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Psychometric Data (psychometric + data)
Selected AbstractsPsychometric data for teacher judgments regarding the learning behaviors of primary grade childrenPSYCHOLOGY IN THE SCHOOLS, Issue 3 2002Edward G. Crosby The psychometric properties of the Classroom Performance Profile (CPP), a teacher rating scale, were investigated using primary grade children from economically at-risk families. Students were rated as they progressed from kindergarten through third grade. The CPP demonstrated high internal consistency yielding Cronbach alpha coefficients for the total score of at least .96. CPP ratings were correlated with scores from the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery,Revised: Tests of Achievement and the Social Skills Rating System,Teacher Form, Elementary Level. Results suggest that the CPP ratings were positively correlated with measures of academic achievement, academic competence, and social skills, and negatively correlated with problem behaviors. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Predictors of Inflammatory Breast Diseases During Lactation , Results of a Cohort StudyAMERICAN JOURNAL OF REPRODUCTIVE IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Achim Wöckel Problem, Inflammatory breast diseases during lactation are major reasons for early weaning. Method of study, A prospective cohort study was performed to examine the association between stress and inflammatory breast diseases. Psychometric data, cytokine levels in breast milk and blood samples were analysed postpartum (T1). Psychometric data and course of breast feeding were evaluated twelve weeks later (T2). Patients were divided into case- and control-groups (according to the presence of breast diseases). Results, Mothers of the case group (n = 23) were significantly older and showed significantly increased stress levels between T1 and T2 compared with the control group (n = 43). Leucocytes in the postpartum blood count were significantly decreased in the case group. There were no significant differences between groups in the concentrations of Th-1- and Th-2-cytokines in breast milk postpartum. Conclusion, Higher maternal age, postpartum increase in stress perception and low number of leucocytes are associated with a higher incidence of inflammatory breast diseases. Further studies must examine the causality of this effect. [source] Psychological Assessment of Children in Disasters and EmergenciesDISASTERS, Issue 2 2006Victor Balaban Abstract Children and adolescents are among the most vulnerable members of communities affected by disasters and emergencies. There is a tremendous need for a systematic post-disaster psychological assessment of children and adolescents in order to understand better post-traumatic symptomatology in children and to identify populations that require an early intervention. This article reviews psychological instruments that are suitable for screening children and adolescents in emergency and disaster contexts for four different types of post-traumatic responses: post-traumatic stress disorder; depression; anxiety disorders; and behavioural disorders. A description of each instrument and psychometric data are provided, along with recommendations on the most appropriate instruments to be utilised in different emergency environments and a summary of previous post-disaster evaluations that have used each type. In addition to selecting apposite instruments, other important issues that should be taken into account when conducting post-emergency mental health needs appraisals of children and adolescents are discussed. [source] Cross-cultural validation of the Leeds sleep evaluation questionnaire (LSEQ) in insomnia patientsHUMAN PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY: CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL, Issue 8 2003Ricardo Tarrasch Abstract The Leeds sleep evaluation questionnaire (LSEQ) is a standardized self-reporting instrument comprising ten 100,mm visual analogue scales that pertain to the ease of getting to sleep (GTS), quality of sleep (QOS), ease of awakening from sleep (AFS) and alertness and behaviour following wakefulness (BFW). Although the LSEQ has been used in a variety of populations, published psychometric data on insomnia patients are limited. The LSEQ reliability and construct validity was evaluated in 396 French insomnia patients aged 55 years and over, who were treated with placebo (2 weeks) and melatonin (3 weeks). The results supported LSEQ internal consistency, reliability and construct validity with minor differences from those of the original English version. Then the internal consistency of the LSEQ was evaluated in 257 insomnia patients (age 20,80 years) in France and Israel who, following a 1 week placebo baseline, were randomized to placebo or melatonin treatment for 3 weeks. Cronbach's , and Pearson's r correlation coefficients for placebo and drug treatment conditions (p<0.001 for all) supported LSEQ internal consistency in different treatment and age groups and in different languages. It is concluded that the consistency, reliability and validity of the four LSEQ domains allows them to be singled out as independent outcome variables in cross cultural sleep research and clinical practice in adult and elderly patients with insomnia. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Validity and reliability of an inpatient severity of psychiatric illness measureINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 2 2005Bentson H. McFarland Abstract Inpatient psychiatric severity measures are often used but few psychometric data are available. This study evaluated the psychometric properties (reliability and validity) of a measure used to assess severity of psychiatric illness among inpatients. Using the severity measure, minimally trained raters conducted retrospective patient record reviews to assess medical necessity for psychiatric hospitalization. The data analysis compared 135 civilly committed psychiatric inpatients with a heterogeneous group of 248 psychiatric inpatients at a general hospital. The severity measure showed acceptable inter-rater reliability in both populations. Two-way analysis of variance showed that the intra-class correlation coefficient for the total score was 0.65 for general hospital subjects and 0.63 for civilly committed subjects. Differences in mean scores were substantial (15 out of a possible 75 points for general hospital subjects versus 42 for civilly committed subjects, Mann-Whitney U = 562, p < 0.001). As expected, all civilly committed subjects were well above admission cut-off score of 12, versus only 64% of the general hospital patients. The measure is appropriate for retrospective severity assessment and may also be useful for pre-admission screening. Copyright © 2005 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source] Validation of the Chinese version of the MacNew Heart Disease Health-related Quality of Life questionnaireJOURNAL OF EVALUATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 2 2008Doris S. F. Yu RN PhD Abstract Rationale, Patient-reported outcomes such as health-related quality of life (HRQL) describe or characterize what patients have experienced as a result of their health care. However, treatment outcome comparisons among different pure or mixed populations of patients with myocardial infarction, angina or heart failure cannot be made using existing coronary heart disease (CHD)-specific HRQL instruments. Aims and objectives, The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the MacNew in a cohort of Hong Kong patients diagnosed with CHD. Methods, Chinese translations of a CHD-specific HRQL instrument, the MacNew Heart Disease HRQL questionnaire (MacNew), the Short-form 36 Health Survey and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were administered to 365 Chinese-speaking patients with CHD at baseline and again 3 months later (n = 363). The Medical Outcomes Trust Scientific Advisory Committee criteria were used to examine the psychometric properties of the Chinese MacNew Heart Disease HRQL questionnaire. Results, The results warrant recommending the use of the MacNew as an outcome measure to enhance treatment evaluation in Chinese patients with CHD and a diagnosis of myocardial infarction, angina or heart failure, substantiating previous psychometric data on the MacNew in a number of different studies in patients speaking seven different languages. Conclusion, The MacNew questionnaire may have value as a core CHD questionnaire for treatment outcome comparisons among pure or mixed populations of patients with myocardial infarction, angina or heart failure. [source] Acamprosate: Recent Findings and Future Research DirectionsALCOHOLISM, Issue 7 2008Karl Mann This article explores the mechanisms of action and the potential responder profile of acamprosate, a compound efficacious in relapse prevention of alcoholism. New evidence at the molecular and cellular level suggests that acamprosate attenuates hyper-glutamatergic states that occur during early abstinence and involves iono (NMDA)- and metabotrotropic (mGluR5) glutamate receptors along with augmented intracellular calcium release and electrophysiological changes. Thus mutant mice with enhanced glutamate levels exhibit higher alcohol consumption than wild type mice and respond better to acamprosate, demonstrating that acamprosate acts mainly on a hyper-glutamatergic system. This mode of action further suggests that acamprosate exhibits neuroprotective properties. In rats, cue-induced reinstatement behavior is significantly reduced by acamprosate treatment whereas cue-induced craving responses in alcohol-dependent patients seem not to be affected by this treatment. An ongoing study ("Project Predict") defines specific responder profiles for an individualized use of acamprosate and naltrexone. Neurophysiological as well as psychometric data are used to define 2 groups of patients: "reward cravers" and "relief cravers". While naltrexone should work better in the first group, acamprosate is hypothesized to be efficacious in the latter where withdrawal associated and/or cue induced hyper-glutamatergic states are thought to trigger relapse. Further research should target the definition of subgroups applying endophenotypic approaches, e.g. by detecting a hyperglutamatergic syndrome using MR spectroscopy. [source] Generalisability in unbalanced, uncrossed and fully nested studiesMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 4 2010Ajit Narayanan Medical Education 2010: 44: 367,378 Objectives, There is growing interest in multi-source, multi-level feedback for measuring the performance of health care professionals. However, data are often unbalanced (e.g. there are different numbers of raters for each doctor), uncrossed (e.g. raters rate the doctor on only one occasion) and fully nested (e.g. raters for a doctor are unique to that doctor). Estimating the true score variance among doctors under these circumstances is proving a challenge. Methods, Extensions to reliability and generalisability (G) formulae are introduced to handle unbalanced, uncrossed and fully nested data to produce coefficients that take into account variances among raters, ratees and questionnaire items at different levels of analysis. Decision (D) formulae are developed to handle predictions of minimum numbers of raters for unbalanced studies. An artificial dataset and two real-world datasets consisting of colleague and patient evaluations of doctors are analysed to demonstrate the feasibility and relevance of the formulae. Another independent dataset is used for validating D predictions of G coefficients for varying numbers of raters against actual G coefficients. A combined G coefficient formula is introduced for estimating multi-sourced reliability. Results, The results from the formulae indicate that it is possible to estimate reliability and generalisability in unbalanced, fully nested and uncrossed studies, and to identify extraneous variance that can be removed to estimate true score variance among doctors. The validation results show that it is possible to predict the minimum numbers of raters even if the study is unbalanced. Discussion, Calculating G and D coefficients for psychometric data based on feedback on doctor performance is possible even when the data are unbalanced, uncrossed and fully nested, provided that: (i) variances are separated at the rater and ratee levels, and (ii) the average number of raters per ratee is used in calculations for deriving these coefficients. [source] Fatigue rating scales critique and recommendations by the Movement Disorders Society task force on rating scales for Parkinson's disease,MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 7 2010Joseph H. Friedman MD Abstract Fatigue has been shown to be a consistent and common problem in Parkinson's disease (PD) in multiple countries and cultures. It is one of the most disabling of all symptoms, including motor dysfunction, and appears early, often predating the onset of motor symptoms. Several studies of the epidemiology of fatigue have been published, often using different scales, but few on treatment. The Movement Disorder Society (MDS) commissioned a task force to assess available clinical rating scales, critique their psychometric properties, summarize their clinical properties, and evaluate the evidence in support of their use in clinical studies in PD. Six clinical researchers reviewed all studies published in peer reviewed journals of fatigue in PD, evaluated the scales' previous use, performance parameters, and quality of validation data, if available. Scales were rated according to criteria provided by the MDS. A scale was "recommended" if it has been used in clinical studies beyond the group that developed it, has been used in PD and psychometric studies have established that it is a valid, reliable and sensitive to change in people with PD. Requiring a scale to have demonstrated sensitivity to change in PD specifically rather than in other areas in order to attain a rating of "recommended" differs from the use of this term in previous MDS task force scale reviews. "Suggested" scales failed to meet all the criteria of a "recommended" scale, usually the criterion of sensitivity to change in a study of PD. Scales were "listed" if they had been used in PD studies but had little or no psychometric data to assess. Some scales could be used both to screen for fatigue as well as to assess fatigue severity, but some were only used to assess severity. The Fatigue Severity Scale was "recommended" for both screening and severity rating. The Fatigue Assessment Inventory, an expanded version of the Fatigue severity Scale, is "suggested" for both screening and severity. The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue was "recommended" for screening and "suggested" for severity. The Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory was "suggested" for screening and "recommended" for severity. The Parkinson Fatigue Scale was "recommended" for screening and "suggested" for severity rating. The Fatigue Severity Inventory was "listed" for both screening and severity. The Fatigue Impact Scale for Daily Use, an adaptation of the Fatigue Impact Scale was "listed" for screening and "suggested" for severity. Visual Analogue and Global Impression Scales are both "listed" for screening and severity. The committee concluded that current scales are adequate for fatigue studies in PD but that studies on sensitivity and specificity of the scales are still needed. © 2010 Movement Disorder Society [source] | |||||||||||||