Computer Adaptive Testing Approach to Patient-Reported Outcomes

Used by kind permission of Michael Bass and Maria Varela Diaz of the Department of Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University

Tools for ResearchThis presentation illustrates how to use an application programming interface (API) to create a computer adaptive testing (CAT) program that integrates patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures with your institution’s electronic health record (EHR) system. With a CAT approach, PRO assessment can cover a wide range of question/response items with increased precision.

In their CAT application, the authors describe a clinical use case for a mobile health solution, using measures from the NIH-sponsored PRO Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) domain framework, in which a health assessment is issued by a physician, administered to a patient via phone, and then sent back to the EHR.

Learn more about CAT and find a list of PROMIS calibrations available through the API at Assessment CenterSM—a free online data collection tool that enables researchers to create study-specific websites for capturing participant data (including PROs) securely online.

Suggested citation:

Bass M., Varela M.  A Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) approach to Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) for mobile devices. mHealth Summit; December 3-5, 2012; Washington, D.C.

Originally published on August 21, 2014.

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