COSMIN

A center of expertise for outcome measurement instruments in health research and clinical practice.

MEASUREMENT EXPLAINED BRIEFLY

At the CORE of measurement – What do you want to measure?

Content validity: judging the relevance, comprehensiveness and comprehensibility of an outcome measurement instrument

Reliability and measurement error explained

Responsiveness, the longitudinal aspect of validity

JOIN OUR COSMIN CLUB

We hold regular online COSMIN Club meetings to discuss your ongoing studies or reviews. Sign up and get in touch.

Join one of the COSMIN Clubs

What are you working on?

To find the right tool for your research, tell us what you are working on:

How to conduct a systematic review of outcome measurement instruments?

We have updated the COSMIN guideline for conducting systematic reviews of PROMs, As part of our new academy, we’ve developed a step-by-step guide on how to conduct a systematic review of PROMs. Watch the video to see the steps and how this review can help you in your work. Check here for more materials to help you conduct your review.

 COSMIN Taxonomy

Get the definition of your measurement properties clear with our consensus-based taxonomy of measurement properties.

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Database of Systematic Reviews

Save time searching for the best available outcome measurement instruments with our database of systematic reviews of outcome measurement instruments.

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Checklists for Assessing Study Qualities

Use one of our checklists for assessing the methodological quality of a study on measurement properties.

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Search Filters

Identify all relevant studies in PubMed and Embase on measurement properties effectively with our search filters.

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Guideline for Conducting Systematic Reviews

A 10-step procedure to help you conduct your systematic review of outcome measurement instruments.

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Guideline for selecting outcome measurement instruments in a Core Outcome Set

Improve your COS development with our systematic and consensus-based guidance.

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What is COSMIN?

COSMIN stands for COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments

COSMIN is an initiative of an international multidisciplinary team of researchers with a background in epidemiology, psychometrics, medicine, qualitative research, and health care, who have expertise in the development and evaluation of outcome measurement instruments.

We call for standardization of outcomes and outcome measurement instrument selection by developing core outcome sets (COS) and universally applicable IRT-based instruments.

Goals of the COSMIN initiative

  • Advance the science and application of health outcome measurement
  • Develop new and update existing methodology and practical tools for the selection and use of outcome measurement instruments for research and clinical practice
  • Monitor and maintain the scientific quality of COSMIN tools
  • Encourage widespread adoption of the COSMIN methodology
  • Call for standardization of outcomes and outcome measurement instruments by developing Core Outcome Sets (COS) and COS methodology

 

Practical guide for developing and evaluating measurement instruments

COSMIN published the book Measurement in Medicine. It provides practical advice, underpinned by theoretical principles, on developing and evaluating measurement instruments in all fields of medicine.

This is a perfect course book for students and a perfect companion for professionals/researchers in the medical and health sciences who care about the quality and meaning of the measurements they perform.

We also teach a three-day course in Clinimetrics (twice a year, in English and Dutch), based on this book.

COSMIN welcomes these visiting researchers

Funded by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, 2022/16124-0)

Between April 1st 2023 and March 31st 2024, I had the amazing opportunity to do part of my PhD at the Department of Epidemiology and Data Science at the Amsterdam University Medical Centers (UMC). I was supervised by Dr. L.B. (Wieneke) Mokkink to work on the update of the COSMIN reporting guideline for studies on measurement properties of PROMs and the development of its Elaboration and Explanation (E&E) document. This was a great professional experience for me to learn how and why to write a good report of a study on the measurement properties of PROMs according to COSMIN.

During the development of the E&E document, I learned that good reporting is necessary to make the study of the measurement properties of PROMs clearer and more understandable to researchers/clinicians/stakeholders. Because of this experience, I became a founding member and host of GEProM, an international group of Portuguese-speaking people who discuss studies on measurement properties. I also had an great personal experience living in a culture completely different from my own, enjoying all the seasons, the way of life, the Dutch food, and meeting friendly people.

Funded by Predoctoral Mobility Grant (University of Valladolid) and Erasmus + programme.

Between September 1st and November 30th 2024, I did my PhD research internship at the Epidemiology and Data Science Department in the Amsterdam University Medical Center (UMC). The aim of my internship was to conduct a systematic review of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs). Dr. L.B. (Wieneke) Mokkink supervised me during all the procedure from inception of the study until the manuscript was prepared for submission. We prepared the protocol of the systematic review before my arrival, so once in Amsterdam, I focused on the evaluation of the measurement properties. We had periodic meetings to track the progress and discuss doubts related to the methodology, which facilitated my learning and enhance my interest in this research area. I had the opportunity to meet another researchers and PhD students which made the experience more interesting, as I learnt how they work to conduct different studies related to PROMs and epidemiology topics. Furthermore, living in the Netherlands during this period of time was a great experience. I discovered Dutch culture and immersed myself in its customs, such as riding a bike every day to work, visiting museums and exploring wonderful places.