BACKGROUND: Chest physiotherapy is widely used in people with cystic fibrosis in order to clear mucus from the airways. OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness and acceptability of chest physiotherapy compared to no treatment or spontaneous cough alone to improve mucus clearance in cystic fibrosis. …

OBJECTIVES: To study sensor monitoring (use of a sensor network placed in the home environment to observe individuals' daily functioning (activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living)) as a method to measure and support daily functioning for older people living independently …

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to gain insight into how low back pain (LBP) patients conceptualize the construct of expectations regarding treatment. METHODS: This study was nested within a mixed-method randomized clinical trial comparing three primary care interventions for LBP. A total of 77 …

In the Netherlands, and in many other countries, teacher policy and teacher education are strongly focused on ensuring that teachers meet certain minimum standards. As all student teachers need to meet these standards, teacher education programmes might put the main emphasis on the ‘average’ student …

The percentage of sports and leisure shoes sold worldwide is gradually increasing. However, consumers have little or no objective information on the mechanical properties of the shoes. A justified selection protocol of sports and leisure shoes based on static and dynamic shoe properties considering the …

In order to support aging in place, Dutch elderly that cannot live at home any longer are housed in Assisted Living Facilities (ALF’s). Here they live as independently as possible and can rely on care and services 24 hours a day. Nowadays the intended home-like atmosphere is threatened by the increasing …

In order to be able to age in place, Dutch elderly are being housed in Assisted Living Facilities (ALFs) for over 25 years. Here they can live independently and rely on care and services. The physical scale of ALFs ranges from 30 up to 300 residents. This paper presents the findings of a multiple case …

Ambient activity monitoring systems produce large amounts of data, which can be used for health monitoring. The problem is that patterns in this data reflecting health status are not identified yet. In this paper the possibility is explored of predicting the functional health status (the motor score …

BACKGROUND: Prenatal healthcare is likely to prevent adverse outcomes, but an adequate review of utilization and its determinants is lacking. OBJECTIVE: To review systematically the evidence for the determinants of prenatal healthcare utilization in high-income countries. METHOD: Search of publications …

Background Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is used to treat various wound types. However, the possible beneficial and harmful effects of HBOT for acute wounds are unclear. Methods We undertook a systematic review to evaluate the effectiveness of HBOT compared to other interventions on wound healing …