Clinical Meaningfulness of an Outcome Measure
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Introduction[edit | edit source]
Outcome measures must be valid and reliable and assist us in interpreting change in our patients to have clinical meaning[1]. Clinical significance/meaningfulness is the practical importance of a treatment effect—whether it has a real genuine, palpable, noticeable effect on daily life. Clinical meaningfulness generally refers to an outcome measure’s ability to provide the clinician and the patient with consequential information[1]. It is a broad term which is usually described in the following terms for an outcome measure:
- Floor and Ceiling Effect
- Minimal Detectable Change (MDC)
- Responsiveness
- Minimal clinically important difference (MCID)