ABSTRACT

Clinimetrics is a methodological discipline focused on development and evaluation of instruments used to assess disease and health status. The term “clinimetrics” is indissolubly connected with Alvan Feinstein; he defined clinimetrics as “measurement of clinical phenomena” (Feinstein, 1987). We broadened the definition to “a methodological discipline involved in development and evaluation of clinical measurement instruments” (de Vet, Terwee, Mokkink, & Knol, 2011). Clinimetrics concerns all measurements in the health sciences, including nursing. Examples from the daily practice of nursing and nursing research are body temperature (measured with a thermometer), pain in newborns (measured by standardized observation), mobility or balance (measured by performance tests), and aspects of quality of life (measured by patient self-report).