Although there are many studies that collect information on aspects of neurological function and behavioral health (e.g., cognition, sensation, motor functioning, emotion), there is little uniformity among the measures used to assess these constructs. When individual studies employ unique assessment batteries, comparisons between studies and combining data from multiple studies are quite challenging. Thus, investigators have expressed the need for brief, standard assessment tools to be used across diverse study designs and populations. For example, in 2005, a report (Hendrie et al., Alzheimer's & Dementia, vol. 2, 12-32, 2006) was submitted to the staff of the trans-NIH Cognitive and Emotional Health Project (CEHP) that suggested, among other ideas, the need for "standard questionnaires to measure cognitive and emotional health".
In response to these issues, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Toolbox initiative seeks to assemble brief, comprehensive assessment tools to measure cognitive, emotional, sensory and motor function that will be useful to clinicians and researchers in a variety of settings, with a particular emphasis on measuring outcomes in large longitudinal or epidemiologic studies and prevention or intervention trials across the lifespan. Such comprehensive measures are rarely included in studies of this type, due in part to the lack of brief, well-validated instruments.
US Code:
42 USC 410
Name of Law: Public Health Service Act
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