Disability and rehabilitation
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To present urban/rural analyses of health insurance coverage among people with multiple sclerosis (MS). This research also combined all survey respondents from each urban/rural area into one group of people with MS in health maintenance organizations (HMOs)/managed care and another group of people with MS who have other health insurance plans to compare any differences in coverage. ⋯ We found no significant differences in satisfaction with MS-focused care or with perceptions of how well coverage enables utilization of MS-focused care or needed assistive devices between people with MS in HMOs/managed care and people with MS who have other health insurance.
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Multicenter Study
The Spinal Cord Independence Measure (SCIM) version III: reliability and validity in a multi-center international study.
To examine the third version of the Spinal Cord Independence Measure (SCIM III) for reliability and validity in a multi-center cohort study. ⋯ The results support the reliability and validity of SCIM III in a multi-cultural setup. Despite several limitations of the study, the results indicate that SCIM III is an efficient measure for functional assessment of SCL patients and can be safely used for clinical and research trials, including international multi-center studies.