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Sylvia H. Paz, PhD, MEd, MS

Sylvia H. Paz, PhD, MS, MEd, an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, received a Doctorate of Philosophy in Health Services and Outcomes Research from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, a Master of Science in Biostatistics and Epidemiology from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Education in Mathematics Education from Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Dr. Paz, a bilingual (Spanish-English) researcher, is interested in the development and evaluation of patient-reported outcome measures for use in different sub groups in the United States population.

COHORT

2011-12 & 2013-14 & 2015-16

Project

2015-16 NIA-funded RCMAR/CHIME-sponsored Aging Research to Address Health Disparities (Administrative Supplement) “Evaluation of PROMIS® Physical Function Items to be used with Aging Minorities”. Dr. Paz’ project will apply qualitative methods to evaluate and adapt an existing measure of physical functioning to ensure it is appropriate for elderly minorities and useful for comparisons of different race/ethnic subgroups of the U.S. population. Physical functioning is recognized as an especially important health domain that declines with age and it is important to survey research to ensure that self-reported health measures are relevant to the multi-cultural minority aging population.

Project

2013-2014 Pilot Project, “Linguistic and cultural adaptation of the Beck Depression Scale (BDS) and the PROMIS® physical function item bank to be used in under-resourced African-American and Latino elders.” Dr. Paz’ RCMAR/CHIME-funded project built on her 2011-12 project and provided essential information about the adequacy of using the BDS-II and the PROMIS® physical function item bank in an under-resourced elder minority population. This project made it possible to adequately include elder Latinos and African Americans in health-outcome studies since depression and physical function are especially important health domains in the elderly.

Project

2011-2012 Pilot Project, “Language equivalence in Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) physical functioning measure.” Dr. Paz’ RCMAR/CHIME- and CTSI-funded project has made it possible to include older, Spanish-speaking Latinos in health-outcomes studies, facilitate evaluation of health-care disparities, and yield important information about the equivalence of the physical functioning items in older versus younger individuals, and provide important information to the generalizability of the PROMIS physical-function item bank.

Publications

  • Paz SH, Slotkin J, McKean-Cowdin R, Lee P, Owsley C, Vitale S, Varma R, Gershon R, Hays RD. Development of a vision-targeted health-related quality of life item measure. Quality of Life Research. 2013 Nov;22(9):2477-87. doi: 10.1007/s11136-013-0365-1. Epub 2013 Mar 9. PMID: 23475688. PMCID: PMC3722299.
  • Paz SH, Spritzer KL, Morales LS, Hays RD. Evaluation of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Information System (PROMIS ®) Spanish-language physical functioning items. Quality of Life Research. 2013 Sep;22(7):1819-30. doi: 10.1007/s11136-012-0292-6. Epub 2012 Nov 3. PMID: 23124505. PMCID: PMCID: PMC3683100.
  • Paz SH, Spritzer KL, Morales LS, Hays RD. Age-related Differential Item Functioning for the Patient-Reported Outcomes Information System (PROMIS®) Physical Functioning Items. Primary Health Care. 2013 Mar 29;3(131). pii: 12086. PMID: 24052925. PMCID: PMC3774524.
  • Spiegel BM, Hays RD, Bolus R, Melmed GY, Chang L, Whitman C, Khanna PP, Paz SH, Hays T, Reise S, Khanna D. Development of the NIH Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) gastrointestinal symptom scales. Am J Gastroenterol. 2014 Nov;109(11):1804-14. doi: 10.1038/ajg.2014.237. Epub 2014 Sep 9. Erratum in: Am J Gastroenterol. 2015 Apr;110(4):608. PubMed PMID: 25199473; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4285435.