and practice in the last decades. Therefore, there is also a growing interest in assessing how inclusive education occurs in schools. Self-assessment and self-reflection tools are strategic to examine schools’ inclusion and guide needed changes. This study attempts to provide Portuguese schools with self-assessment tools for improvement. Themis Inclusion Tool was translated and adapted into a Portuguese version named Resources and Practices for Inclusive Education and evaluated the instrument’s psychometric structure. A web survey was completed online by 924 participants. An EFA suggested two different factors: Inclusive Resources, human, technical and technological resources used to promote learning and; Inclusive Practices, beliefs and behaviors that can be implemented to promote learning. These two factors were supported by confirmatory analysis. Overall, the Resources and Practices for Inclusive Education presented a robust factorial structure and good psychometric properties, appearing to be a valid and reliable measure for assessing inclusive education in Portuguese schools.

Background: Accurately assessing Activities of Daily Living (ADL) is crucial for evaluating patient independence, yet there is a lack of standardized tools suitable for large-scale surveys, particularly those that are self-administered. We aimed to validate the reliability of the self-administered Performance Evaluation Tool based on the modified Barthel Index (PET-MBI)., Methods: In this study, 53 patients and 18 occupational therapists were included to determine the inter-rater and intra-rater reliabilities via questionnaires. The inclusion criteria for patients were being admitted to a convalescent or community care ward and being able to communicate. The inclusion criteria for professionals were being an occupational therapist in charge of the patients and having at least two years of experience., Results: The inter-rater reliability scores of PET-MBI were 80.4 ± 20.4 and 81.1 ± 19.2 points for patient and therapist ratings, respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the total score was 0.888. Regarding intra-rater reliability, the patients' scores were 80.4 ± 20.4 and 84.1 ± 19.8 points for the first and second assessments, respectively. The ICC for the total score was 0.927., Conclusion: The self-administered PET-MBI demonstrated reliability in terms of total scores and numerous sub-items, demonstrating potential as a valuable tool for ADL assessment in large-scale surveys., Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent for treatment and open access publication was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Tokai kinen hospital’s Research Ethics Committee issued approval 2022-004. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Watanabe et al.)

Introduction: An initial version of the Reengagement Life Goal Assessment Tool for Cancer Survivors (ReGAT-C) was designed to measure the quality of life goal-setting practice conducted by responsible healthcare professionals along with nonterminal cancer survivors undergoing inpatient cancer treatment. This study aimed to test content validity of the ReGAT-C and revise it., Methods: Eleven experts and nine healthcare professionals participated in this study. Content validity assessments using questionnaires and focus group interviews were conducted with experts. Cognitive interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals. The content validity index was calculated based on expert questionnaires, and these interview data were analyzed by inductive and deductive approaches. When the ReGAT-C was substantially revised, it was retested through questionnaires., Results: The initial version of the ReGAT-C was substantially revised and three new items were added, resulting in the development of a revised version of the ReGAT-C with 21 items. All participants re-evaluated the ReGAT-C, and the revised version was verified to have content validity., Conclusions: The revised ReGAT-C would contribute to enabling healthcare professionals to assess whether they are based on collaboration with cancer survivors and multidisciplinary teams by reflecting on their own life goal-setting practice., Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. The Research Ethics Committee of the Prefectural University of Hiroshima issued approval 23MH014. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Ikeuchi et al.)

Background: Although the self-assessment tools for predicting osteoporosis are convenient for clinicians, they are not commonly used among men. We developed the Male Osteoporosis Self-Assessment Tool for Taiwan (MOSTAi) to identify the patients at risk of osteoporosis.Methods: All the participants completed a questionnaire on the clinical risk factors for the fracture risk assessment tool. The risk index was calculated by the multivariate regression model through the item reduction method. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze its sensitivity and specificity, and MOSTAi was developed and validated.Results: A total of 2,290 men participated in the bone mineral density (BMD) survey. We chose a model that considered two variables (age and weight). The area under the curve (AUC) of the model was 0.700. The formula for the MOSTAi index is as follows: 0.3 × (weight in kilograms) – 0.1 × (years). We chose 11 as the appropriate cut-off value for the MOSTAi index to identify the subjects at the risk of osteoporosis.Conclusions: The MOSTAi is a simple, intuitive, and country-specific tool that can predict the risk of osteoporosis in Taiwanese men. Due to different demographic characteristics, each region of the world can develop its own model to identify patients with osteoporosis more effectively.

This collaborative self-study examines how five higher education institutions in British Columbia (BC), Canada, have achieved momentum with openness and are implementing and sustaining their efforts. A goal of this research was to see whether an institutional self-assessment tool—adapted from blended learning and institutional transformation research—can help to assess how an institution has progressed with its open education initiatives. By adopting both an appreciative and a critical approach, the researchers at these five BC institutions compared the similarities and differences between their institutional approaches and the evolution of their initiatives. The paper includes discussion of how a self-assessment tool for institutional open education practices (OEP) can be applied to OEP initiatives at an institutional level and shares promising practices and insights that emerge from this research.

Background: New competence requirements have emerged for pharmacists as a result of changing societal needs towards more patient-centred practices. Today, medication review competence can be considered as basic pharmaceutical competence. Medication review specific competence criteria and tools for self-assessing the competence are essential in building competences and a shared understanding of medication reviews as a collaborative practice. The aim of this study was to develop and pilot a self-assessment tool for medication review competence among practicing pharmacists in Finland.Methods: The development of the self-assessment tool was based on the national medication review competence criteria for pharmacists established in Finland in 2017 and piloting the tool among practicing pharmacists in a national online survey in October 2018. The pharmacists self-assessed their medication review competence with a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 for "very poor/not at all" to 5 for "very good".Results: The internal consistency of the self-assessment tool was high as the range of the competence areas' Cronbach's alpha was 0.953-0.973. The competence areas consisted of prescription review competence (20 items, Cronbach's alpha 0.953), additional statements for medication review competence (11 additional items, Cronbach's alpha 0.963) and medication review as a whole, including both the statements of prescription review and medication review competence (31 items, Cronbach's alpha 0.973). Competence items closely related to routine dispensing were most commonly self-estimated to be mastered by the practicing pharmacists who responded (n = 344), while the more clinical and patient-centred competence items had the lowest self-estimates. This indicates that the self-assessment tool works logically and differentiates pharmacists according to competence. The self-assessed medication review competence was at a very good or good level among more than half (55%) of the respondents (n = 344).Conclusion: A self-assessment tool for medication review competence was developed and validated. The piloted self-assessment tool can be used for regular evaluation of practicing pharmacists' medication review competence which is becoming an increasingly important basis for their contribution to patient care and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This collaborative self-study examines how five higher education institutions in British Columbia (BC), Canada, have achieved momentum with openness and are implementing and sustaining their efforts. A goal of this research was to see whether an institutional self-assessment tool--adapted from blended learning and institutional transformation research--can help to assess how an institution has progressed with its open education initiatives. By adopting both an appreciative and a critical approach, the researchers at these five BC institutions compared the similarities and differences between their institutional approaches and the evolution of their initiatives. The paper includes discussion of how a self-assessment tool for institutional open education practices (OEP) can be applied to OEP initiatives at an institutional level and shares promising practices and insights that emerge from this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The handling of cytotoxic medicines is a high-risk process for human and environmental health. Considering the rising burden of cancer in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), we aimed to develop, validate, and pilot test a self-assessment tool to support the implementation of safe handling practices and promote continuous quality improvement for cytotoxic drug management in LMICs. Methods: First, the self-assessment tool Cyto-SAT was developed and validated. Key sources on the safe handling of cytotoxic medicines were reviewed to derive items addressing safety and quality aspects at every stage of the process. A two-round online Delphi survey was conducted to validate and prioritize the items. The validation rules in the first and second rounds were defined as ≥65% and ≥75% agreement, respectively. Then, intended users in healthcare facilities in LMICs evaluated the Cyto-SAT tool in a pilot test. They were asked to fill out an online evaluation questionnaire. Results: Twenty-seven experts from 13 high-income countries and LMICs participated in the Delphi survey. Final expert consensus was achieved for 134/137 (97.8%) items. Consensus on priority was achieved for 52 of 134 (38.8%) items. The final Cyto-SAT tool comprises 134 items in 10 domains and 28 subdomains covering the whole cytotoxic drug handling process (https://pharmed.datapharma.ch/cyto-sat%5fen/). Staff from 34 institutions in 28 LMICs completed the Cyto-SAT evaluation. Almost all of them reported total agreement or agreement with its usefulness (96%), applicability (94%), usability (98%), and acceptability (97%). Conclusion: Cyto-SAT is the first self-assessment tool designed to assist professionals in LMICs in the safe handling of cytotoxic drugs. The pilot test revealed that Cyto-SAT is a useful and highly appreciated tool that supports practice improvement in LMICs. Cyto-SAT will be used in an international survey to obtain a global overview of handling practices in various LMIC settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: The present study aims to develop a checklist, as a self-assessment tool, for evaluating all the items involved in the endoscope reprocessing that could be useful for the improvement and/or development of a safety endoscope reprocessing system. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A three-step modified Delphi method, with an embedded qualitative component, was adopted to develop the checklist. According to it, corrective actions were performed before its further re-administration. Contextually, the microbiological surveillance of the endoscopes and of the wash disinfector machine was carried out. RESULTS: Five areas were included in the checklist. After the 1st checklist application, only one of three wards reached the excellent scores in all the items. The other two wards showed an improvement in the Traceability and Endoscope Reprocessing areas after corrective actions. The McNemar's test reported significant difference in the proportion of satisfactory results before and after the 1st and 2nd checklist application. The microbiological surveillance, conducted after the 1st administration, showed unsatisfactory results for the 2 bronchoscopes available in the Intensive Care Unit and for 2 automated endoscope reprocessors. The analysis performed after the 2nd administration showed good results. CONCLUSIONS: The periodic administration of the checklist is functional for a self-assessment of quality reprocessing procedures carried out in the large endoscopic services and in the wards occasionally providing those services, according to the good practice guidelines and for any corrective actions to increase the safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality is a multidimensional and transversal concept also in the field of higher education. This and other considerations revealed some problems during application of quality principles to study programmes, emerged from the first accreditation experience in Italy. The objective of this article is to provide a simple self-assessment tool for professors who have to implement study programme quality, in order to understand their position with respect to accreditation requirements. To do this, a general procedure to create the self-evaluation questionnaire is explained. It is composed of six points: (1) studying literature or indications about the objective; (2) creating a schema of categories and sub-categories, (3) weighting the sub-categories, (4) creating a questionnaire, (5) creating a formula in order to synthesise the questionnaire in a graduation scale and finally (6) robustness analysis. A full example, based on Italian experience, is therefore developed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With demographic shifts, there is an unprecedented increase in noncommunicable diseases, multimorbidity, and geriatric syndromes among older adults, especially in economically weaker sectors. However, there is no socioculturally appropriate tool to screen older adults for age-related health needs, multimorbidity, and geriatric syndromes at their doorstep. Objective: Our objective was to create a self-assessment tool, “integrated care tool” (ICT), and to assess its psychometric properties by applying it on older adults from multiple settings such as hospital, community, and old-age home (assisted living services). Methods: new questionnaire was developed using standardized procedure including item development, pilot testing, and psychometric validation. After obtaining the institutional ethics committee clearance, data were collected from consenting respondents attending the Outpatient Department of Geriatric Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, community settings through health camps, and long-term care center, between May 2016 and February 2017. Data were computerized and analyzed by principal component analysis as extraction method and orthogonal varimax as rotation method. Results: The final 30-item questionnaire was arranged into various domains as per rotated component matrix analysis. Overall internal consistency of the final questionnaire, as calculated by Cronbach's alpha, was 0.79, and the measure of sampling adequacy was 0.79. Conclusion: ICT-BRIEF is a simple, self-assessment/caregiver-assisted tool to screen the health needs of older adults. This tool can be validated for developing risk score and scaled up to generate a large database to create elderly centered care plans.

An important aim of the European Sustainable Development Strategy is to measure the state of sustainability in coastal communities. While numerous indicators have been developed to estimate a regions sustainability, they go largely unused, due to the difficulty in applying them over a broad region. In an effort to improve upon this situation, we have improved the indicator set developed within the SUSTAIN project and merged these indicators with the QualityCoast label for sustainable tourism destinations, creating a joint methodology and developing an applicable self-assessment spreadsheet tool. The tool includes six categories, subdivided into 117 single indicators. We then tested the tool by applying it to ten contrasting tourism destinations in Germany, Lithuania, and Indonesia. In total, 17 unique applications were run, with the objective being to test the tools applicability, reproducibility, and utility for coastal communities. The applications showed that results can be biased, stemming from an evaluators' perception of a given site or ecosystem. Thus, results are not easily reproducible, which negatively affects comparability with other destinations. However, results indicate that the tool can be used to categorize the sustainability of a region, helping to raise community awareness and guide future planning. Furthermore, communities benefit from the fact that a positive assessment will easily enable them to apply for the QualityCoast label. With clear guidelines and reference values, repeated applications can help communities evaluate whether their efforts are contributing to a sustainable coastal development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current scientific research and industry guidelines focus on food safety, aiming to reduce unintentional food contaminations through technological and managerial measures. Due to the deceptive nature of food fraud, the fight to prevent intentional food adulteration and counterfeiting threats requires an approach that goes beyond the common food safety-based strategies and falls into the sphere of food integrity. With food integrity being an emerging discipline, a definition was proposed and the concept of food integrity climate was introduced. A food integrity climate (FIC) self-assessment tool in the form of a questionnaire, with twenty indicators and a five-point Likert rating scale was developed, expert-validated, and tested in practice in a large-scale meat distribution company. The questionnaire was designed to measure the performance level of food integrity in food businesses along the supply chain through managers’ and operators’ perceptions. Minor but interesting differences were found in the food integrity climate perceived between managers and operators as well as among the company’s affiliates. The tool helps food businesses to get a deeper insight on the human dimension behind food integrity through the assessment of five climate components in relation to four food integrity elements, identifying strengths and weaknesses regarding a company’s food integrity climate.

Comprehensive implementation of Information and Communication Technologies in schools is a key factor in empowering students in the European Union (EU) for their future roles. The framework, DigCompOrg, was proposed in 2015 under the direction of the European Commission to encourage self-assessment within EU schools and to update the level of digitalization. This article presents a computer-supported model based on this framework and a multi-attribute decision-making methodology named, DEX. The model was built by a group of experts and tested on selected schools in Slovenia. The main advantages of the model are: the use of qualitative value scales for attributes which do not have exact values; the use of a hierarchical structure for attributes; a transparent presentation of the interconnectedness of these attributes; and the use of simple if–then aggregation rules to allow the use of non-fixed weights. An application of our model to a selected school demonstrates the potential for knowledge modelling to facilitate upgrades of existing assessment tools and to provide a better understanding and analysis of assessment results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantifying lean and ICT architecture related to Industry 4.0 is a new challenge in Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) that needs to be addressed by both research as well as enterprises themselves. Especially in the manufacturing sector, SMEs need to transform themselves into emerging trends such as industry 4.0 while practicing existing manufacturing philosophies such as Lean Production Systems (LPS) to be competitive in global markets. The major concern is that there are many assessment models available to measure the status of an enterprise related to either LPS or Industry 4.0. Often, these models are complex and don't fulfill the requirements of manufacturing SMEs. On the other hand, most of the models only consider either lean or industry 4.0 elements. The outcomes of this research help to develop a hybrid model including both lean and industry 4.0 features suitable for manufacturing SMEs. The main objective of this research is to provide state of the art literature on existing assessment models and consequently map lean and industry 4.0 components to the specific characteristics of manufacturing SMEs. The paper concludes with a summary and outlook for our future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, it is essential that researchers operationalize their research evidence with the help of knowledge brokers in proper communication with stakeholders and make such pieces of evidence applicable. The present study aims at psychometric of the self-assessment tool of academic researchers' knowledge translation activities and explaining the role of academic librarians in this process. This study was a methodology research. A questionnaire was designed and its psychometric properties including design, face validity and content validity, and internal and external reliability of the construct were measured. During the first and second stages of the research, the initial version of the questionnaire with 52 items was designed. During the third and fourth stages, the self-assessment section of knowledge translation activities was developed as the main structure of the questionnaire in four components, namely research question, knowledge creation, knowledge transfer, and promotion of using evidence. In the following, the psychometric analysis of the final version of the questionnaire (with 46 items) was approved for all the items with the impact score of 4.48, content validity index of 0.92, content validity ratio of 0.85, Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.91, and correlation coefficient of 0.93. The results of this study indicated that the developed questionnaire enjoys proper psychometric properties for the self-assessment of knowledge translation activities of academic researchers by considering the role of librarians in facilitating this process.

Nowadays, it is essential that researchers operationalize their research evidence with the help of knowledge brokers in proper communication with stakeholders and make such pieces of evidence applicable. The present study aims at psychometric of the self-assessment tool of academic researchers' knowledge translation activities and explaining the role of academic librarians in this process. This study was a methodology research. A questionnaire was designed and its psychometric properties including design, face validity and content validity, and internal and external reliability of the construct were measured. During the first and second stages of the research, the initial version of the questionnaire with 52 items was designed. During the third and fourth stages, the self-assessment section of knowledge translation activities was developed as the main structure of the questionnaire in four components, namely research question, knowledge creation, knowledge transfer, and promotion of using evidence. In the following, the psychometric analysis of the final version of the questionnaire (with 46 items) was approved for all the items with the impact score of 4.48, content validity index of 0.92, content validity ratio of 0.85, Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.91, and correlation coefficient of 0.93. The results of this study indicated that the developed questionnaire enjoys proper psychometric properties for the selfassessment of knowledge translation activities of academic researchers by considering the role of librarians in facilitating this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]