Scientific content of the 2022 Annual Conference

Lene Kongsgaard Nielsen, MD PhD, and Kathrin Fischer, MSc PhD
2022 Annual Conference Co-Chairs   

We are very honored to be the scientific program committee co-chairs of the ISOQOL 29th Annual Conference. After two years of virtual attendance, the conference will be held as an in-person event in Prague, Czech Republic from 19-22 October 2022. 

Several decades of outstanding research aiming to advance the science of quality of life (QOL) and related patient-centered outcomes (PCO), led to the integration of peoples’ perspectives in various ways in health research, care and policy. Despite these achievements, there is more work to do! The continuous endeavor to further advance the field of QOL and PCO research led to this year’s conference theme: Redefining boundaries – Breaking new ground in patient-centered outcomes research.  

Referring to the conference theme, the four plenary sessions address different challenges as well as evidence-based solutions. 

Plenary 1: Mind the Gap – measuring HRQL across the life course 

Christopher Forest will introduce theoretical approaches related to development and aging, including contextual aspects impacting health and well-being over the life course. Richard Gershon will discuss methodological approaches and challenges measuring HRQL across the life course, focusing on harmonization of measures and measurement strategies. Melissa Tinsley will present the Australian experiences of PCO measurement over the life course and will share insights, challenges, and approaches for how to measure HRQL across the life course. 

Plenary 2: Cutting Edge Research Plenary 

Out of all submitted abstracts, four outstanding abstracts that were considered cutting edge research were selected to be presented at this yearly plenary. Berend Terluin will introduce how longitudinal structural equation modeling can estimate the true minimal important change using a simulation sample. Paul Schneider will address some of the limitations in current methods of constructing health preferences on an individual level by introducing a new tool. Tolulope Sajobi will show how unsupervised latent variable methods can assess measurement invariance across multiple variables in heterogeneous populations. Carolyn Schwartz will present new and interesting findings from a scoping review of literature of response shift effect in adequately powered studies.  

Plenary 3: PROs in clinical practice – lessons learned and future directions 

Annette Ladefoged de Thurah will share her experience in development and use of PRO-algorithm-based follow-up (telePRO) in clinical practice. Morten Atke Nüchel will provide us with his experience using the telePRO from a patient perspective. Adesola Odole will present the challenges and facilitators implementing PROs in clinical practice in Nigeria from a clinician’s experience.  

Plenary 4: Defining meaningful change – a matter of stakeholder perspective 

Sonya Eremenco will give us an overview of the field of meaningful change, focusing on anchor-based approaches to estimate clinically meaningful within-person change. Beate Wieseler will share challenges and considerations regarding defining meaningful change from a health technology assessment (HTA) perspective. John “Devin” Peipert will focus on some of the pitfalls of using minimal important change/differences to determine individual change and will provide some recommendations for this field. 

New to 2022: Digital Poster Hall 

We are also excited to host the first-ever digital poster hall at an in-person ISOQOL Annual Conference. For both virtual conferences, the online poster hall was a huge success and allowed attendees to view more poster presentations than at a typical poster hall. ISOQOL wanted to keep that same benefit for conference attendees this year, and all registrants receive bonus extended access to the digital poster hall on the conference mobile app through 30 November 2022. Poster presenters also receive an allotted time frame (approximately 15 minutes) to stand in front of their digital poster and discuss their research with their peers. For those unable to make the scheduled time, you can schedule a 1×1 meeting with the presenter in the mobile app. To learn more, open the conference mobile app, click “More” on the bottom toolbar, click FAQ, and then click the “Mobile App” dropdown. View the full list of abstracts and presentation times in the conference mobile app!  

We recognize that not everyone will be able to join us in Prague, and we are happy to say ISOQOL offers virtual attendee registration for the digital poster hall. Virtual attendees can register for and access the digital poster hall through 30 November, and will also receive bonus access to the conference mobile app for virtual networking opportunities. More information about virtual attendee registration is available here.  

Additionally, we would like to thank all who contributed to the planning and organization of the ISOQOL 29th Annual Conference – the ISOQOL staff, the Symposium Selection Chair, the Workshop Selection Subcommittee, all reviewers, and all session moderators. A special thanks goes to all plenary speakers for their dedication and time to develop these outstanding plenary sessions. Finally, we would like to thank all who submitted workshops, symposia and scientific abstracts.  

We are looking forward to hearing about the newest research in quality of life and related patient-centered outcomes research, moving the field forward and breaking new ground in PCO research. Enjoy four conference days filled with plenaries, symposia, workshops, oral and poster presentations, roundtables, SIG meetings, and various other networking opportunities.  

This newsletter editorial represents the views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ISOQOL. 

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