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Individual Criteria (individual + criterion)
Selected AbstractsA prospective study of the diagnostic accuracy of cytological criteria in the FNAB diagnosis of breast papillomasDIAGNOSTIC CYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 8 2007Andrew Field M.B., F.R.C.P.A. Abstract Seventy-four fine needle aspiration biopsies (FNAB) of breast were selected from the 133 cases with surgical biopsy follow up, from a total of 1,154 consecutive breast FNAB received in a 6-month-period. These 74 cases were reviewed and scored using all relevant cytological criteria for proliferative breast lesions used in our recent retrospective study, without reference to the original cytological and surgical biopsy diagnoses. Of the 42 criteria scored, 13 had a statistically significant association between the cytology score and the presence or absence of a papilloma (PAP), and the sensitivities, specificities and positive predictive values (PPV) of these individual criteria, or a combination of criteria, were derived. It was found that stellate and meshwork tissue fragments and papillary fragments were all highly specific (0.98) for the diagnosis of PAP, with meshwork fragments having the highest PPV (0.93). Stellate fragments (0.41) and papillary fragments (0.24) were less sensitive not only because they occurred less often, but also because they were present in smaller numbers. The presence of a proteinaceous background with macrophages and siderophages or a moderate to marked number of apocrine sheets were useful indicators only when coexisting with at least one of the above three features. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2007;35:465,475. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Putting Rubrics to the Test: The Effect of a Model, Criteria Generation, and Rubric-Referenced Self-Assessment on Elementary School Students' WritingEDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 2 2008Heidi L. Andrade The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of reading a model written assignment, generating a list of criteria for the assignment, and self-assessing according to a rubric, as well as gender, time spent writing, prior rubric use, and previous achievement on elementary school students' scores for a written assignment (N = 116). Participants were in grades 3 and 4. The treatment involved using a model paper to scaffold the process of generating a list of criteria for an effective story or essay, receiving a written rubric, and using the rubric to self-assess first drafts. The comparison condition involved generating a list of criteria for an effective story or essay, and reviewing first drafts. Findings include a main effect of treatment and of previous achievement on total writing scores, as well as main effects on scores for the individual criteria on the rubric. The results suggest that using a model to generate criteria for an assignment and using a rubric for self-assessment can help elementary school students produce more effective writing. [source] Factor and item-response analysis DSM-IV criteria for abuse of and dependence on cannabis, cocaine, hallucinogens, sedatives, stimulants and opioidsADDICTION, Issue 6 2007Nathan A. Gillespie ABSTRACT Aims This paper explored, in a population-based sample of males, the factorial structure of criteria for substance abuse and dependence, and compared qualitatively the performance of these criteria across drug categories using item,response theory (IRT). Design Marginal maximum likelihood was used to explore the factor structure of criteria within drug classes, and a two-parameter IRT model was used to determine how the difficulty and discrimination of individual criteria differ across drug classes. Participants A total of 4234 males born from 1940 to 1974 from the population-based Virginia Twin Registry were approached to participate. Measurements DSM-IV drug use, abuse and dependence criteria for cannabis, sedatives, stimulants, cocaine and opiates. Findings For each drug class, the pattern of endorsement of individual criteria for abuse and dependence, conditioned on initiation and use, could be best explained by a single factor. There were large differences in individual item performance across substances in terms of item difficulty and discrimination. Cocaine users were more likely to have encountered legal, social, physical and psychological consequences. Conclusions The DSM-IV abuse and dependence criteria, within each drug class, are not distinct but best described in terms of a single underlying continuum of risk. Because individual criteria performed very differently across substances in IRT analyses, the assumption that these items are measuring equivalent levels of severity or liability with the same discrimination across different substances is unsustainable. Compared to other drugs, cocaine usage is associated with more detrimental effects and negative consequences, whereas the effects of cannabis and hallucinogens appear to be less harmful. Implications for other drug classes are discussed. [source] Prevalence and utility of DSM-IV eating disorder diagnostic criteria among youth,INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EATING DISORDERS, Issue 5 2007Diann M. Ackard PhD Abstract Objective: To examine the prevalence and utility of DSM-IV eating disorder (ED) criteria and anorexia (AN), bulimia (BN), and binge eating disorder (BED) among adolescents. Method: An ethnically diverse population-based sample of 4,746 public middle and high school students completed anthropometric measures and Project EAT survey items. Results: Many youth endorsed body shape perception disturbance (41.5% female; 24.9% male), undue influence of body shape/weight on self-esteem (36.4% female; 23.9% male), and compensatory behavior (9.4% female; 13.5% male). Prevalence among females and males, respectively, was: AN = 0.04%, 0%; BN = 0.3%, 0.2%; BED = 1.9%, 0.3%. Analyses of individual criteria showed high sensitivity and negative predictive values for each disorder and corresponding criteria, low specificity for several AN (27.8%) and BN (32.0%) criteria, and low positive predictive values (0.06,40.2%). Conclusion: Body disparagement and compensatory behaviors indicate eating disturbance, despite low prevalence of EDs. Diagnostic classification may be clinically useful, but is complicated for use in epidemiological populations. © 2007 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 2007. [source] Extending multicriteria decision making by mixing t-norms and OWA operatorsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, Issue 4 2005Ronald R. Yager We consider the problem of multicriteria decision making. We indicate how the evaluation of an alternative involves a determination of the degree to which subsets of criteria are satisfied by the alternative. This calculation is based upon an anding of the satisfactions of the individual criteria in the subsets. We consider the possibility of using t-norms other than the Min for the and operation. Using this generalization we develop an extension of the OWA operators, called the TOWA, which involves a mixing of the t-norm with the OWA operator. We extend this generalization to other aggregation techniques, the Choquet and Sugeno integrals. We introduce the concept of the Power of a t-norm to provide an ordering over the t-norm operators. We look at Power of a number of families of t-norm. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 20: 453,474, 2005. [source] The validation of a rating scale to assess dietitians' use of behaviour change skillsJOURNAL OF HUMAN NUTRITION & DIETETICS, Issue 4 2008G. Bonner Background:, Evidence suggests that education alone is unlikely to elicit dietary-behavioural change (Contento, 1995). Consequently, many dietitians are moving from a traditional advice-giving role to one which utilises ,behaviour change skills' (BCS) in dietary counselling. BCS is an umbrella term used to cover a wide range of skills and techniques drawn from the fields of counselling, motivational interviewing (MI) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). In order to assess the efficacy of this approach, a means of quantifying BCS-use is required. This two-stage study aimed to validate a newly-devised scale to assess dietitians' BCS-use in one-to-one dietary counselling. Methods:, Items for the scale were generated by drawing on the literature, syllabi for training in BCS and its parent disciplines (counselling, MI and CBT), and specialist dietitians. The resulting scale and manual were revised following assessment of content validity by expert panel and piloting. In stage one, 21 dietetic consultations were audiotaped and rated for BCS-use by three BCS-trained dietitians. Inter-rater agreement was calculated using the kappa statistic and intra-class correlation (ICC), to give a ,chance corrected' measure of agreement. Validity was tested using a psychologist's subjective assessment of BCS-use as a proxy ,gold-standard' compared with the dietitians' ratings, again using kappa and ICC. In stage two the scale was further revised before an additional 20 audiotaped consultations were analysed using the same procedure. Ethical approval for the study was given by the appropriate NHS and university research ethics committees. Results:, At stage one, although kappas were fairly poor for agreement on individual criteria, the ICC for overall scores indicated a ,fair' level of agreement, according to Shrout's (1998) classifications: ICC = 0.584 (CI 0.339,0.784). Results for validity were poor with the psychologist frequently rating higher than the dietitians. At stage two, following scale revision, results for inter-rater agreement improved with more criteria showing ,moderate' or ,substantial' agreement. Ten out of the 21 criteria achieved levels of agreement classified as ,fair' or higher for all three rater pairs. The ICC for overall scores improved to indicate ,moderate' agreement: ICC = 0.640 (CI 0.404,0.821). Validity results remained poor. Discussion:, The moderate level of overall inter-rater agreement observed in the revised scale is considered acceptable (Jones, 2006) and indicates this tool is useful. This measure is more relevant to the purpose of the tool than agreement on individual criteria given it is intended to classify consultations overall as low/medium/high use of BCS rather than to examine individual skills. However, in terms of validity, the discrepancy between dietitian and psychologist ratings requires further investigation. It is hypothesized that the dietitians had higher expectations of what a dietitian could achieve in terms of proficiency in BCS and, as such, rated more stringently than the psychologist. Achieving a clear picture of validity usually necessitates a series of assessments (Murphy & Davidshofer, 2005); the BCS rating scale is no exception with further testing required. Conclusions:, The revised scale shows acceptable inter-rater reliability and robust content validity in our study sample. However, quantitative examination of validity gave poor results and further assessment is required to provide a tool with which we can confidently assess dietitians' use of BCS. References, Contento, I., Balch, G.I., Bronner, Y.L. et al. (1995) The effectiveness of nutrition education and implications for nutrition education policy, programs, and research: a review of the research. J. Nutr. Educ.27, 355,364. Jones, J.M. (2006) Nutritional Screening and Assessment Tools. New York: Nova Science Publishers. Murphy, K.R. & Davidshofer, C.O. (2005) Psychological Testing , Principles and Applications, 6th edn. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. Shrout, P. (1998) Measurement reliability and agreement in psychiatry. Stat. Methods Med. Res. 7, 301,317. [source] | ||||||||||