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Internal Validity (internal + validity)
Selected AbstractsValidity and clinical feasibility of the ADHD rating scale (ADHD-RS) A Danish Nationwide Multicenter StudyACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 2 2009N Szomlaiski Abstract Aim: To establish the validity of a Danish version of the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Rating Scale (ADHD-RS), secondly to present national norm scores compared to that of United States and other European data and thirdly to evaluate ADHD-RS when used for monitoring treatment effectiveness. Methods: A Danish translation of the ADHD-RS was used on a normative sample of 837 children. Two clinical samples, 138 hyperkinetic disorder (HKD) cases and 110 clinical controls were recruited from eleven Danish Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) centres and assessed according to usual clinical standards. The HKD children were rated by parents and teachers at baseline and at follow-up 3 months later. Results: Internal validity of ADHD-RS was high and the factor structure supported the diagnostic classification system ICD-10. The questionnaire discriminated HKD patients in a mixed clinical sample, and was sensitive to change in symptom load as measured before and after commencing of the treatment. Conclusion: The Danish version of ADHD-RS is valid and clinically feasible when measuring HKD symptom load in a CAMH-setting. The questionnaire provides useful data in patient management, quality improvement and service planning as well as in effectiveness studies of different interventions for patients with HKD and related disorders in routine clinical settings. [source] The Bech,Rafaelsen Melancholia Scale (MES) in clinical trials of therapies in depressive disorders: a 20-year review of its use as outcome measureACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 4 2002P. Bech Bech P. The Bech,Rafaelsen Melancholia Scale (MES) in clinical trials of therapies in depressive disorders A 20-year review of its use as outcome measure. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2002: 106: 252,264. © Blackwell Munksgaard 2002. Objective:,To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Bech,Rafaelsen Melancholia Scale (MES) by reviewing clinical trials in which it has been used as outcome measure. Method:,The psychometric analysis included internal validity (total scores being a sufficient statistic), interobserver reliability, and external validity (responsiveness in short-term trials and relapse prevention in long-term trials). Results:,The results showed that the MES is a unidimensional scale, indicating that the total score is a sufficient statistic. The interobserver reliability of the MES has been found adequate both in unipolar and bipolar depression. External validity including both relapse, response and recurrence indicated that the MES has a high responsiveness and sensitivity. Conclusion:,The MES has been found a valid and reliable scale for the measurement of changes in depressive states during short-term as well as long-term treatment. [source] The challenge of external validity in policy-relevant systematic reviews: a case study from the field of substance misuseADDICTION, Issue 1 2010Mark Pearson ABSTRACT Aim To critically evaluate the methods utilized in the conduct of a systematic review in the field of substance misuse Design Participant-observation in the review process, semi-structured interviews with review team members and management and structured observation of the process of guidance development. Setting An ,arm's-length' government body. Participants Review team members, management and the committee responsible for producing evidence-based guidance for policy and practice. Measurements Data from interviews and (participant-)observation were reflected upon critically in order to increase understanding of the systematic review process. Findings The application of systematic review methods produced an evidence base that did not inform the development of guidance to the extent that it could have done: (i) an emphasis upon internal research validity produced an evidence base with an emphasis on short-term interventions at the level of the individual; (ii) criteria for appraising the external validity of studies were not developed sufficiently; and (iii) the systematic review of evidence and development of guidance are strongly reliant upon the judgement of reviewers and committee members. Conclusions Prioritizing internal validity in a systematic review risks producing an evidence base that is not informed adequately by the wider determinants of health and which does not give sufficient consideration to external validity. The use of appropriate methods requires that commissioners of systematic reviews are clear at the outset how the review is proposed to be utilized. Review methods such as meta-ethnography and realist synthesis could contribute to making the frameworks within which judgements are made more explicit. [source] Feasibility and validity of low-budget telephonic follow-up interviews in routine outcome monitoring of substance abuse treatmentADDICTION, Issue 7 2009Suzan C.C. Oudejans ABSTRACT Aims Routine outcome monitoring (ROM) is receiving growing attention. However, follow-up interviews are time-consuming and costly. This study examines the feasibility and validity of low-budget telephonic follow-up interviews for ROM in a substance abuse treatment centre (SATC). Design Observational study using data collected for routine outcome monitoring. Setting The study was performed in a SATC in an urban area in the Netherlands. Participants Feasibility and validity were assessed on data of 2325 patients. Measurements Data on pre-treatment socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were collected using electronic patient records (EPRs) and the European version of the Addiction Severity Index (EuropASI). Data on intensity of treatment were also collected through the EPRs. Telephonic follow-up interviews were conducted between 9 and 10 months after intake. Findings A 53% follow-up rate was achieved; 35% of the patients could not be contacted, 3% explicitly refused and in 8% other reasons accounted for non-participation. About 50% of the interviews took place in the intended time-frame. Costs were ,40 ($57) per completed interview. There were indications of selection bias, because patients with cocaine as their primary problem and patients with polysubstance abuse were under-represented in the follow-up sample; the presence of these disorders is associated with negative treatment outcome. Conclusions Implementing telephonic low-budget follow-up interviews for ROM is feasible, but selection bias threatens internal validity of data, limiting generalization to the total treatment population. Increased efforts to track patients for follow-up may improve generalization. [source] Depressive symptoms among mothers of children with epilepsy: A review of prevalence, associated factors, and impact on childrenEPILEPSIA, Issue 11 2009Mark A. Ferro Summary The impact of epilepsy is not limited to the child experiencing seizures, but affects all members of the family. As primary caregivers, mothers are particularly at risk for experiencing increased depressive symptoms and risk for clinical depression. The objective of this systematic review was to critically assess available evidence regarding the prevalence, associated factors, and impact of maternal depressive symptoms on child outcomes in epilepsy. Using a modified version of the Quality Index, studies were rigorously evaluated in terms of reporting, external validity, and internal validity. Limitations in the study designs and analytic techniques of previous research are discussed, and study methods to overcome these barriers are presented in order to advance this research area. Up to 50% of mothers of children with epilepsy are at risk for clinical depression. Correlates of maternal depressive symptoms include a number of modifiable risk factors such as role ambiguity, worry, and satisfaction with relationships. In addition, studies suggest that depressive symptoms in mothers have a negative impact on child outcomes in epilepsy including behavior problems and health-related quality of life. The overall mean score on the Quality Index was 9.7, indicating a midrange quality score, suggesting a need for more methodologically robust studies. [source] Measuring inequality in self-reported health,discussion of a recently suggested approach using Finnish dataHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 7 2004Jorgen Lauridsen Health surveys often include a general question on self-assessed health (SAH), usually measured on an ordinal scale with three to five response categories, from ,very poor' or ,poor' to ,very good' or ,excellent'. This paper assesses the scaling of responses on the SAH question. It compares alternative procedures designed to impose cardinality on the ordinal responses. These include OLS, ordered probit and interval regression approaches. The cardinal measures of health are used to compute and decompose concentration indices for income-related inequality in health. Results are provided using Finnish data on 15D and the SAH questions. Further evidence emerges for the internal validity of a method used in a pioneering study by van Doorslaer and Jones which was based on Canadian data on the McMaster Health Utility Index Mark III (HUI) and SAH. The study validates the conclusions drawn by van Doorslaer and Jones. It confirms that the interval regression approach is superior to OLS and ordered probit regression in assessing health inequality. However, regarding the choice of scaling instrument, it is concluded that the scaling of SAH categories and, consequently, the measured degree of inequality, are sensitive to characteristics of the chosen scaling instrument. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] An Empirical Taxonomy of Hospital Governing Board RolesHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 4 2008Shoou-Yih D. Lee Objective. To develop a taxonomy of governing board roles in U.S. hospitals. Data Sources. 2005 AHA Hospital Governance Survey, 2004 AHA Annual Survey of Hospitals, and Area Resource File. Study Design. A governing board taxonomy was developed using cluster analysis. Results were validated and reviewed by industry experts. Differences in hospital and environmental characteristics across clusters were examined. Data Extraction Methods. One-thousand three-hundred thirty-four hospitals with complete information on the study variables were included in the analysis. Principal Findings. Five distinct clusters of hospital governing boards were identified. Statistical tests showed that the five clusters had high internal reliability and high internal validity. Statistically significant differences in hospital and environmental conditions were found among clusters. Conclusions. The developed taxonomy provides policy makers, health care executives, and researchers a useful way to describe and understand hospital governing board roles. The taxonomy may also facilitate valid and systematic assessment of governance performance. Further, the taxonomy could be used as a framework for governing boards themselves to identify areas for improvement and direction for change. [source] Application of Regression-Discontinuity Analysis in Pharmaceutical Health Services ResearchHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 2 2006Ilene H. Zuckerman Objective. To demonstrate how a relatively underused design, regression-discontinuity (RD), can provide robust estimates of intervention effects when stronger designs are impossible to implement. Data Sources/Study Setting. Administrative claims from a Mid-Atlantic state Medicaid program were used to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational drug utilization review intervention. Study Design. Quasi-experimental design. Data Collection/Extraction Methods. A drug utilization review study was conducted to evaluate a letter intervention to physicians treating Medicaid children with potentially excessive use of short-acting ,2 -agonist inhalers (SAB). The outcome measure is change in seasonally-adjusted SAB use 5 months pre- and postintervention. To determine if the intervention reduced monthly SAB utilization, results from an RD analysis are compared to findings from a pretest,posttest design using repeated-measure ANOVA. Principal Findings. Both analyses indicated that the intervention significantly reduced SAB use among the high users. Average monthly SAB use declined by 0.9 canisters per month (p<.001) according to the repeated-measure ANOVA and by 0.2 canisters per month (p<.001) from RD analysis. Conclusions. Regression-discontinuity design is a useful quasi-experimental methodology that has significant advantages in internal validity compared to other pre,post designs when assessing interventions in which subjects' assignment is based on cutoff scores for a critical variable. [source] Do perineal exercises during pregnancy prevent the development of urinary incontinence?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF UROLOGY, Issue 10 2008A systematic review Objectives: The aim of the current article was to conduct a systematic review of the performance of perineal exercises during pregnancy and their utility in the prevention of urinary incontinence. Methods: Randomized controlled studies (RCT) of a low-risk obstetric population (primiparas or nulliparas) who had done perineal exercises only during pregnancy met the inclusion criteria. Articles published between 1966 and 2007 from periodicals indexed in the LILACS, SCIELO, PubMed/MEDLINE, SCIRUS and Cochrane Library databases were selected, using the following keywords: ,urinary incontinence', ,pregnancy', ,pelvic floor' and ,exercise'. The Jadad scale was applied to assess the internal validity of the RCT and two meta-analysis: one of fixed effects and the other of random effects were carried out with data extracted from the RCT, using the Stata 9.2 statistical software and adopting a significance level of 0.05. Results: Four RCTs with high methodological quality, involving a total of 675 women were included. They indicated that perineal muscle exercise significantly reduced the development of urinary incontinence from 6 weeks to 3 months after delivery (odds ratio = 0.45; confidence interval: 0.3 to 0.66). However, when evaluating this effect during the 34th and 35th gestational week, a meta-analysis showed that the results were not significant (odds ratio = 0.13; confidence interval: 0.00 to 3.77). Conclusion: Pelvic floor muscle exercises may be effective at reducing the development of postpartum urinary incontinence, despite clinical heterogeneity among the RCT. [source] Development and validation of the chinese rehearsal scale for preadolescent chinese children,,§JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2010Fiona C.M. Ling Abstract Roger (1997) defined rehearsal as "the tendency to rehearse or ruminate on emotionally upsetting events" (p. 71). The Rehearsal Scale for Children,Chinese (RSC-C) was developed from the original 14-item Rehearsal Scale of the Emotion Control Questionnaire (Roger & Nesshoever, 1987) after translation and modification for Hong Kong Chinese preadolescents (aged 6,12 years). Confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling revealed that with 1 item deleted from the original scale, the RSC-C possessed good internal validity and satisfactory test-retest reliability within a 1-year period. The new 13-item RSC-C also showed good external validity and internal reliability (,=.76). Convergent and discriminant validity was evidenced against the Emotional Problem and the Prosocial Behavior Subscales of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997), respectively. No gender differences in rehearsal scores were found. It was concluded that the 13-item RSC-C could be useful for measuring rehearsal in Chinese preadolescents. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 66: 1,10, 2010. [source] Testing the Long-Term Effects of the Go Sun Smart Worksite Health Communication Campaign: A Group-Randomized Experimental StudyJOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, Issue 3 2008Peter A. Andersen This study examined the long-term effects of the Go Sun Smart (GSS) campaign, a large-scale health communication intervention designed to promote sun safety to employees at 26 ski areas in western North America. Employees were enrolled in a pair-matched group-randomized pretest,posttest controlled design with 2 follow-up surveys. Half of the ski areas were randomly assigned to implement GSS in the winter. This article reports analyses of a hierarchical linear design with responses from 1,463 employees who completed the second follow-up survey at the end of the following summer (69% of those who completed the first posttest). GSS continued to have positive effects on employees who worked at intervention ski areas into the summer. Employees exposed to GSS reported less sunburning, engaged in more sun safety behaviors, were more aware of the program, and had more discussions of sun safety at home than employees at matched control group resorts. The long-term effects of GSS support recommending that sun protection programs be implemented at workplaces, but such programs should be implemented with high fidelity to achieve maximum benefits. Despite limitations due to nonresponse, geography, measurement, and ethnicity, the hierarchical clustered design improved the internal validity and generalizability of the findings. [source] The relationship between bed rest and sitting orthostatic intolerance in adults residing in chronic care facilitiesJOURNAL OF NURSING AND HEALTHCARE OF CHRONIC ILLNE SS: AN INTERNATIONAL INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL, Issue 3 2010Mary T Fox MSc fox mt, sidani s & brooks d (2010) Journal of Nursing and Healthcare of Chronic Illness2, 187,196 The relationship between bed rest and sitting orthostatic intolerance in adults residing in chronic care facilities Aim., To examine the relationship between orthostatic intolerance and bed rest as it was used by/with 65 adults residing in chronic care facilities. Background., The evidence on the relationship between bed rest and orthostatic intolerance has been obtained from aerospace studies conducted in highly controlled laboratory settings, and is regarded as having high internal validity. In the studies, prolonged and continuous bed rest, administered in a horizontal or negative tilt body position, had a major effect on orthostatic intolerance in young adults. However, the applicability of the findings to the conditions of the real world of practice is questionable. Methods., Participants were recruited over the period of April 2005 to August 2006. A naturalistic cohort design was used. The cohorts represented different doses of bed rest that were naturally occurring. Comparisons were made between patients who had no bed rest (comparative dose group, n = 20), two to four days (moderate dose, n = 23) and five to seven days of bed rest (high dose, n = 22) during a one-week monitoring period. Orthostatic intolerance was measured by orthostatic vital signs and a self-report scale. Bed rest dose was measured by the total number of days spent in bed during one week. Results.,Post hoc comparisons, using Bonferroni adjustments, indicated significant differences in adjusted means on self-reported orthostatic intolerance between the comparative and high (CI: ,4·12, ,0·85; p < 0·001), and the moderate and high (CI: 0·35, 3·56, p < 0·01) bed rest dose cohorts. No group differences were found on orthostatic vital signs. Conclusions., A moderate dose of bed rest with intermittent exposure to upright posture may protect against subjective orthostatic intolerance in patients who are unable to tolerate being out of bed every day. Future research may examine the effects of reducing bed rest days on orthostatic intolerance in individuals with high doses of five to seven days of bed rest. [source] Beyond random assignment for internal validity and beyond social research for random assignmentJOURNAL OF POLICY ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2009Laura Langbein [source] A meta-analysis of national research: Effects of teaching strategies on student achievement in science in the United StatesJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 10 2007Carolyn M. Schroeder This project consisted of a meta-analysis of U.S. research published from 1980 to 2004 on the effect of specific science teaching strategies on student achievement. The six phases of the project included study acquisition, study coding, determination of intercoder objectivity, establishing criteria for inclusion of studies, computation of effect sizes for statistical analysis, and conducting the analyses. Studies were required to have been carried out in the United States, been experimental or quasi-experimental, and must have included effect size or the statistics necessary to calculate effect size. Sixty-one studies met the criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis. The following eight categories of teaching strategies were revealed during analysis of the studies (effect sizes in parentheses): Questioning Strategies (0.74); Manipulation Strategies (0.57); Enhanced Material Strategies (0.29); Assessment Strategies (0.51); Inquiry Strategies (0.65); Enhanced Context Strategies (1.48); Instructional Technology (IT) Strategies (0.48); and Collaborative Learning Strategies (0.95). All these effect sizes were judged to be significant. Regression analysis revealed that internal validity was influenced by Publication Type, Type of Study, and Test Type. External validity was not influenced by Publication Year, Grade Level, Test Content, or Treatment Categories. The major implication of this research is that we have generated empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of alternative teaching strategies in science. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1436,1460, 2007 [source] Development and evaluation of the conceptual inventory of natural selectionJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 10 2002Dianne L. Anderson Natural selection as a mechanism of evolution is a central concept in biology; yet, most nonbiology-majors do not thoroughly understand the theory even after instruction. Many alternative conceptions on this topic have been identified, indicating that the job of the instructor is a difficult one. This article presents a new diagnostic test to assess students' understanding of natural selection. The test items are based on actual scientific studies of natural selection, whereas previous tests have employed hypothetical situations that were often misleading or oversimplified. The Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS) is a 20-item multiple choice test that employs common alternative conceptions as distractors. An original 12-item version of the test was field-tested with 170 nonmajors in 6 classes and 43 biology majors in 1 class at 3 community colleges. The test scores of one subset of nonmajors (n,=,7) were compared with the students' performances in semistructured interviews. There was a positive correlation between the test scores and the interview scores. The current 20-item version of the CINS was field-tested with 206 students in a nonmajors' general biology course. The face validity, internal validity, reliability, and readability of the CINS are discussed. Results indicate that the CINS will be a valuable tool for instructors. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 952,978, 2002 [source] Maximizing follow-up in longitudinal studies of traumatized populationsJOURNAL OF TRAUMATIC STRESS, Issue 6 2006Christy K. Scott Although longitudinal research is essential in understanding the nature and course of posttraumatic mental health problems, high rates of attrition often threaten the internal validity of such studies and make results hard to interpret. C. K. Scott (2004) developed an approach to minimizing attrition in longitudinal studies that consistently yielded retention rates in excess of 90% through to 2-year follow-up. In this article, the authors discuss the interface between trauma exposure and participation in longitudinal research, before describing in detail a model to address those effects. The effectiveness of the model is examined with reference to traumatic stress in a large community sample (N = 887) with eight waves of data over 2 years. [source] Breastfeeding protects against infectious diseases during infancy in industrialized countries.MATERNAL & CHILD NUTRITION, Issue 3 2009A systematic review Abstract Firstly, this review was performed to assess the effect of breastfeeding on infections during infancy in industrialized countries. Secondly, the effect of duration and exclusiveness of breastfeeding were explored. Studies were identified using Medline, Cochrane Library, Science Citation Index and by a manual search from bibliographies of articles from August 1986 to January 2008. Follow-up, case,control and randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies performed in an industrialized country, published in English, with breastfeeding as a determinant, with overall infections, gastrointestinal or respiratory tract infections as a major outcome, and at least 40 participants in the study were included. Using Bauchner's criteria published in a review in 1986, two reviewers and a peer reviewer assessed the internal validity of those studies. Twenty-one studies that met the inclusion and internal validity criteria were included. These included 16 follow-up and four case,control studies and one RCT. Four out of five studies observed decreased effects on overall infections in breastfed infants. With regard to gastrointestinal infections, six out of eight studies suggested that breastfeeding had a protective effect. Thirteen out of 16 studies concluded that breastfeeding protects infants against respiratory tract infections. Five studies combined duration and exclusiveness of breastfeeding. All studies observed a protective dose/duration-response effect on gastrointestinal or respiratory tract infections. These studies strongly suggest that breastfeeding protects infants against overall infections, gastrointestinal and respiratory tract infections in industrialized countries. The optimal duration of exclusive breastfeeding for protection against infectious diseases needs to be studied in more detail. [source] The effect of differential rater function over time (DRIFT) on objective structured clinical examination ratingsMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 10 2009Kevin McLaughlin Context, Despite the impartiality implied in its title, the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is vulnerable to systematic biases, particularly those affecting raters' performance. In this study our aim was to examine OSCE ratings for evidence of differential rater function over time (DRIFT), and to explore potential causes of DRIFT. Methods, We studied ratings for 14 internal medicine resident doctors over the course of a single formative OSCE, comprising 10 12-minute stations, each with a single rater. We evaluated the association between time-slot and rating for a station. We also explored a possible interaction between time-slot and station difficulty, which would support the hypothesis that rater fatigue causes DRIFT, and considered ,warm-up' as an alternative explanation for DRIFT by repeating our analysis after excluding the first two OSCE stations. Results, Time-slot was positively associated with rating on a station (regression coefficient 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.38,1.38; P = 0.001). There was an interaction between time-slot and station difficulty: for the more difficult stations the regression coefficient for time-slot was 1.24 (95% CI 0.55,1.93; P = 0.001) compared with 0.52 (95% CI , 0.08 to 1.13; P = 0.09) for the less difficult stations. Removing the first two stations from our analyses did not correct DRIFT. Conclusions, Systematic biases, such as DRIFT, may compromise internal validity in an OSCE. Further work is needed to confirm this finding and to explore whether DRIFT also affects ratings on summative OSCEs. If confirmed, the factors contributing to DRIFT, and ways to reduce these, should then be explored. [source] An evaluation of an aggression management training program to cope with workplace violence in the healthcare sectorRESEARCH IN NURSING & HEALTH, Issue 4 2008Janneke K. Oostrom Abstract Workplace violence is a major occupational hazard for healthcare workers, generating a need for effective intervention programs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an aggression management training program. The evaluation design was based on the internal referencing strategy, an unobtrusive and applicable evaluation method that rules out some major threats to internal validity without the need for a control group. On three occasions, training participants completed a questionnaire containing experimental and control variables. As hypothesized, there was a significant improvement in the experimental variables that was larger than the non-significant change in the control variable. We conclude that aggression management training may be an effective instrument in the fight against workplace violence. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 31:320,328, 2008 [source] Relationship closeness and trauma narrative detail: A critical analysis of betrayal trauma theoryAPPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Katie M. Lindblom Betrayal Trauma Theory (BTT) holds that certain traumas, such as incest, should be uniquely categorized as betrayal trauma: a subcategory of trauma in which the violation of trust, within a close relationship, occurs in the context of a traumatic event. According to BTT, betrayal trauma results in either partial or complete traumatic amnesia because repression is adaptive when a victim depends on a perpetrator for physical or emotional needs. In a test of BTT, undergraduates screened for betrayal and non-betrayal trauma histories provided detailed accounts of these events. In order to account for threats to internal validity that are often overlooked by traumatic amnesia researchers, we also assessed factors known to compromise narrative detail. Consistent with BTT predictions, more betrayal was associated with less detailed trauma narratives. However, this relationship was no longer significant after controlling for survivor age, avoidance symptoms, gender and purposeful omission of detail. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Industrial and Organisation Research on Self-Regulation: From Constructs to ApplicationsAPPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2005Jeffrey B. Vancouver L'autorégulation rencontre actuellement du succès en psychologie industrielle et organisationnelle. Les travaux théoriques et empiriques englobent des processus allant de l'entrée dans l'organisation à la sortie et à la réembauche. Les interventions et les concepts clés de l'autorégulation dans le monde du travail sont recensés en insistant sur la validité interne et de construction. Quelques concepts comme l'efficacité personnelle et l'implication ont bénéficié d'un grand intérêt de la part des psychométriciens et semblent constituer des cibles de premier ordre lors des interventions. Néanmoins, ces concepts restent entachés d'hypothèses dont la validité n'est pas garantie. D'autres concepts, en particulier la rétroaction et la divergence, souffrent de significations sensiblement différentes dans la littérature sur l'autorégulation, ce qui nuit à la compréhension et à la communication entre les universitaires et les praticiens. On a lancé des interventions relevant des principes de l'autorégulation; celles-ei ont ensuite étéévaluées avec sérieux: il est apparu qu'elles avaient un impact sur un ensemble de variables pertinentes du point de vue organisationnel comme l'amélioration des performances et la réduction de l'absentéisme. Malheureusement, les interventions sont rarement étudiées de façon détaúllée et systématique, ce qui ne permet pas de tirer des conclusions sur les aspects de l'intervention qui sont pertinents du point de vue de la causalité. La discussion insiste sur les lacunes dans la connaissance et l'appréhension des processus de l'autorégulation dans les contextes organisationnels, ainsi que sur la façon dont la discipline pourrait tenter de combler ces lacunes. The self-regulation perspective is currently well received in the industrial and organisational psychology literature. Theoretical and empirical work span processes ranging from organisation entry to exit and reentry. Key self-regulation constructs and interventions in work contexts are reviewed with a focus on construct and internal validity. Some constructs, such as self-efficacy and goal commitment, have received substantial psychometric attention and seem important targets for interventions. Nonetheless, potentially unwarranted assumptions remain regarding these constructs. Other constructs, particularly feedback and discrepancy, have acquired substantially different meanings within the self-regulation literature that inhibit understanding and communication among scholars and practitioners. Interventions based on self-regulatory principles have been developed, and rigorous tests of these interventions have been conducted. These interventions were found to influence a range of organisationally relevant outcomes such as increasing performance and reducing absenteeism. Unfortunately, studies of comprehensive interventions are rare and often lacked controls, making it difficult to draw conclusions regarding what aspects of the interventions are causally relevant. Discussion focuses on the gaps in the field's knowledge and understanding regarding self-regulatory processes in organisational settings and how the field might attempt to fill those gaps. [source] Self-Regulation Research in Work and I/O PsychologyAPPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2005Ruth Kanfer Les recherches de psychologie industrielle/organisationnelle (I/O) sur les objectifs et l'autorégulation ont prospéré durant les trois dernières décennies. Initiés par le travail fécond de Locke, Latham et de leurs collègues qui ont souligné l'influence positive d'objectifs elairs et sollicitants sur les performances, de nombreux courants de recherche sont apparus pour étudier à la fois les déterminants et les conséquences des objectifs et des processus d'autorégulation sur les conduites et les variables dépendantes relatives au travail (voir par exemple Locke, Shaw, Saari, & Latham, 1981; Vancouver, 2000 pour une revue de questions). Vancouver et Day (2005) constatent que si les chercheurs en organisations ont tenté d'évaluer la validité externe et critérielle, ils se sont moins intéressés à la validité interne et de construction des variables-clés et de concepts tels que les objectifs, la rétroaction, la divergence et l'efficacité personnelle. Dans le même ordre d'idées, Vancouver et Day (2004) concluent que les validations des interventions I/O fondées sur la perspective objectif/autorégulation détectent généralement des effcts positifs, mais que ces travaux sont insuffisants pour déterminer les dimensions spécifiques du processus objectif/autorégulation qui sont en rapport avec l'amélioration de la performance. Dans ce court article, j'aborde ces problèmes concemant la recherche sur les objectifs et l'autorégulation d'un triple point de vue: le progrès scientifique, les applications et les buts des investigations I/O. Over the past three decades, industrial/organisational (I/O) research on goals and self-regulation has flourished. Beginning with the seminal work by Locke, Latham, and their colleagues showing the positive influence of difficult and specific goals on task performance, multiple streams of research have emerged to investigate both the determinants and consequences of goals and self-regulation processes on work-related behaviors and outcomes (see, e.g. Locke, Shaw, Saari, & Latham, 1981; Vancouver, 2000, for reviews). In a review of this work, Vancouver and Day (2005) suggest that although organisational researchers have sought evidence for external and criterion-related validity, less attention has been given to the construct and internal validity of key variables and concepts, such as goals, self-efficacy, feedback, discrepancy, and self-efficacy. In a related vein, Vancouver and Day (2005) conclude that although I/O intervention studies based on the goal/self-regulation perspective show generally positive effects, such studies are insufficient for understanding how specific aspects of the goal/self-regulation process relate to enhanced performance. In this short note, I consider these concerns about goal/self-regulation research in I/O psychology from three perspectives: (1) scientific progress, (2) applications, and (3) the goals of I/O research. [source] The use of conjoint analysis to elicit community preferences in public health research: a case study of hospital services in South AustraliaAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 1 2000Stephen Jan Aims: To demonstrate the use of conjoint analysis (CA) in public health research through a survey of the South Australian community about aspects of their public hospital services. Methods: A series of focus groups determined the most important attributes in choice of hospital services. These were built into a CA survey, using the discrete choice approach. The survey was posted to a representative sample of 700 South Australians. Theoretical validity, internal consistency and non-response bias were all investigated. Results: Some 231 individuals returned the questionnaire. The attribute, ,improvement in complication rates' was positively associated with choice of hospital. Three attributes were found to be negatively associated with such choice: ,waiting times for casualty', ,waiting times for elective surgery' and, anomalously, ,parking and transport facilities'. Travel time' and the cost attribute, ,Medicare levy' were not statistically significant. Trade-offs between the significant attributes were estimated, as were satisfaction or utility scores for different ways of providing hospital services. Results concerning internal consistency and internal validity were encouraging, but some potential for non-response bias was detected. Conclusion: A high premium is placed on the quality of hospital care and members of the community are prepared to choose between hospitals largely on the basis of outcomes and length of waiting times for elective surgery and in casualty. Implications: CA can yield potentially policy-relevant information about community preferences for health services. [source] The validity and internal structure of the Bipolar Depression Rating Scale: data from a clinical trial of N-acetylcysteine as adjunctive therapy in bipolar disorderACTA NEUROPSYCHIATRICA, Issue 5 2010Michael Berk Berk M, Dodd S, Dean OM, Kohlmann K, Berk L, Malhi GS. The validity and internal structure of the Bipolar Depression Rating Scale: data from a clinical trial of N-acetylcysteine as adjunctive therapy in bipolar disorder. Background: The phenomenology of unipolar and bipolar disorders differ in a number of ways, such as the presence of mixed states and atypical features. Conventional depression rating instruments are designed to capture the characteristics of unipolar depression and have limitations in capturing the breadth of bipolar disorder. Method: The Bipolar Depression Rating Scale (BDRS) was administered together with the Montgomery Asberg Rating Scale (MADRS) and Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) in a double-blind randomised placebo-controlled clinical trial of N-acetyl cysteine for bipolar disorder (N = 75). Results: A factor analysis showed a two-factor solution: depression and mixed symptom clusters. The BDRS has strong internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.917), the depression cluster showed robust correlation with the MADRS (r = 0.865) and the mixed subscale correlated with the YMRS (r = 0.750). Conclusion: The BDRS has good internal validity and inter-rater reliability and is sensitive to change in the context of a clinical trial. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||