Variables considered on art therapy assessments and rating instruments: a systematic review

Objectives: Art-based assessments are used by art therapists and sometimes researchers principally to: determine treatments, levels of cognition and functioning, evaluate progress of a client or to understand the client’s environment and problems that can be represented in a graphic level. These art-based assessments use determined evaluation instruments to measure parameters to understand their clients. The rating instruments have different variables and some studies even present their own adapted scales. For this systematic review, the tools examined in the analysis are: The Bird’s Nest Drawing (BND); the Bridge Drawing; the Diagnostic Drawing Series (DDS); the Person Picking an Apple from a Tree (PPAT); and Free Drawing Assessment. Rating instruments are also considered, including the Descriptive Assessment of Psychiatric Art (DAPA), the DDS Rating Guide and Drawing Analysis Form (DAF), the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale (FEATS) and studies that include their own scale. There are different elements considered when assessing drawings and artwork approaches to make assessment test using art-based and art therapy tools. The principal objective of the present systematic review was to observe the different elements analysed. The specific objectives were; to describe characteristics of this assessments and to observe the elements considered to analyse drawings in order to observe their application and their validity. Methods: Studies available in English were accessed. The following databases were used: AMED, A&HCI, Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Medline, Psych INFO and Google Scholar. Searches covered the periods from database inception to July 2021 on art therapy and art-based assessment diagnose tools. Results: There were different variables used in art therapy and art based assessment diagnose tools. There were some variables that related or were named differently un some studies. However, there were other variables that were considered in some studies, while in other ones where not. To analyse the assessment the majority were using qualitative and observational technics, a few studies did not share their analysis, in this kind of studies only a thematic analysis or other type of analysis where developed studied. Descriptive results and synthesis outcomes reveal that art therapists are still in a nascent stage of understanding assessments and rating instruments, that flaws in the art therapy assessment and rating instrument literature research are numerous, and that much work has yet to be done. Conclusions: Descriptive results and synthesis revel that some studies have some limitations in some studies regarding to the content that is and how is analysed. Art therapy and art-based studies stills in a nascent stage of understanding the variables considered when using rating instruments. This systematic review also contributes as there are flaws in the art therapy and art-based rating instruments are numerous. There is a limited evidence on studies related with assessment diagnose tools and the reliability of some scales.

Psychometric Properties of EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L in Cognitively Impaired Patients Living with Dementia

Background: Assessing health-related quality of life in dementia poses challenges due to patients’ cognitive impairment. It is unknown if the newly introduced EQ-5D five-level version (EQ-5D-5L) is superior to the 3-level version (EQ-5D-3L) in this cognitively impaired population group. Objective: To assess the psychometric properties of the EQ-5D-5L in comparison to the EQ-5D-3L in patients living with dementia (PwD). Methods: The EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L were assessed via interviews with n = 78 PwD at baseline and three and six months after, resulting in 131 assessments. The EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-5L were evaluated in terms of acceptability, agreement, ceiling effects, redistribution properties and inconsistency, informativity as well as convergent and discriminative validity. Results: Mean index scores were higher for the EQ-5D-5L than the EQ-5D-3L (0.70 versus 0.64). Missing values occurred more frequently in the EQ-5D-5L than the EQ-5D-3L (8%versus 3%). Agreement between both measures was acceptable but poor in PwD with moderate to severe cognitive impairment. The index value’s relative ceiling effect decreased from EQ-5D-3L to EQ-5D-5L by 17%. Inconsistency was moderate to high (13%). Absolute and relative informativity increased in the EQ-5D-5L compared to the 3L. The EQ-5D-5L demonstrated a lower discriminative ability and convergent validity, especially in PwD with moderate to severe cognitive deficits. Conclusion: The EQ-5D-5L was inferior as a self-rating instrument due to low acceptability and discriminative ability and a high inconsistency, especially in moderate to severe dementia. The EQ-5D-3L had better psychometric properties and should preferably be used as a self-rating instrument in economic evaluations in dementia.

Psychometrics of art: Validation of RizbA, a quantitative rating instrument for pictorial expression

Although art has been subject to psychological research for some time, the artwork itself received little attention in quantitative research. The rating instrument for two-dimensional pictorial works (RizbA) fills this gap by providing a tool for formal picture analysis. This study validates the questionnaire on 294 images created by 147 non-artists. In an online test-retest study the material was rated by 880 (T1) and 475 (T2) experts using RizbA. Statistical quality criteria, Principal component analysis and indices of factor similarity were computed. The overall test's capacity of differentiation yields a partial eta-squared of .28 (T1) and .33 (T2). Test-retest reliability is .93. PCA reveals an eight-factors solution. Tucker's coefficients of congruence range between |0.82| and |1.00|. Intraclass correlation coefficients are .81 (T1) and .84 (T2). Results indicate generalizability to amateurs' works. As the first reliable tool for picture analysis, RizbA allows a more detailed examination of art and its correlates.

Publications Trends in Major Anesthesiology Journals: A 20-Year Analysis of Five Top-Ranked Journals in the Field

Background: With the intention to quantify the importance of a medical journal, the Impact Factor (IF) was introduced. It has become a de facto fictive rating instrument of the importance of medical journals. Also, it is often used to assess the value of the individual publications within the specific journal. The aim of the present study was to analyze publication trends over 20 years in five high-ranked anesthesiology journals. Methods: The Medline (NCBI) database PubMed was used for analysis which was restricted to the following journals: 1. Anesthesiology; 2. British Journal of Anaesthesia; 3. Journal of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology; 4. Anesthesia & Analgesia; and 5. Anaesthesia. Specific publication parameters (IFs, number of pages and authors, etc.) were retrieved using the PubMed download function and imported into Microsoft Excel for further analysis. Results: The mean IF of the five journals analyzed increased significantly within the study period (1991 vs. 2010; +61.81%). However, the absolute number of case reports decreased significantly by 54.7% since 1991. The journals Br J Anaesth (12.2%), J Neurosurg Anesthesiol (51.9%), and Anesth Analg (57.2%) showed significant increases in the number of publications per year. The mean number of authors increased significantly in all the journals from 1991 to 2010 (3.0 vs. 4.3; +43.3%). Conclusions: The IF, as well as the number of articles per year and the number of authors per article, increased significantly. In contrast, the number of pages per article remained comparable during the period analyzed.

Planning and Implementing an Online Undergraduate Medical Student Selection Exercise during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience of the School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia

This article described the context, planning and implementation of a video-conference-based undergraduate student selection exercise held in response to restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. A task force has brainstormed the ideas and decided a face-to-face interview using a video conferencing application which was the best way to achieve the objective set for the exercise. Facilitators communicated with interviewers and candidates, and hosted video meetings between the two parties. Interviewers were trained using online videos, a webinar and a trial run. They rated candidates using a printed rating instrument as well as an online form. About 615 candidates were interviewed in this study. Initial impressions were positive and will be followed-up by a proper evaluation.

Examining the Quality of Individualized Education Plan (IEP) Goals for Children With Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate the quality of Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals for students with traumatic brain injury (TBI) using an empirically based rating instrument. One hundred twenty-five IEP goals for 49 students with TBI were coded using the Revised IEP/IFSP Goals and Objective Rating Instrument (R-GORI; Notari). Using this dichotomous measure, we analyzed the quality of IEP goals across six areas: observability, measurability, functionality, generalizability, application in daily tasks, and clarity of goals. On average, students had three IEP goals (range: 1–8). The average goal quality score was 3.74 (range: 1–6). While most of the goals were measurable, only a few contained details about how the goals could be generalized beyond the specific educational or therapeutic environment. These findings highlight variability in the quality of IEP goals, which may have implications to the therapeutic environment and child outcomes.