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Retest Stability (retest + stability)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	40%

Selected Abstracts

Measurement of informal care: an empirical study into the valid measurement of time spent on informal caregiving

HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 5 2006
Bernard van den Berg
Abstract The incorporation of informal care into economic evaluations of health care is troublesome. The debate focuses on the valuation of time spent on informal caregiving, while time measurement, a related and may be even a more important issue, tends to be neglected. Valid time measurement is a necessary condition for the valuation of informal care. In this paper, two methods of time measurement are compared and evaluated: the diary, which is considered the gold standard, and the recall method, which is applied more often. The main objective of this comparison is to explore the validity of the measurement of time spent on providing informal care. In addition, this paper gives empirical evidence regarding the measurement of joint production and the separation between ,normal' housework and additional housework due to the care demands of the care recipients. Finally, the test,retest stability for the recall method is assessed. A total of 199 persons giving informal care to a heterogeneous population of care recipients completed the diary and the recall questionnaire. Corrected for joint production, informal caregivers spent almost 5.8 h a day on providing informal care. If one assumes that respondents take into account joint production when completing the recall questionnaire, the recall method is a valid instrument to measure time spent on providing informal care compared to the diary. Otherwise, the recall method is likely to overestimate the time spent on providing informal care. Moreover, the recall method proves to be unstable over time. This could be due to learning effects from completing a diary. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Balance assessment in patients with peripheral arthritis: applicability and reliability of some clinical assessments

PHYSIOTHERAPY RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL, Issue 4 2001
Anne Marie Norén MSc PT
Abstract Background and Purpose Many individuals with peripheral arthritis blame decreased balance as a reason for limiting their physical activity. It is therefore important to assess and improve their balance. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the applicability and the reliability of some clinical balance assessment methods for people with arthritis and various degrees of disability. Method To examine the applicability and reliability of balance tests, 65, 19 and 22 patients, respectively, with peripheral arthritis participated in sub-studies investigating the applicability, inter-rater reliability and test,retest stability of the following methods: walking on a soft surface, walking backwards, walking in a figure-of-eight, the balance sub-scale of the Index of Muscle Function (IMF), the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test and the Berg balance scale. Results For patients with moderate disability walking in a figure-of-eight was found to be the most discriminative test, whereas ceiling effects were found for the Berg balance scale. Patients with severe disability were generally able to perform the TUG test and the Berg Balance Scale without ceiling effects. Inter-rater reliability was moderate to high and test,retest stability was satisfactory for all methods assessed. Conclusions Applicable and reliable assessment methods of clinical balance were identified for individuals with moderate and severe disability, whereas more discriminative tests need to be developed for those with limited disability. Copyright © 2001 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source]

Stability, consistency, and heritability of electrodermal response lability in middle-aged male twins

PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 4 2004
Andrew Crider
Abstract We examined individual differences in nonspecific electrodermal response (EDR) lability in terms of retest stability, cross-situational consistency, and heritability in a sample of 345 adult monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs. We also examined the phenotypic and genetic relationships between EDR lability and speed of habituation of the specific EDR to a nonsignal stimulus. Individual variation in EDR lability showed substantial retest stability and cross-situational consistency and also predicted resistance to specific EDR habituation. Structural equation modeling showed that the covariation among EDR lability measures and resistance to specific EDR habituation operated through a single latent phenotype, which was influenced in approximately equal measure by genetic and unique environmental factors. We discuss these findings in terms of an information processing account of individual differences in phasic EDR activation. [source]

The temporal stability of electrodermal variables over a one-year period in patients with recent-onset schizophrenia and in normal subjects

PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 2 2002
Anne M. Schell
Test,retest stability of electrodermal (EDA) variables indexing both general autonomic arousal (e.g., skin conductance level, number of nonspecific skin conductance responses) and attention to external stimuli (e.g., number of skin conductance orienting responses, electrodermal responder/nonresponder status) was assessed in 71 young, recent-onset schizophrenia patients and 36 demographically matched normal subjects. Significant stability over a 1-year period was found for both patients and normal subjects for most EDA variables and for responder/nonresponder status, with test,retest correlations generally being higher for normal subjects. The lower reliability for patients was not attributable to symptomatic fluctuations during the follow-up period and may reflect poorer arousal regulation among the patients. Among measures of responding to nontask stimuli, a simple count of the number of orienting responses occurring was more stable than was a traditional trials-to-habituation measure. [source]