Modeling of fibrous preforms for CVI fabrication
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Chiang, D.Y.; Starr, T.L. [Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
1996-08-01
The purpose of this program is to alter the existing CVI model to account for configuration changes made to ORNL`s tubular forced-flow, thermal gradient CVI. Once these changes are made, the optimal parameters for this configuration are determined to produce high density, gas-tight tubes with short process time. Experimental validation could not be performed due to lack of experimental data because of problems encountered in running the new configuration. Alternative flow patterns show the promise of simpler fixturing and comparable results.
Yu, H H; Bi, X; Liu, Y Y
2017-08-10
Objective: To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version on comprehensive scores for financial toxicity (COST), based on the patient-reported outcome measures. Methods: A total of 118 cancer patients were face-to-face interviewed by well-trained investigators. Cronbach's α and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to evaluate reliability. Content validity index (CVI) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were used to evaluate the content validity and construct validity, respectively. Results: The Cronbach's α coefficient appeared as 0.889 for the whole questionnaire, with the results of test-retest were between 0.77 and 0.98. Scale-content validity index (S-CVI) appeared as 0.82, with item-content validity index (I-CVI) between 0.83 and 1.00. Two components were extracted from the Exploratory factor analysis, with cumulative rate as 68.04% and loading>0.60 on every item. Conclusion: The Chinese version of COST scale showed high reliability and good validity, thus can be applied to assess the financial situation in cancer patients.
Xu, Xianghua; Liu, Xiangyu; Ou, Meijun; Xie, Chanjuan; Chen, Yongyi
2018-01-01
Objective: To translate the English work-related acceptance and action questionnaire (WAAQ), make cross-cultural adaptations, and examine its psychometric properties when used by Chinese oncology nurses. Methods: After translation, the psychometric properties of the Chinese WAAQ were analyzed among 417 nurses, and content validity was determined by six experts. Results: Item-level content validity index (CVI) values were between 0.83 and 1.00; scale-level CVI/universal agreement (S-CVI/UA) an...
Instrument for assessing the quality of mobile emergency pre-hospital care: content validation
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Rodrigo Assis Neves Dantas
2015-06-01
Full Text Available OBJECTIVES To validate an instrument to assess quality of mobile emergency pre-hospital care. METHOD A methodological study where 20 professionals gave their opinions on the items of the proposed instrument. The analysis was performed using Kappa test (K and Content Validity Index (CVI, considering K> 0.80 and CVI ≥ 0.80. RESULTS Three items were excluded from the instrument: Professional Compensation; Job Satisfaction and Services Performed. Items that obtained adequate K and CVI indexes and remained in the instrument were: ambulance conservation status; physical structure; comfort in the ambulance; availability of material resources; user/staff safety; continuous learning; safety demonstrated by the team; access; welcoming; humanization; response time; costumer privacy; guidelines on care; relationship between professionals and costumers; opportunity for costumers to make complaints and multiprofessional conjunction/actuation. CONCLUSION The instrument to assess quality of care has been validated and may contribute to the evaluation of pre-hospital care in mobile emergency services.
Xu, Xianghua; Liu, Xiangyu; Ou, Meijun; Xie, Chanjuan; Chen, Yongyi
2018-01-01
To translate the English work-related acceptance and action questionnaire (WAAQ), make cross-cultural adaptations, and examine its psychometric properties when used by Chinese oncology nurses. After translation, the psychometric properties of the Chinese WAAQ were analyzed among 417 nurses, and content validity was determined by six experts. Item-level content validity index (CVI) values were between 0.83 and 1.00; scale-level CVI/universal agreement (S-CVI/UA) and S-CVI/average were 0.86 and 0.98, respectively, which implicated a good content validity. The correlation of the Chinese WAAQ with AAQ-II ( r s = -0.247, P work engagement scale (UWES) (0.439, flexibility in Chinese oncology nurses.
Validity of the Danish Prostate Symptom Score questionnaire in stroke
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Tibaek, S.; Dehlendorff, Christian
2009-01-01
Objective – To determine the content and face validity of the Danish Prostate Symptom Score (DAN-PSS-1) questionnaire in stroke patients. Materials and methods – Content validity was judged among an expert panel in neuro-urology. The judgement was measured by the content validity index (CVI). Face...... validity was indicated in a clinical sample of 482 stroke patients in a hospital-based, cross-sectional survey. Results – I-CVI was rated >0.78 (range 0.94–1.00) for 75% of symptom and bother items corresponding to adequate content validity. The expert panel rated the entire DAN-PSS-1 questionnaire highly...... questionnaire appears to be content and face valid for measuring lower urinary tract symptoms after stroke....
Ceramic matrix composites by microwave assisted CVI
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Currier, R.P.; Devlin, D.J.
1993-01-01
Chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) processes for producing continuously reinforced ceramic composites are reviewed. Potential advantages of microwave assisted CVI are noted and numerical studies of microwave assisted CVI are reviewed. The models predict inverted thermal gradients in fibrous ceramic preforms subjected to microwave radiation and suggest processing strategies for achieving uniformly dense composites. Comparisons are made to experimental results on silicon-based composite systems. The role played by the relative ability of fiber and matrix to dissipate microwave energy is noted. Results suggest that microwave induced inverted gradients can be exploited to promote inside-out densification. 10 refs., 2 figs
Bervoets, Liene; Van Noten, Caroline; Van Roosbroeck, Sofie; Hansen, Dominique; Van Hoorenbeeck, Kim; Verheyen, Els; Van Hal, Guido; Vankerckhoven, Vanessa
2014-01-01
Background This study was designed to validate the Dutch Physical Activity Questionnaires for Children (PAQ-C) and Adolescents (PAQ-A). Methods After adjustment of the original Canadian PAQ-C and PAQ-A (i.e. translation/back-translation and evaluation by expert committee), content validity of both PAQs was assessed and calculated using item-level (I-CVI) and scale-level (S-CVI) content validity indexes. Inter-item and inter-rater reliability of 196 PAQ-C and 95 PAQ-A filled in by both childre...
Characterization of CVI densification of ceramic composites
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Starr, T.L.; Stock, S.R.; Lee, S. [Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
1995-05-01
Ceramic matrix composites promise higher operating temperature and better thermodynamic efficiency in many enregy conversion systems. In particular, composites fabricated by the chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) process have excellent mechanical properties and, using the forced flow-thermal gradient variation, good processing economics in small scale demonstrations. Scale-up to larger, more complex shapes requires understanding of gas flow through the fiber preform and of the relationship between fiber architecture and densification behavior. This understanding is needed for design of preforms for optimum infiltration. The objective of this research is to observe the deposition of matrix material in the pores of a ceramic fiber preform at various stages of the CVI process. These observations allow us to relate local deposition rates in various regions of the composite to the connectivity of the surrounding network of porosity and to better model the relationship between gas transport and fiber architecture in CVI preforms. Our observation of the CVI process utilizes high resolution X-ray tomographic microscopy (XTM) in collaboration with Dr. John Kinney at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with repeated imaging of a small preform specimens after various processing times. We use these images to determine geometry and dimensions of channels between and through layers in cloth lay-up preform during CVI densification and relate these to a transport model.
[Reliability and validity of the Chinese version on Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test].
Zhang, C; Yang, G P; Li, Z; Li, X N; Li, Y; Hu, J; Zhang, F Y; Zhang, X J
2017-08-10
Objective: To assess the reliability and validity of the Chinese version on Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) among medical students in China and to provide correct way of application on the recommended scales. Methods: An E-questionnaire was developed and sent to medical students in five different colleges. Students were all active volunteers to accept the testings. Cronbach's α and split-half reliability were calculated to evaluate the reliability of AUDIT while content, contract, discriminant and convergent validity were performed to measure the validity of the scales. Results: The overall Cronbach's α of AUDIT was 0.782 and the split-half reliability was 0.711. Data showed that the domain Cronbach's α and split-half reliability were 0.796 and 0.794 for hazardous alcohol use, 0.561 and 0.623 for dependence symptoms, and 0.647 and 0.640 for harmful alcohol use. Results also showed that the content validity index on the levels of items I-CVI) were from 0.83 to 1.00, the content validity index of scale level (S-CVI/UA) was 0.90, content validity index of average scale level (S-CVI/Ave) was 0.99 and the content validity ratios (CVR) were from 0.80 to 1.00. The simplified version of AUDIT supported a presupposed three-factor structure which could explain 61.175% of the total variance revealed through exploratory factor analysis. AUDIT semed to have good convergent and discriminant validity, with the success rate of calibration experiment as 100%. Conclusion: AUDIT showed good reliability and validity among medical students in China thus worth for promotion on its use.
Ahmad, Rifandi Raditya; Fuad, Muhammad
2018-02-01
Some functions of mangrove areas in coastal ecosystems as a green belt, because mangrove serves as a protector of the beach from the sea waves, as a good habitat for coastal biota and for nutrition supply. Decreased condition or degradation of mangrove habitat caused by several oceanographic factors. Mangrove habitats have some specific characteristics such as salinity, tides, and muddy substrates. Considering the role of mangrove area is very important, it is necessary to study about the potential of mangrove habitat so that the habitat level of mangrove habitat in the east coast of Semarang city is known. The purpose of this research is to obtain an index and condition of habitat of mangrove habitat at location of research based on tidal, salinity, substrate type, coastline change. Observation by using purposive method and calculation of habitat index value of mangrove habitat using CVI (Coastal Vulnerability Index) method with scores divided into 3 groups namely low, medium and high. The results showed that there is a zone of research belonging to the medium vulnerability category with the most influential variables is because there is abrasion that sweeps the mangrove substrate. Trimulyo mangrove habitat has high vulnerable variable of tidal frequency, then based on value variable Salinity is categorized as low vulnerability, whereas for mangrove habitat vulnerability based on variable type of substrate belong to low and medium vulnerability category. The CVI values of mangrove habitats divided into zones 1; 2; and 3 were found to varying values of 1.54; 3.79; 1.09, it indicates that there is a zone with the vulnerability of mangrove habitat at the study site belonging to low and medium vulnerability category.
Development and initial validity of the in-hand manipulation assessment.
Klymenko, Gabrielle; Liu, Karen P Y; Bissett, Michelle; Fong, Kenneth N K; Welage, Nandana; Wong, Rebecca S M
2018-04-01
A review of the literature related to in-hand manipulation (IHM) revealed that there is no assessment which specifically measures this construct in the adult population. This study reports the face and content validity of an IHM assessment for adults with impaired hand function based on expert opinion. The definition of IHM skills, assessment tasks and scoring methods identified from literature was discussed in a focus group (n = 4) to establish face validity. An expert panel (n = 16) reviewed the content validity of the proposed assessment; evaluating the representativeness and relevance of encompassing the IHM skills in the proposed assessment tasks, the clarity and importance to daily life of the task and the clarity and applicability to clinical environment of the scoring method. The content validity was calculated using the content validity index for both the individual task and all tasks together (I-CVI and S-CVI). Feedback was incorporated to create the assessment. The focus group members agreed to include 10 assessment tasks that covered all IHM skills. In the expert panel review, all tasks received an I-CVI above 0.78 and S-CVI above 0.80 in representativeness and relevance ratings, representing good content validity. With the comments from the expert panel, tasks were modified to improve the clarity and importance to daily life. A four-point Likert scale was identified for assessing both the completion of the assessment tasks and the quality of IHM skills within the task performance. Face and content validity were established in this new IHM assessment. Further studies to examine psychometric properties and use within clinical practice are recommended. © 2018 Occupational Therapy Australia.
Development of Creative Behavior Observation Form: A Study on Validity and Reliability
Dere, Zeynep; Ömeroglu, Esra
2018-01-01
This study, Creative Behavior Observation Form was developed to assess creativity of the children. While the study group on the reliability and validity of Creative Behavior Observation Form was being developed, 257 children in total who were at the ages of 5-6 were used as samples with stratified sampling method. Content Validity Index (CVI) and…
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Helena Larsson
Full Text Available The objective of this study was to examine the content validity of commonly used muscle performance tests in military personnel and to investigate the reliability of a proposed test battery. For the content validity investigation, thirty selected tests were those described in the literature and/or commonly used in the Nordic and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO countries. Nine selected experts rated, on a four-point Likert scale, the relevance of these tests in relation to five different work tasks: lifting, carrying equipment on the body or in the hands, climbing, and digging. Thereafter, a content validity index (CVI was calculated for each work task. The result showed excellent CVI (≥0.78 for sixteen tests, which comprised of one or more of the military work tasks. Three of the tests; the functional lower-limb loading test (the Ranger test, dead-lift with kettlebells, and back extension, showed excellent content validity for four of the work tasks. For the development of a new muscle strength/endurance test battery, these three tests were further supplemented with two other tests, namely, the chins and side-bridge test. The inter-rater reliability was high (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC2,1 0.99 for all five tests. The intra-rater reliability was good to high (ICC3,1 0.82-0.96 with an acceptable standard error of mean (SEM, except for the side-bridge test (SEM%>15. Thus, the final suggested test battery for a valid and reliable evaluation of soldiers' muscle performance comprised the following four tests; the Ranger test, dead-lift with kettlebells, chins, and back extension test. The criterion-related validity of the test battery should be further evaluated for soldiers exposed to varying physical workload.
Accumulation of Content Validation Evidence for the Critical Thinking Self-Assessment Scale.
Nair, Girija Gopinathan; Hellsten, Laurie-Ann M; Stamler, Lynnette Leeseberg
2017-04-01
Critical thinking skills (CTS) are essential for nurses; assessing students' acquisition of these skills is a mandate of nursing curricula. This study aimed to develop a self-assessment instrument of critical thinking skills (Critical Thinking Self-Assessment Scale [CTSAS]) for students' self-monitoring. An initial pool of 196 items across 6 core cognitive skills and 16 subskills were generated using the American Philosophical Association definition of CTS. Experts' content review of the items and their ratings provided evidence of content relevance using the item-level content validity index (I-CVI) and Aiken's content validity coefficient (VIk). 115 items were retained (range of I-CVI values = .70 to .94 and range of VIk values = .69-.95; significant at pself-assessment purposes.
Hajro, Tarik; Ramić, Ibrahim; Alajbegović, Azra
2004-01-01
In the paper is shown the case of the patient of the CVI life, age of 40 years. It was about the vascular lesion left of the temperoparienal MRA shew the amputation of amputation of the temporal branches art. cerebri medii from the left side. The patient 6 years before she suffered of CVI infract myocard after which she recovered well. After the performed neurologic and physiatric treatment it came to the strength of the rude motor strength with the normalization of the speech.
Modeling of Thermal Conductivity of CVI-Densified Composites at Fiber and Bundle Level
Guan, Kang; Wu, Jianqing; Cheng, Laifei
2016-01-01
The evolution of the thermal conductivities of the unidirectional, 2D woven and 3D braided composites during the CVI (chemical vapor infiltration) process have been numerically studied by the finite element method. The results show that the dual-scale pores play an important role in the thermal conduction of the CVI-densified composites. According to our results, two thermal conductivity models applicable for CVI process have been developed. The sensitivity analysis demonstrates the parameter with the most influence on the CVI-densified composites’ thermal conductivity is matrix cracking’s density, followed by volume fraction of the bundle and thermal conductance of the matrix cracks, finally by micro-porosity inside the bundles and macro-porosity between the bundles. The obtained results are well consistent with the reported data, thus our models could be useful for designing the processing and performance of the CVI-densified composites. PMID:28774130
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Xianghua Xu
2018-01-01
Full Text Available Objective: To translate the English work-related acceptance and action questionnaire (WAAQ, make cross-cultural adaptations, and examine its psychometric properties when used by Chinese oncology nurses. Methods: After translation, the psychometric properties of the Chinese WAAQ were analyzed among 417 nurses, and content validity was determined by six experts. Results: Item-level content validity index (CVI values were between 0.83 and 1.00; scale-level CVI/universal agreement (S-CVI/UA and S-CVI/average were 0.86 and 0.98, respectively, which implicated a good content validity. The correlation of the Chinese WAAQ with AAQ-II (rs= −0.247, P < 0.001 suggested criterion validity, and those with General Health Questionnaire-12 (−0.250, <0.001 and general self-efficacy scale (0.491, <0.001 and Utrecht work engagement scale (UWES (0.439, <0.001 suggested convergent validity. Exploratory factor analysis identified a seven-item, one-factor structure of WAAQ. The Chinese version of WAAQ had high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.920, with an item-total correlation coefficient of 0.702–0.828 (P < 0.05, split-half reliability of 0.933, and test-retest reliability of 0.772. Conclusions: The Chinese WAAQ is a reliable and valid tool for assessing psychological flexibility in Chinese oncology nurses.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Mohammad Zakaria Pezeshki
2017-06-01
Full Text Available This study was done to evaluate the validity and reliability of women’s reproductive history questionnaire which will be used in Azar Cohort study; a cohort that is conducted by Tabriz University of Medical Science in Shabestar county for identifying risk factors of no communicable diseases. Content and face validity were evaluated by ten experts in the field and quantified as content validity index (CVI and content validity ratio (CVR. To assess the reliability, using test-retest approach, kappa statistic was calculated for categorical variables and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC was used for the quantitative items. The calculated CVI and CVR were 0.91and 0.94, respectively. Reliability for all items was high. The ICC was 0.99 and kappa statistic was equal to 1. The final version of questionnaire was redesigned in 26 items with 7 subscales.
Caruso, Rosario; Arrigoni, Cristina; Groppelli, Katia; Magon, Arianna; Dellafiore, Federica; Pittella, Francesco; Grugnetti, Anna Maria; Chessa, Massimo; Yorke, Janelle
2018-01-16
Dyspnoea-12 is a valid and reliable scale to assess dyspneic symptom, considering its severity, physical and emotional components. However, it is not available in Italian version due to it was not yet translated and validated. For this reason, the aim of this study was to develop an Italian version Dyspnoea-12, providing a cultural and linguistic validation, supported by the quantitative and qualitative content validity. This was a methodological study, divided into two phases: phase one is related to the cultural and linguistic validation, phase two is related to test the quantitative and qualitative content validity. Linguistic validation followed a standardized translation process. Quantitative content validity was assessed computing content validity ratio (CVR) and index (I-CVIs and S-CVI) from expert panellists response. Qualitative content validity was assessed by the narrative analysis on the answers of three open-ended questions to the expert panellists, aimed to investigate the clarity and the pertinence of the Italian items. The translation process found a good agreement in considering clear the items in both the six involved bilingual expert translators and among the ten voluntary involved patients. CVR, I-CVIs and S-CVI were satisfactory for all the translated items. This study has represented a pivotal step to use Dyspnoea-12 amongst Italian patients. Future researches are needed to deeply investigate the Italian version of Dyspnoea-12 construct validity and its reliability, and to describe how dyspnoea components (i.e. physical and emotional) impact the life of patients with cardiorespiratory diseases.
Cf/C composites: correlation between CVI process parameters and Pyrolytic Carbon microstructure
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F. Burgio
2014-10-01
Full Text Available Chemical Vapour Infiltration (CVI technique has been long used to produce carbon/carbon composites. The Pyrolytic Carbon (Py-C matrix infiltrated by CVI could have different microstructures, i.e. Rough Laminar (RL, Smooth Laminar (SL or Isotropic (ISO. These matrix microstructures, characterized by different properties, influence the mechanical behaviour of the obtained composites. Tailoring the process parameters, it is possible to direct the infiltration towards a specific Py-C type. However, the factors, influencing the production of a specific matrix microstructure, are numerous and interconnected, e.g. temperature, pressure, flow rates etc. Due to the complexity of the physical and chemical phenomena involved in CVI process, up to now it has not been possible to obtain a general correlation between CVI process parameters and Py–C microstructure. This study is aimed at investigating the relationship between infiltration temperature and the microstructure of obtained Py-C, for a pilot - sized CVI/CVD reactor. Fixing the other process parameters and varying only the temperature, from 1100°C to 1300°C, the Py-C infiltration was performed on fibrous preforms. Polarized light microscopy, with quantitative measurements of average extinction angle (Ae, and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the obtained Py-C microstructures
Cf/C composites: correlation between CVI process parameters and Pyrolytic Carbon microstructure
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
F. Burgio
2014-10-01
Full Text Available Chemical Vapour Infiltration (CVI technique has been long used to produce carbon/carbon composites. The Pyrolytic Carbon (Py-C matrix infiltrated by CVI could have different microstructures, i.e. Rough Laminar (RL, Smooth Laminar (SL or Isotropic (ISO. These matrix microstructures, characterized by different properties, influence the mechanical behaviour of the obtained composites. Tailoring the process parameters, it is possible to direct the infiltration towards a specific Py-C type. However, the factors, influencing the production of a specific matrix microstructure, are numerous and interconnected, e.g. temperature, pressure, flow rates etc. Due to the complexity of the physical and chemical phenomena involved in CVI process, up to now it has not been possible to obtain a general correlation between CVI process parameters and Py–C microstructure. This study is aimed at investigating the relationship between infiltration temperature and the microstructure of obtained Py-C, for a pilot - sized CVI/CVD reactor. Fixing the other process parameters and varying only the temperature, from 1100°C to 1300°C, the Py-C infiltration was performed on fibrous preforms. Polarized light microscopy, with quantitative measurements of average extinction angle (Ae, and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the obtained Py-C microstructures.
Genetic and Developmental Basis for Increased Leaf Thickness in the Arabidopsis Cvi Ecotype
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Viktoriya Coneva
2018-03-01
Full Text Available Leaf thickness is a quantitative trait that is associated with the ability of plants to occupy dry, high irradiance environments. Despite its importance, leaf thickness has been difficult to measure reproducibly, which has impeded progress in understanding its genetic basis, and the associated anatomical mechanisms that pattern it. Here, we used a custom-built dual confocal profilometer device to measure leaf thickness in the Arabidopsis Ler × Cvi recombinant inbred line population and found statistical support for four quantitative trait loci (QTL associated with this trait. We used publically available data for a suite of traits relating to flowering time and growth responses to light quality and show that three of the four leaf thickness QTL coincide with QTL for at least one of these traits. Using time course photography, we quantified the relative growth rate and the pace of rosette leaf initiation in the Ler and Cvi ecotypes. We found that Cvi rosettes grow slower than Ler, both in terms of the rate of leaf initiation and the overall rate of biomass accumulation. Collectively, these data suggest that leaf thickness is tightly linked with physiological status and may present a tradeoff between the ability to withstand stress and rapid vegetative growth. To understand the anatomical basis of leaf thickness, we compared cross-sections of Cvi and Ler leaves and show that Cvi palisade mesophyll cells elongate anisotropically contributing to leaf thickness. Flow cytometry of whole leaves show that endopolyploidy accompanies thicker leaves in Cvi. Overall, our data suggest that mechanistically, an altered schedule of cellular events affecting endopolyploidy and increasing palisade mesophyll cell length contribute to increase of leaf thickness in Cvi. Ultimately, knowledge of the genetic basis and developmental trajectory leaf thickness will inform the mechanisms by which natural selection acts to produce variation in this adaptive trait.
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Soheila HAFEZI
2010-07-01
Full Text Available The web is playing a central role in distance education. The word “usability” is usually synonymous with functionality of the system for the user. Also, usability of a website is defined as something that can be used by a specific group of people to carry out specific objectives in an effective way, with efficiency and satisfaction. There are some useful usability evaluation instruments of websites in other languages. The aim of this study was to develop a Persian instrument to evaluate usability in distance education websites. This study was a methodology research design. According to review literature, the main structure of evaluation instrument for usability designed. It was consisted of forty-eight items divided in 8 domains. Each domain was composed of closed multiple choice questions in which an ordinal scale with three values is used (always, sometimes and never that measures the opinion of the evaluator about the frequency of visiting each item selected in the website. After that, we used face validity method. It refers to what instrument appears superficially to measure. At the final step, we omputed a formal content validity index (CVI across the experts’ ratings of each item’s relevance. The content validity index was measured by set of ten experts, who evaluated each item individually. According to CVI, the final version of instrument was composed of 40 questions divided into 8 domains: Navigation, Functionality, Feedback, Control, Language, Consistency, Error prevention and correction, and Visual clarity.CVI score for each phrase was more than 0.75. According to our findings, this instrument has enough validity to apply in evaluation usability of educational websites of Persian distance education websites. However, instrument reliability can be measured in further study.
Transitioning from ATLAS to LabWindows/CVI overcoming the obstacles
Timcho, T J
1999-01-01
As the DoD eyes a move toward the use of Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) software development environments, such as National instruments LabWindowsTM/CVI, for the generation of Test Program Sets (TPS), a few obstacles still remain. In particular the need to handle resource and path allocation, the ability to describe UUT behavior in terms of signals, and the use of simple, multi-action verbs are at a minimum, necessary. By design, LabWindows/CVI, a test-oriented superset of the ANSI C specification, grants the test engineer full control of all aspects of the TPS design process, including full instrument and path control. However, this methodology also has ifs drawbacks; the engineer is forced to define and control all actions, assets and paths explicitly. As the complexity of today's test programs increase, the need to simplify implementation is imperative to reduce TPS cost and complexity. This paper describes a method to simplify the implementation of CVI and how it is currently used with commercially avail...
de Alwis, Manudul Pahansen; Lo Martire, Riccardo; Äng, Björn O; Garme, Karl
2016-06-20
High-performance marine craft crews are susceptible to various adverse health conditions caused by multiple interactive factors. However, there are limited epidemiological data available for assessment of working conditions at sea. Although questionnaire surveys are widely used for identifying exposures, outcomes and associated risks with high accuracy levels, until now, no validated epidemiological tool exists for surveying occupational health and performance in these populations. To develop and validate a web-based questionnaire for epidemiological assessment of occupational and individual risk exposure pertinent to the musculoskeletal health conditions and performance in high-performance marine craft populations. A questionnaire for investigating the association between work-related exposure, performance and health was initially developed by a consensus panel under four subdomains, viz. demography, lifestyle, work exposure and health and systematically validated by expert raters for content relevance and simplicity in three consecutive stages, each iteratively followed by a consensus panel revision. The item content validity index (I-CVI) was determined as the proportion of experts giving a rating of 3 or 4. The scale content validity index (S-CVI/Ave) was computed by averaging the I-CVIs for the assessment of the questionnaire as a tool. Finally, the questionnaire was pilot tested. The S-CVI/Ave increased from 0.89 to 0.96 for relevance and from 0.76 to 0.94 for simplicity, resulting in 36 items in the final questionnaire. The pilot test confirmed the feasibility of the questionnaire. The present study shows that the web-based questionnaire fulfils previously published validity acceptance criteria and is therefore considered valid and feasible for the empirical surveying of epidemiological aspects among high-performance marine craft crews and similar populations. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted
Salavati, M; Waninge, A; Rameckers, E A A; van der Steen, J; Krijnen, W P; van der Schans, C P; Steenbergen, B
2017-01-01
The objectives of this study were (i) to develop two cerebral visual impairment motor questionnaires (CVI-MQ's) for children with cerebral palsy (CP): one for children with Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels I, II and III and one for children with GMFCS levels IV and V; (ii) to describe their face validity and usability; and (iii) to determine their sensitivity and specificity. The initial versions of the two CVI-MQ's were developed based on literature. Subsequently, the Delphi method was used in two groups of experts, one familiar with CVI and one not familiar with CVI, in order to gain consensus about face validity and usability. The sensitivity and specificity of the CVI-MQ's were subsequently assessed in 82 children with CP with (n = 39) and without CVI (n = 43). With the receiver operating curve the cut-off scores were determined to detect possible presence or absence of CVI in children with CP. Both questionnaires showed very good face validity (percentage agreement above 96%) and good usability (percentage agreement 95%) for practical use. The CVI-MQ version for GMFCS levels I, II and III had a sensitivity of 1.00 and specificity of 0.96, with a cut-off score of 12 points or higher, and the version for GMFCS levels IV and V had a sensitivity of 0.97 and a specificity of 0.98, with a cut-off score of eight points or higher. The CVI-MQ is able to identify at-risk children with CP for the probability of having CVI. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)
张聪; 杨国平; 李圳; 李小宁; 李洋; 胡洁; 张凤云; 张徐军
2017-01-01
Objective To assess the reliability and validity of the Chinese version on Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) among medical students in China and to provide correct way of application on the recommended scales.Methods An E-questionnaire was developed and sent to medical students in five different colleges.Students were all active volunteers to accept the testings.Cronbach's α and split-half reliability were calculated to evaluate the reliability of AUDIT while content,contract,discriminant and convergent validity were performed to measure the validity of the scales.Results The overall Cronbach's α of AUDIT was 0.782 and the split-half reliability was 0.711.Data showed that the domain Cronbach's α and split-half reliability were 0.796 and 0.794 for hazardous alcohol use,0.561 and 0.623 for dependence symptoms,and 0.647 and 0.640 for harmful alcohol use.Results also showed that the content validity index on the levels of items I-CVI)were from 0.83 to 1.00,the content validity index of scale level (S-CVI/UA) was 0.90,content validity index of average scale level (S-CVI/Ave) was 0.99 and the content validity ratios (CVR) were from 0.80 to 1.00.The simplified version of AUDIT supported a presupposed three-factor structure which could explain 61.175% of the total variance revealed through exploratory factor analysis.AUDIT semed to have good convergent and discriminant validity,with the success rate of calibration experiment as 100%.Conclusion AUDIT showed good reliability and validity among medical students in China thus worth for promotion on its use.%目的 评价中文版酒精使用障碍筛查量表(AUDIT)的信度和效度,为该量表在中国医学生中的推广使用提供科学依据.方法 使用电子问卷,将问卷发给5所医学院校学生,让其按意愿自行填写.了解Cronbach'sα和分半信度评价量表的信度,了解内容效度、结构效度、会聚效度和区别效度评价量表的效度.结果
Vadlin, Sofia; Åslund, Cecilia; Nilsson, Kent W
2015-08-01
This study describes the development of a screening tool for gaming addiction in adolescents - the Gaming Addiction Identification Test (GAIT). Its development was based on the research literature on gaming and addiction. An expert panel comprising professional raters (n = 7), experiential adolescent raters (n = 10), and parent raters (n = 10) estimated the content validity of each item (I-CVI) as well as of the whole scale (S-CVI/Ave), and participated in a cognitive interview about the GAIT scale. The mean scores for both I-CVI and S-CVI/Ave ranged between 0.97 and 0.99 compared with the lowest recommended I-CVI value of 0.78 and the S-CVI/Ave value of 0.90. There were no sex differences and no differences between expert groups regarding ratings in content validity. No differences in the overall evaluation of the scale emerged in the cognitive interviews. Our conclusions were that GAIT showed good content validity in capturing gaming addiction. The GAIT needs further investigation into its psychometric properties of construct validity (convergent and divergent validity) and criterion-related validity, as well as its reliability in both clinical settings and in community settings with adolescents. © 2015 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
CAMEX-4 CVI CLOUD CONDENSED WATER CONTENT V1
National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The counterflow virtual impactor (CVI) was used to measure condensed water content (liquid water or ice in particles about 8 microns in diameter and up) and cloud...
Bervoets, Liene; Van Noten, Caroline; Van Roosbroeck, Sofie; Hansen, Dominique; Van Hoorenbeeck, Kim; Verheyen, Els; Van Hal, Guido; Vankerckhoven, Vanessa
2014-01-01
This study was designed to validate the Dutch Physical Activity Questionnaires for Children (PAQ-C) and Adolescents (PAQ-A). After adjustment of the original Canadian PAQ-C and PAQ-A (i.e. translation/back-translation and evaluation by expert committee), content validity of both PAQs was assessed and calculated using item-level (I-CVI) and scale-level (S-CVI) content validity indexes. Inter-item and inter-rater reliability of 196 PAQ-C and 95 PAQ-A filled in by both children or adolescents and their parent, were evaluated. Inter-item reliability was calculated by Cronbach's alpha (α) and inter-rater reliability was examined by percent observed agreement and weighted kappa (κ). Concurrent validity of PAQ-A was examined in a subsample of 28 obese and 16 normal-weight children by comparing it with concurrently measured physical activity using a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test for the assessment of peak oxygen uptake (VO2 peak). For both PAQs, I-CVI ranged 0.67-1.00. S-CVI was 0.89 for PAQ-C and 0.90 for PAQ-A. A total of 192 PAQ-C and 94 PAQ-A were fully completed by both child and parent. Cronbach's α was 0.777 for PAQ-C and 0.758 for PAQ-A. Percent agreement ranged 59.9-74.0% for PAQ-C and 51.1-77.7% for PAQ-A, and weighted κ ranged 0.48-0.69 for PAQ-C and 0.51-0.68 for PAQ-A. The correlation between total PAQ-A score and VO2 peak - corrected for age, gender, height and weight - was 0.516 (p = 0.001). Both PAQs have an excellent content validity, an acceptable inter-item reliability and a moderate to good strength of inter-rater agreement. In addition, total PAQ-A score showed a moderate positive correlation with VO2 peak. Both PAQs have an acceptable to good reliability and validity, however, further validity testing is recommended to provide a more complete assessment of both PAQs.
Content validity and its estimation
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Yaghmale F
2003-04-01
Full Text Available Background: Measuring content validity of instruments are important. This type of validity can help to ensure construct validity and give confidence to the readers and researchers about instruments. content validity refers to the degree that the instrument covers the content that it is supposed to measure. For content validity two judgments are necessary: the measurable extent of each item for defining the traits and the set of items that represents all aspects of the traits. Purpose: To develop a content valid scale for assessing experience with computer usage. Methods: First a review of 2 volumes of International Journal of Nursing Studies, was conducted with onlyI article out of 13 which documented content validity did so by a 4-point content validity index (CV! and the judgment of 3 experts. Then a scale with 38 items was developed. The experts were asked to rate each item based on relevance, clarity, simplicity and ambiguity on the four-point scale. Content Validity Index (CVI for each item was determined. Result: Of 38 items, those with CVIover 0.75 remained and the rest were discarded reSulting to 25-item scale. Conclusion: Although documenting content validity of an instrument may seem expensive in terms of time and human resources, its importance warrants greater attention when a valid assessment instrument is to be developed. Keywords: Content Validity, Measuring Content Validity
CVI-R gas phase processing of porous, biomorphic SiC-ceramics
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Sieber, H.; Vogli, E.; Mueller, F.; Greil, P. [Erlangen-Nuernberg Univ., Erlangen (DE). Dept. of Materials Science (III) Glass and Ceramics; Popovska, N.; Gerhard, H. [Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Dept. of Industrial Chemistry I, Erlangen (Germany)
2002-07-01
Natural pine wood was converted into biomorphic SiC-ceramics by CVI-R processing (chemical vapour infiltration - reaction). The wood samples were first pyrolyzed in inert atmosphere at temperatures of 800 C to yield biocarbon-derived template structures. Subsequently, the biocarbon preforms were infiltrated with silicon by isothermal CVI processing with MTS (methyltrichlorosilane) in excess of hydrogen at temperatures between 800 and 850 C, then converted into SiC-ceramic by annealing in inert atmosphere at temperatures between 1200-1600 C. During processing, the inherent open porous structure of the pine wood is retained down to the submicrometer level, yielding a highly porous SiC-ceramic with a unique microcellular morphology. (orig.)
Development of caries risk assessment tool for Iranian preschoolers: A primary validation study
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Shiva Mortazavi
2017-01-01
Full Text Available Background: The aim of the present study was to develop a dental caries risk assessment tool for Iranian preschoolers. Methods: In a validation and cross-sectional study, a random sample of 150 preschool children was involved. This study was conducted in three phases: questionnaire design (expert panel and peer evaluation, questionnaire testing (pilot evaluation and field testing, and validation study. The initial assessments include interview, dental examination, and laboratory investigations. Validity and reliability indices, content validity index (CVI, content validity ratio (CVR, impact score, and test-retest and Cronbach's alpha were measured. Decayed, missing, filled teeth (dmft scores were calculated according to the WHO guidelines. Results: The Iranian version of caries risk assessment (CRA questionnaire contained 17 items. Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.86 indicated a suitable internal consistency. The mean scores for the CVI and the CVR were 0.87 and 0.78, respectively. The prevalence rate of dental caries in the study group was 69.3%, and the mean dmft was 4.57 (range 0–19. Conclusions: The Persian version of CRA questionnaire was adapted to the Iranian population. The findings demonstrated overall acceptable validity and also reliability in the application of test-retest. The results of the present study provide initial evidence that the designed CRA form could be a useful tool for CRA in the Iranian preschoolers.
Validation of the prosthetic esthetic index
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Özhayat, Esben B; Dannemand, Katrine
2014-01-01
OBJECTIVES: In order to diagnose impaired esthetics and evaluate treatments for these, it is crucial to evaluate all aspects of oral and prosthetic esthetics. No professionally administered index currently exists that sufficiently encompasses comprehensive prosthetic esthetics. This study aimed...... to validate a new comprehensive index, the Prosthetic Esthetic Index (PEI), for professional evaluation of esthetics in prosthodontic patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The content, criterion, and construct validity; the test-retest, inter-rater, and internal consistency reliability; and the sensitivity...... furthermore distinguish between participants and controls, indicating sufficient sensitivity. CONCLUSION: The PEI is considered a valid and reliable instrument involving sufficient aspects for assessment of the professionally evaluated esthetics in prosthodontic patients. CLINICAL RELEVANCE...
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Magdalena Budzyń
Full Text Available Although the endothelial dysfunction is considered to be implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI the endothelial status in patients with venous disorders is still not fully evaluated. Therefore the aim of the study was to measure the concentration of selected markers of endothelial dysfunction: von Willebrand factor (vWf, soluble P-selectin (sP-selectin, soluble thrombomodulin (sTM and soluble VE-cadherin (sVE-cadherin in CVI women who constitute the most numerous group of patients suffering from venous disease.Forty four women with CVI were involved in the study and divided into subgroups based on CEAP classification. Concentration of vWf, sP-selectin, sTM and sVE-cadherin were measured and compared with those obtained in 25 healthy age and sex-matched women.It was found that the concentration of sTM increased and sVEcadherin decreased along with disease severity in CVI women. A significant rise of sTM was observed especially in CVI women, with the highest inflammation status reflected by hsCRP or elastase concentration, and in CVI women with a high oxidative stress manifested by an increased plasma MDA. A significant fall of circulating sVE-cadherin was reported in CVI women with moderate to highest intensity of inflammation and oxidative stress. There was no change in vWF and sP-selectin concentration at any stage of CVI severity.The results of the present study demonstrate the presence of endothelial dysfunction in women suffering from CVI which seems to progress with the disease severity and may be associated with inflammation and enhanced oxidative stress.
Dikken, Jeroen; Hoogerduijn, Jita G; Kruitwagen, Cas; Schuurmans, Marieke J
2016-11-01
To assess the content validity and psychometric characteristics of the Knowledge about Older Patients Quiz (KOP-Q), which measures nurses' knowledge regarding older hospitalized adults and their certainty regarding this knowledge. Cross-sectional. Content validity: general hospitals. Psychometric characteristics: nursing school and general hospitals in the Netherlands. Content validity: 12 nurse specialists in geriatrics. Psychometric characteristics: 107 first-year and 78 final-year bachelor of nursing students, 148 registered nurses, and 20 nurse specialists in geriatrics. Content validity: The nurse specialists rated each item of the initial KOP-Q (52 items) on relevance. Ratings were used to calculate Item-Content Validity Index and average Scale-Content Validity Index (S-CVI/ave) scores. Items with insufficient content validity were removed. Psychometric characteristics: Ratings of students, nurses, and nurse specialists were used to test for different item functioning (DIF) and unidimensionality before item characteristics (discrimination and difficulty) were examined using Item Response Theory. Finally, norm references were calculated and nomological validity was assessed. Content validity: Forty-three items remained after assessing content validity (S-CVI/ave = 0.90). Psychometric characteristics: Of the 43 items, two demonstrating ceiling effects and 11 distorting ability estimates (DIF) were subsequently excluded. Item characteristics were assessed for the remaining 30 items, all of which demonstrated good discrimination and difficulty parameters. Knowledge was positively correlated with certainty about this knowledge. The final 30-item KOP-Q is a valid, psychometrically sound, comprehensive instrument that can be used to assess the knowledge of nursing students, hospital nurses, and nurse specialists in geriatrics regarding older hospitalized adults. It can identify knowledge and certainty deficits for research purposes or serve as a tool in educational
Content Validity of a Tool Measuring Medication Errors.
Tabassum, Nishat; Allana, Saleema; Saeed, Tanveer; Dias, Jacqueline Maria
2015-08-01
The objective of this study was to determine content and face validity of a tool measuring medication errors among nursing students in baccalaureate nursing education. Data was collected from the Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery (AKUSoNaM), Karachi, from March to August 2014. The tool was developed utilizing literature and the expertise of the team members, expert in different areas. The developed tool was then sent to five experts from all over Karachi for ensuring the content validity of the tool, which was measured on relevance and clarity of the questions. The Scale Content Validity Index (S-CVI) for clarity and relevance of the questions was found to be 0.94 and 0.98, respectively. The tool measuring medication errors has an excellent content validity. This tool should be used for future studies on medication errors, with different study populations such as medical students, doctors, and nurses.
Sensitivity of two ecotypes of Arabidopsis Thaliana (Cvi and Te) towards UV-B irradiation
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Velichkova, M.; Stanoeva, D.; Popova, A.
2013-01-01
he susceptibility of Arabidopsis thaliana towards the detrimental effect of UV-B irradiation was investigated using two ecotypes, Cvi and Te. The effect of UV-B treatment on primary photosynthetic reactions - energy interaction between the main pigment-protein complexes and oxygen evolution, was evaluated at low (4 0 C) and at room (22 0 C) temperature. UV-B-induced alterations of investigated photosynthetic reactions are better expressed at 22 0 C than at 4 0 C for Cvi. For Te ecotype the energy interaction was suppressed to higher extent at 22 0 C, while oxygen evolving activity was affected similarly at both temperatures. At low and room temperature, the energy interaction in the complex PSII-core antenna is affected stronger by UV-B treatment than the energy distribution between both photosystems, as revealed by fluorescence ratios of 77 K spectra. The results presented indicate that the Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Cvi (Cape Verde Islands) is less affected by UV-B irradiation in respect to the investigated primary photosynthetic reactions than the ecotype Te (Finland)
Item validity vs. item discrimination index: a redundancy?
Panjaitan, R. L.; Irawati, R.; Sujana, A.; Hanifah, N.; Djuanda, D.
2018-03-01
In several literatures about evaluation and test analysis, it is common to find that there are calculations of item validity as well as item discrimination index (D) with different formula for each. Meanwhile, other resources said that item discrimination index could be obtained by calculating the correlation between the testee’s score in a particular item and the testee’s score on the overall test, which is actually the same concept as item validity. Some research reports, especially undergraduate theses tend to include both item validity and item discrimination index in the instrument analysis. It seems that these concepts might overlap for both reflect the test quality on measuring the examinees’ ability. In this paper, examples of some results of data processing on item validity and item discrimination index were compared. It would be discussed whether item validity and item discrimination index can be represented by one of them only or it should be better to present both calculations for simple test analysis, especially in undergraduate theses where test analyses were included.
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P. Daniel Patterson
2013-01-01
Full Text Available Cardiac arrest is a leading cause of mortality among firefighters. We sought to develop a valid method for determining the costs of a workplace prevention program for firefighters. In 2012, we developed a draft framework using human resource accounting and in-depth interviews with experts in the firefighting and insurance industries. The interviews produced a draft cost model with 6 components and 26 subcomponents. In 2013, we randomly sampled 100 fire chiefs out of >7,400 affiliated with the International Association of Fire Chiefs. We used the Content Validity Index (CVI to identify the content valid components of the draft cost model. This was accomplished by having fire chiefs rate the relevancy of cost components using a 4-point Likert scale (highly relevant to not relevant. We received complete survey data from 65 fire chiefs (65% response rate. We retained 5 components and 21 subcomponents based on CVI scores ≥0.70. The five main components include, (1 investment costs, (2 orientation and training costs, (3 medical and pharmaceutical costs, (4 education and continuing education costs, and (5 maintenance costs. Data from a diverse sample of fire chiefs has produced a content valid method for calculating the cost of a prevention program among firefighters.
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Talieh Zarifian
2014-10-01
Full Text Available Background and Aim: Speech and language pathologists (SLP often refer to phonological data as part of their assessment protocols in evaluating the communication skills of children. The aim of this study was to develop the Persian version of the phonological test in evaluating and diagnosing communication skills in Persian speaking children and to evaluate its validity and reliability.Methods: The Persian phonological test (PPT was conducted on 387 monolingual Persian speaking boys and girls (3-6 years of age who were selected from 12 nurseries in the northwest region of Tehran. Content validity ratio (CVR and content validity index (CVI were assessed by speechtherapists and linguists. Correlation between speech and language pathologists experts' opinions and Persian phonological test results in children with and without phonological disorders was evaluated to investigate the Persian phonological test validity. In addition, the Persian phonological test test-retest reliability was investigated.Results: Both content validity ratio and content validity index were found to be acceptable (CVR≥94.71 and CVI=97.35. The PPT validity was confirmed by finding a good correlation between s peech and language pathologists experts' opinions and Persian phonological test results ( r Kappa =0.73 and r Spearman =0.76. The percent of agreement between transcription and analyzing error patterns in test-retest (ranging from 86.27%-100% and score-rescore (ranging from 94.28%-100% showed that Persian phonological test had a very high reliability.Conclusion: The results of this study show that the Persian phonological test seems to be a suitable tool in evaluating phonological skills of Persian speaking children in clinical settings and research projects.
Injection Drug User Quality of Life Scale (IDUQOL: Findings from a content validation study
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Palepu Anita
2007-07-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Quality of life studies among injection drug users have primarily focused on health-related measures. The chaotic life-style of many injection drug users (IDUs, however, extends far beyond their health, and impacts upon social relationships, employment opportunities, housing, and day to day survival. Most current quality of life instruments do not capture the realities of people living with addictions. The Injection Drug Users' Quality of Life Scale (IDUQOL was developed to reflect the life areas of relevance to IDUs. The present study examined the content validity of the IDUQOL using judgmental methods based on subject matter experts' (SMEs ratings of various elements of this measure (e.g., appropriateness of life areas or items, names and descriptions of life areas, instructions for administration and scoring. Methods Six SMEs were provided with a copy of the IDUQOL and its administration and scoring manual and a detailed content validation questionnaire. Two commonly used judgmental measures of inter-rater agreement, the Content Validity Index (CVI and the Average Deviation Mean Index (ADM, were used to evaluate SMEs' agreement on ratings of IDUQOL elements. Results A total of 75 elements of the IDUQOL were examined. The CVI results showed that all elements were endorsed by the required number of SMEs or more. The ADM results showed that acceptable agreement (i.e., practical significance was obtained for all elements but statistically significant agreement was missed for nine elements. For these elements, SMEs' feedback was examined for ways to improve the elements. Open-ended feedback also provided suggestions for other revisions to the IDUQOL. Conclusion The results of the study provided strong evidence in support of the content validity of the IDUQOL and direction for the revision of some IDUQOL elements.
Validation of the Regional Authority Index
SCHAKEL, ARJAN H.
2008-01-01
This article validates the Regional Authority Index with seven widely used decentralization indices in the literature. A principal axis analysis reveals a common structure. The major source of disagreement between the Regional Authority Index and the other indices stems from the fact that the Regional Authority Index does not include local governance whereas most other indices do. Two other sources of disagreement concern the treatment of federal versus non-federal countries, and countries wh...
Salavati, M.; Rameckers, E.A.A.; Steenbergen, B.; Schans, C.P. van der
2014-01-01
Aim: To determine whether the level of gross motor function and functional skills in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and cerebral visual impairment (CVI) as well as caregiver assistance are lower in comparison with the corresponding group of children experiencing CP without CVI. Method: Data
Salavati, Masoud; Rameckers, E.A.A.; Steenbergen, B.; van der Schans, Cees
2014-01-01
Abstract Aim: To determine whether the level of gross motor function and functional skills in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and cerebral visual impairment (CVI) as well as caregiver assistance are lower in comparison with the corresponding group of children experiencing CP without CVI. Method:
Validation of the Essentials of Magnetism II in Chinese critical care settings.
Bai, Jinbing; Hsu, Lily; Zhang, Qing
2015-05-01
To translate and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Essentials of Magnetism II tool (EOM II) for Chinese nurses in critical care settings. The EOM II is a reliable and valid scale for measuring the healthy work environment (HWE) for nurses in Western countries, however, it has not been validated among Chinese nurses. The translation of the EOM II followed internationally recognized guidelines. The Chinese version of the Essentials of Magnetism II tool (C-EOM II) was reviewed by an expert panel for culturally semantic equivalence and content validity. Then, 706 nurses from 28 intensive care units (ICUs) affiliated with 14 tertiary hospitals participated in this study. The reliability of the C-EOM II was assessed using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient; the content validity of this scale was assessed using the content validity index (CVI); and the construct validity was assessed using the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The C-EOM II showed excellent content validity with a CVI of 0·92. All the subscales of the C-EOM II were significantly correlated with overall nurse job satisfaction and nurse-assessed quality of care. The CFA showed that the C-EOM II was composed of 45 items with nine factors, accounting for 46·51% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for these factors ranged from 0·56 to 0·89. The C-EOM II is a promising scale to assess the HWE for Chinese ICU nurses. Nursing administrators and health care policy-makers can use the C-EOM II to evaluate clinical work environment so that a healthier work environment can be created and sustained for staff nurses. © 2013 British Association of Critical Care Nurses.
Mohammadsalehi, Narges; Mohammadbeigi, Abolfazl; Jadidi, Rahmatollah; Anbari, Zohreh; Ghaderi, Ebrahim; Akbari, Mojtaba
2015-09-01
Reliability and validity are the key concepts in measurement processes. Young internet addiction test (YIAT) is regarded as a valid and reliable questionnaire in English speaking countries for diagnosis of Internet-related behavior disorders. This study aimed at validating the Persian version of YIAT in the Iranian society. A pilot and a cross-sectional study were conducted on 28 and 254 students of Qom University of Medical Sciences, respectively, in order to validate the Persian version of YIAT. Forward and backward translations were conducted to develop a Persian version of the scale. Reliability was measured by test-retest, Cronbach's alpha and interclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Face, content and construct validity were approved by the importance score index, content validity ratio (CVR), content validity index (CVI), correlation matrix and factor analysis. The SPSS software was used for data analysis. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.917 (CI 95%; 0.901 - 0.931). The average of scale-level CVI was calculated to be 0.74; the CVI index for each item was higher than 0.83 and the average of CVI index was equal to 0.89. Factor analysis extracted three factors including personal activities disorder (PAD), emotional and mood disorder (EMD) and social activities disorder (SAD), with more than 55.8% of total variances. The ICC for different factors of Persian version of Young Questionnaire including PAD, EMD and for SAD was r = 0.884; CI 95%; 0.861 - 0.904, r = 0.766; CI 95%; 0.718 - 0.808 and r = 0.745; CI 95%; 0.686 - 0.795, respectively. Our study showed that the Persian version of YIAT is good and usable on Iranian people. The reliability of the instrument was very good. Moreover, the validity of the Persian translated version of the scale was sufficient. In addition, the reliability and validity of the three extracted factors of YIAT were evaluated and were acceptable.
Expert validation of a teamwork assessment rubric: A modified Delphi study.
Parratt, Jenny A; Fahy, Kathleen M; Hutchinson, Marie; Lohmann, Gui; Hastie, Carolyn R; Chaseling, Marilyn; O'Brien, Kylie
2016-01-01
Teamwork is a 'soft skill' employability competence desired by employers. Poor teamwork skills in healthcare have an impact on adverse outcomes. Teamwork skills are rarely the focus of teaching and assessment in undergraduate courses. The TeamUP Rubric is a tool used to teach and evaluate undergraduate students' teamwork skills. Students also use the rubric to give anonymised peer feedback during team-based academic assignments. The rubric's five domains focus on planning, environment, facilitation, conflict management and individual contribution; each domain is grounded in relevant theory. Students earn marks for their teamwork skills; validity of the assessment rubric is critical. To what extent do experts agree that the TeamUP Rubric is a valid assessment of 'teamwork skills'? Modified Delphi technique incorporating Feminist Collaborative Conversations. A heterogeneous panel of 35 professionals with recognised expertise in communications and/or teamwork. Three Delphi rounds using a survey that included the rubric were conducted either face-to-face, by telephone or online. Quantitative analysis yielded item content validity indices (I-CVI); minimum consensus was pre-set at 70%. An average of the I-CVI also yielded sub-scale (domain) (D-CVI/Ave) and scale content validity indices (S-CVI/Ave). After each Delphi round, qualitative data were analysed and interpreted; Feminist Collaborative Conversations by the research team aimed to clarify and confirm consensus about the wording of items on the rubric. Consensus (at 70%) was obtained for all but one behavioural descriptor of the rubric. We modified that descriptor to address expert concerns. The TeamUP Rubric (Version 4) can be considered to be well validated at that level of consensus. The final rubric reflects underpinning theory, with no areas of conceptual overlap between rubric domains. The final TeamUP Rubric arising from this study validly measures individual student teamwork skills and can be used with
Microstructure and mechanical properties of CVI carbon fiber/SiC composites
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Noda, T.; Araki, H.; Abe, F.; Okada, M.
1992-01-01
Microstructures and mechanical properties of carbon fiber/SiC composites prepared with chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) were examined to optimize the process conditions such as reactant and infiltration temperature. Ethyl-trichloro-silane (ETS) and methyl-trichloro-silane (MTS) were used as a source of SiC. CVI was conducted for 108 ks at maximum under a pressure of 13.3 kPa at 1273-1573 K. The composite with a density higher than 80% was obtained at 1373-1423 K and 1423-1374 K from ETS and MTS, respectively. The main matrix formed was β SiC for both reactants. However, silicon also deposited in SiC matrix for MTS. Preferential wettability of SiC to the carbon fiber was observed, and graphite was detected in the interface between the matrix and the carbon fiber by TEM. Mechanical properties were evaluated by bend tests at room temperature. High strength of around 800 MPa was obtained for the composites if the thickness of the surface coated layer was less than 50 μm. Apparent fracture thoughness of the present carbon fiber/SiC composite was 6-10 MPa m 1/2 at room temperature. (orig.)
Development and validation of an index of musculoskeletal functional limitations
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Katz Jeffrey N
2009-06-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background While musculoskeletal problems are leading sources of disability, there has been little research on measuring the number of functionally limiting musculoskeletal problems for use as predictor of outcome in studies of chronic disease. This paper reports on the development and preliminary validation of a self administered musculoskeletal functional limitations index. Methods We developed a summary musculoskeletal functional limitations index based upon a six-item self administered questionnaire in which subjects indicate whether they are limited a lot, a little or not at all because of problems in six anatomic regions (knees, hips, ankles and feet, back, neck, upper extremities. Responses are summed into an index score. The index was completed by a sample of total knee replacement recipients from four US states. Our analyses examined convergent validity at the item and at the index level as well as discriminant validity and the independence of the index from other correlates of quality of life. Results 782 subjects completed all items of the musculoskeletal functional limitations index and were included in the analyses. The mean age of the sample was 75 years and 64% were female. The index demonstrated anticipated associations with self-reported quality of life, activities of daily living, WOMAC functional status score, use of walking support, frequency of usual exercise, frequency of falls and dependence upon another person for assistance with chores. The index was strongly and independently associated with self-reported overall health. Conclusion The self-reported musculoskeletal functional limitations index appears to be a valid measure of musculoskeletal functional limitations, in the aspects of validity assessed in this study. It is useful for outcome studies following TKR and shows promise as a covariate in studies of chronic disease outcomes.
Rahimi Kian, Fatemeh; Zandi, Afsaneh; Omani Samani, Reza; Maroufizadeh, Saman; Mehran, Abbas
2016-01-01
Surrogacy is one of the most challenging infertility treatments engaging ethical, psychological and social issues. Attitudes survey plays an important role to disclosure variant aspects of surrogacy, to help meeting legislative gaps and ambiguities, and to convert controversial dimensions surrounding surrogacy to a normative concept that eliminates stigma. The aim of this study is to develop a comprehensive scale for gestational surrogacy attitudes. Development process of gestational surrogacy attitudes scale (GSAS) performed based on a descriptive cross-sectional study and included a rich data pool gathered from literature reviews, a qualitative pilot study on 15 infertile couples (n=30), use of expert advisory panel (EAP) consisting of 20 members, as well as use of content validity through qualitative and quantitative study by the means of content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI). Also internal consistence using Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability using intracalss correlation coefficient (ICC) were evaluated. Application of GSAS was tested in a cross-sectional study that was conducted on 200 infertile couples (n=400) at Royan Institute, Tehran, Iran, during 2014. Final version of GSAS had 30 items within five subscales including "acceptance of surrogacy", "Surrogacy and public attitudes", "Child born through surrogacy", "Surrogate mother", and "Intentional attitude and surrogacy future attempt". Content validity was represented with values of CVR=0.73 and CVI =0.98. Cronbach's alpha value was 0.91 for the overall scale, while ICC value due to test-retest responses was 0.89. Acceptable level of competency and capability of GSAS is significantly indicated; therefore, it seems to be an appropriate tool for the evaluation of gestational surrogacy attitudes in Iranian infertile couples.
Plasma core electron density and temperature measurements using CVI line emissions in TCABR Tokamak
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Nascimento, F. do, E-mail: fellypen@ifi.unicamp.br [Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), SP (Brazil). Centro de Componentes Semicondutores; Machida, M. [Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), SP (Brazil). Instituto de Fisica Gleb Wataghin; Severo, J.H.F.; Sanada, E.; Ronchi, G. [Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP), SP (Brazil). Instituto de Fisica
2015-08-15
In this work, we present results of electron temperature (T{sub e} ) and density (n {sub e} ) measurements obtained in Tokamak Chauffage Alfven Bresilien (TCABR) tokamak using visible spectroscopy from CVI line emissions which occurs mainly near the center of the plasma column. The presented method is based on a well-known relationship between the particle flux (Γ {sub ion}) and the photon flux (ø {sub ion}) emitted by an ion species combined with ionizations per photon atomic data provided by the atomic data and analysis structure (ADAS) database. In the experiment, we measured the photon fluxes of three different CVI spectral line emissions, 4685.2, 5290.5, and 6200.6 Å (one line per shot). Using this method it was possible to find out the temporal evolution of T{sub e} and n{sub e} in the plasma. The results achieved are in good agreement with T{sub e} and n{sub e} measurements made using other diagnostic tools. (author)
Oren, Besey; Zengin, Neriman; Yildiz, Nebahat
2016-01-01
This study aimed to test the validity and reliability of a version of the tool developed in Sri Lanka in 2011 to assess patient perceptions of the quality of nursing care and related hospital services created for use with Turkish patients. This methodological study was conducted between November 2013 and November 2014 after obtaining ethical approval and organizational permission. Data was collected during discharge from 180 adult patients who were hospitalized for at least 3 days at a medical school hospital located in Istanbul. After language validation, validity and reliability analyses of the scale were conducted. Content validity, content validity index (CVI), construct validity, and exploratory factor analysis were assessed and examined, and reliability was tested using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient and item-total correlations. Mean CVI was found to be 0.95, which is above expected value. Exploratory factor analysis revealed 4 factors with eigenvalues above 1, which explained 82.4% of total variance in the Turkish version of the tool to measure patient perceptions of nursing care and other hospital services. Factor loading for each item was ≥.40. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of sub-dimensions and total scale were found to be 0.84-0.98 and 0.98, respectively. Item-total correlations ranged from 0.56 to 0.83 for the entire group, which was above expected values. The Turkish version of the scale to assess patient perceptions of the quality of nursing care and related hospital services, which comprised 4 sub-dimensions and 36 items, was found to be valid and reliable for use with the Turkish population.
Validation of the regional authority index
Schakel, A.H.
2008-01-01
This article validates the Regional Authority Index (RAI) with seven widely used decentralization indices in the literature. A principal axis analysis reveals a common structure. The major source of disagreement between the RAI and the other indices stems from the fact that the RAI does not include
Rahimi Kian, Fatemeh; Zandi, Afsaneh; Omani Samani, Reza; Maroufizadeh, Saman; Mehran, Abbas
2016-01-01
Background Surrogacy is one of the most challenging infertility treatments engaging ethical, psychological and social issues. Attitudes survey plays an important role to disclosure variant aspects of surrogacy, to help meeting legislative gaps and ambiguities, and to convert controversial dimensions surrounding surrogacy to a normative concept that eliminates stigma. The aim of this study is to develop a comprehensive scale for gestational surrogacy attitudes. Materials and Methods Development process of gestational surrogacy attitudes scale (GSAS) performed based on a descriptive cross-sectional study and included a rich data pool gathered from literature reviews, a qualitative pilot study on 15 infertile couples (n=30), use of expert advisory panel (EAP) consisting of 20 members, as well as use of content validity through qualitative and quantitative study by the means of content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI). Also internal consistence using Cronbach’s alpha and test-retest reliability using intracalss correlation coefficient (ICC) were evaluated. Application of GSAS was tested in a cross-sectional study that was conducted on 200 infertile couples (n=400) at Royan Institute, Tehran, Iran, during 2014. Results Final version of GSAS had 30 items within five subscales including "acceptance of surrogacy", "Surrogacy and public attitudes", "Child born through surrogacy", "Surrogate mother", and "Intentional attitude and surrogacy future attempt". Content validity was represented with values of CVR=0.73 and CVI =0.98. Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.91 for the overall scale, while ICC value due to test-retest responses was 0.89. Conclusion Acceptable level of competency and capability of GSAS is significantly indicated; therefore, it seems to be an appropriate tool for the evaluation of gestational surrogacy attitudes in Iranian infertile couples. PMID:27123208
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Fatemeh Rahimi Kiandeh
2016-05-01
Full Text Available Background: Surrogacy is one of the most challenging infertility treatments engaging ethical, psychological and social issues. Attitudes survey plays an important role to disclosure variant aspects of surrogacy, to help meeting legislative gaps and ambiguities, and to convert controversial dimensions surrounding surrogacy to a normative concept that eliminates stigma. The aim of this study is to develop a comprehensive scale for gestational surrogacy attitudes. Materials and Methods: Development process of gestational surrogacy attitudes scale (GSAS performed based on a descriptive cross-sectional study and included a rich data pool gathered from literature reviews, a qualitative pilot study on 15 infertile couples (n=30, use of expert advisory panel (EAP consisting of 20 members, as well as use of content validity through qualitative and quantitative study by the means of content validity ratio (CVR and content validity index (CVI. Also internal consistence using Cronbach’s alpha and test-retest reliability using intracalss correlation coefficient (ICC were evaluated. Application of GSAS was tested in a cross-sectional study that was conducted on 200 infertile couples (n=400 at Royan Institute, Tehran, Iran, during 2014. Results: Final version of GSAS had 30 items within five subscales including "acceptance of surrogacy", "Surrogacy and public attitudes", "Child born through surrogacy", "Surrogate mother", and "Intentional attitude and surrogacy future attempt". Content validity was represented with values of CVR=0.73 and CVI =0.98. Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.91 for the overall scale, while ICC value due to test-retest responses was 0.89. Conclusion: Acceptable level of competency and capability of GSAS is significantly indicated; therefore, it seems to be an appropriate tool for the evaluation of gestational surrogacy attitudes in Iranian infertile couples.
Rubashkin, Nicholas; Szebik, Imre; Baji, Petra; Szántó, Zsuzsa; Susánszky, Éva; Vedam, Saraswathi
2017-11-16
Instruments to assess quality of maternity care in Central and Eastern European (CEE) region are scarce, despite reports of poor doctor-patient communication, non-evidence-based care, and informal cash payments. We validated and tested an online questionnaire to study maternity care experiences among Hungarian women. Following literature review, we collated validated items and scales from two previous English-language surveys and adapted them to the Hungarian context. An expert panel assessed items for clarity and relevance on a 4-point ordinal scale. We calculated item-level Content Validation Index (CVI) scores. We designed 9 new items concerning informal cash payments, as well as 7 new "model of care" categories based on mode of payment. The final questionnaire (N = 111 items) was tested in two samples of Hungarian women, representative (N = 600) and convenience (N = 657). We conducted bivariate analysis and thematic analysis of open-ended responses. Experts rated pre-existing English-language items as clear and relevant to Hungarian women's maternity care experiences with an average CVI for included questions of 0.97. Significant differences emerged across the model of care categories in terms of informal payments, informed consent practices, and women's perceptions of autonomy. Thematic analysis (N = 1015) of women's responses identified 13 priority areas of the maternity care experience, 9 of which were addressed by the questionnaire. We developed and validated a comprehensive questionnaire that can be used to evaluate respectful maternity care, evidence-based practice, and informal cash payments in CEE region and beyond.
Construction of an Occupational Therapy Screenings Assessment for elderly medical patients
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Holsbæk, Jonas
there for demands a validated Occupational Therapy Screening Assessment, that fast and easy can tell if more Occupational Therapy is needed. Aim: The aim of the study is to develop a Screening Assessment which can be used in the Occupational Therapist practice screening Hospitalized Elderly medical inpatients...... by means of the Content Validity Index (CVI) – Questionaire. Result: The result was a Screening Assessment and a Manual, which was built up using ICF and the ADL-Taxonomy as References. The Screening Instrument should be a support for the working Occupational Therapist in their Clinical Reasoning. CVI...
Large-scale international validation of the ADO index in subjects with COPD
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Puhan, Milo A; Hansel, Nadia N; Sobradillo, Patricia
2012-01-01
BACKGROUND: Little evidence on the validity of simple and widely applicable tools to predict mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exists. OBJECTIVE: To conduct a large international study to validate the ADO index that uses age, dyspnoea and FEV(1) to predict 3......-IV. MEASUREMENTS: We validated the original ADO index. We then obtained an updated ADO index in half of our cohorts to improve its predictive accuracy, which in turn was validated comprehensively in the remaining cohorts using discrimination, calibration and decision curve analysis and a number of sensitivity......-to-moderate risk of 3-year mortality than FEV(1) alone. INTERPRETATION: The updated 15-point ADO index accurately predicts 3-year mortality across the COPD severity spectrum and can be used to inform patients about their prognosis, clinical trial study design or benefit harm assessment of medical interventions....
Jones, Rupert C; Donaldson, Gavin C; Chavannes, Niels H; Kida, Kozui; Dickson-Spillmann, Maria; Harding, Samantha; Wedzicha, Jadwiga A; Price, David; Hyland, Michael E
2009-12-15
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is increasingly recognized as a multicomponent disease with systemic consequences and effects on quality of life. Single measures such as lung function provide a limited reflection of how the disease affects patients. Composite measures have the potential to account for many of the facets of COPD. To derive and validate a multicomponent assessment tool of COPD severity that is applicable to all patients and health care settings. The index was derived using data from 375 patients with COPD in primary care. Regression analysis led to a model explaining 48% of the variance in health status as measured by the Clinical COPD Questionnaire with four components: dyspnea (D), airflow obstruction (O), smoking status (S), and exacerbation frequency (E). The DOSE Index was validated in cross-sectional and longitudinal samples in various health care settings in Holland, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The DOSE Index correlated with health status in all data sets. A high DOSE Index score (> or = 4) was associated with a greater risk of hospital admission (odds ratio, 8.3 [4.1-17]) or respiratory failure (odds ratio, 7.8 [3.4-18.3]). The index predicted exacerbations in the subsequent year (P Index is a simple, valid tool for assessing the severity of COPD. The index is related to a range of clinically important outcomes such as health care consumption and predicts future events.
A tool for assessing the quality of nursing handovers: a validation study.
Ferrara, Paolo; Terzoni, Stefano; Davì, Salvatore; Bisesti, Alberto; Destrebecq, Anne
2017-08-10
Handover, in particular between two shifts, is a crucial aspect of nursing for patient safety, aimed at ensuring continuity of care. During this process, several factors can affect quality of care and cause errors. This study aimed to assess quality of handovers, by validating the Handoff CEX-Italian scale. The scale was translated from English into Italian and the content validity index was calculated and internal consistency assessed. The scale was used in several units of the San Paolo Teaching Hospital in Milan, Italy. A total of 48 reports were assessed (192 evaluations). The median score was 6, interquartile range (IQR) [5;7] and was not influenced by specific (p=0.21) or overall working experience (p=0.13). The domains showing the lowest median values (median=6, IQR [4;8]) were context, communication, and organisation. Night to morning handovers obtained the lowest scores. CVI-S was 0.96, Cronbach's alpha was 0.79. The Handoff CEX-Italian scale is valid and reliable and it can be used to assess the quality of nurse handovers.
Gartner-Schmidt, Jackie L; Shembel, Adrianna C; Zullo, Thomas G; Rosen, Clark A
2014-11-01
To (1) develop and validate the Dyspnea Index (DI); (2) quantify severity of symptoms in upper airway dyspnea; and (3) validate the DI as an outcome measure. Survey development and validation. Three hundred sixty-nine participants were recruited for different phases of the study. Two hundred participants with chief complaints of dyspnea were given a 41-item questionnaire addressing common symptoms of dyspnea related to the upper airway. The questions were then reduced based on principal component analysis (PCA) and internal consistency resulting in a 10-item questionnaire. Cognitive interviews were conducted with 15 participants. Test-retest reliability and discriminant validity were measured from 51 participants. The DI was further validated by administering the index to 57 healthy controls (HC). Validation of the DI as a treatment outcome tool occurred with 46 participants' pre- and post-treatment scores. PCA revealed that only a single factor was being measured in both the original 41- and 10-item questionnaires. Additional cognitive interviewing suggested that no modification was needed to the DI. Test-retest reliability was r = 0.83. Discriminant validity was r = 0.62. The Mann-Whitney test demonstrated significant differences between healthy/symptomatic participants. Scores from the HC cohort resulted in a mean of 3.12 (SEM = 0.484; SD = 3.65) for the normative values. The DI is an effective and efficient instrument to quantify patients' symptoms of upper airway dyspnea. It is a statistically robust index, with significant reliability and validity, and can be dependably used as a treatment outcome measure. Copyright © 2014 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Vahid Zamanzadeh
2015-06-01
Full Text Available ABSTRACT Introduction: The importance of content validity in the instrument psychometric and its relevance with reliability, have made it an essential step in the instrument development. This article attempts to give an overview of the content validity process and to explain the complexity of this process by introducing an example. Methods: We carried out a methodological study conducted to examine the content validity of the patient-centered communication instrument through a two-step process (development and judgment. At the first step, domain determination, sampling (item generation and instrument formation and at the second step, content validity ratio, content validity index and modified kappa statistic was performed. Suggestions of expert panel and item impact scores are used to examine the instrument face validity. Results: From a set of 188 items, content validity process identified seven dimensions includes trust building (eight items, informational support (seven items, emotional support (five items, problem solving (seven items, patient activation (10 items, intimacy/friendship (six items and spirituality strengthening (14 items. Content validity study revealed that this instrument enjoys an appropriate level of content validity. The overall content validity index of the instrument using universal agreement approach was low; however, it can be advocated with respect to the high number of content experts that makes consensus difficult and high value of the S-CVI with the average approach, which was equal to 0.93. Conclusion: This article illustrates acceptable quantities indices for content validity a new instrument and outlines them during design and psychometrics of patient-centered communication measuring instrument.
González-Chordá, Víctor M; Mena-Tudela, Desirée; Salas-Medina, Pablo; Cervera-Gasch, Agueda; Orts-Cortés, Isabel; Maciá-Soler, Loreto
2016-02-01
Writing a bachelor thesis (BT) is the last step to obtain a nursing degree. In order to perform an effective assessment of a nursing BT, certain reliable and valid tools are required. To develop and validate a 3-rubric system (drafting process, dissertation, and viva) to assess final year nursing students' BT. A multi-disciplinary study of content validity and psychometric properties. The study was carried out between December 2014 and July 2015. Nursing Degree at Universitat Jaume I. Spain. Eleven experts (9 nursing professors and 2 education professors from 6 different universities) took part in the development and content validity stages. Fifty-two theses presented during the 2014-2015 academic year were included by consecutive sampling of cases in order to study the psychometric properties. First, a group of experts was created to validate the content of the assessment system based on three rubrics (drafting process, dissertation, and viva). Subsequently, a reliability and validity study of the rubrics was carried out on the 52 theses presented during the 2014-2015 academic year. The BT drafting process rubric has 8 criteria (S-CVI=0.93; α=0.837; ICC=0.614), the dissertation rubric has 7 criteria (S-CVI=0.9; α=0.893; ICC=0.74), and the viva rubric has 4 criteria (S-CVI=0.86; α=8.16; ICC=0.895). A nursing BT assessment system based on three rubrics (drafting process, dissertation, and viva) has been validated. This system may be transferred to other nursing degrees or degrees from other academic areas. It is necessary to continue with the validation process taking into account factors that may affect the results obtained. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Newcomb, Sandra
2010-01-01
Children who are identified as visually impaired frequently have a functional vision assessment as one way to determine how their visual impairment affects their educational performance. The CVI Range is a functional vision assessment for children with cortical visual impairment. The purpose of the study presented here was to examine the…
Development and Validation of an Aquatic Fine Sediment Biotic Index
Relyea, Christina D.; Minshall, G. Wayne; Danehy, Robert J.
2012-01-01
The Fine Sediment Biotic Index (FSBI) is a regional, stressor-specific biomonitoring index to assess fine sediment (Plecoptera (5), Trichoptera (3), and Ephemeroptera (2) contained all but one of the species or species groups classified as extremely sensitive. Index validation with an independent data set of 255 streams found FSBI scores to accurately predict both high and low levels of measured fine sediment.
Amendola, Fernanda; Alvarenga, Márcia Regina Martins; Latorre, Maria do Rosário Dias de Oliveira; Oliveira, Maria Amélia de Campos
2014-02-01
This exploratory, descriptive, cross-sectional, and quantitative study aimed to develop and validate an index of family vulnerability to disability and dependence (FVI-DD). This study was adapted from the Family Development Index, with the addition of social and health indicators of disability and dependence. The instrument was applied to 248 families in the city of Sao Paulo, followed by exploratory factor analysis. Factor validation was performed using the concurrent and discriminant validity of the Lawton scale and Katz Index. The descriptive level adopted for the study was p DD was validated using both the Lawton scale and Katz Index. We conclude that FVI-DD can accurately and reliably assess family vulnerability to disability and dependence.
Bhatt, R. T.; Kiser, J. D.
2017-01-01
SiC/SiC composites fabricated by melt infiltration are being considered as potential candidate materials for next generation turbine components. However these materials are limited to 2400 F application because of the presence of residual silicon in the SiC matrix. Currently there is an increasing interest in developing and using silicon free SiC/SiC composites for structural aerospace applications above 2400 F. Full PIP or full CVI or CVI + PIP hybrid SiC/SiC composites can be fabricated without excess silicon, but the upper temperature stress capabilities of these materials are not fully known. In this study, the on-axis creep and rupture properties of the state-of-the-art full CVI and full PIP SiC/SiC composites with Sylramic-iBN fibers were measured at temperatures to 2700 F in air and their failure modes examined. In this presentation creep rupture properties, failure mechanisms and upper temperature capabilities of these two systems will be discussed and compared with the literature data.
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Johnston, Robert [New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM (United States). Materials Engineering Dept.; Rogelj, Snezna [New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM (United States). Biology Dept.; Harper, Jason C. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Bioenergy and Biodefense Technologies Dept.; Tartis, Michaelann [New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM (United States). Materials and Chemical Engineering Dept.
2014-12-12
In nature, cells perform a variety of complex functions such as sensing, catalysis, and energy conversion which hold great potential for biotechnological device construction. However, cellular sensitivity to ex vivo environments necessitates development of bio–nano interfaces which allow integration of cells into devices and maintain their desired functionality. In order to develop such an interface, the use of a novel Sol-Generating Chemical Vapor into Liquid (SG-CViL) deposition process for whole cell encapsulation in silica was explored. In SG-CViL, the high vapor pressure of tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS) is utilized to deliver silica into an aqueous medium, creating a silica sol. Cells are then mixed with the resulting silica sol, facilitating encapsulation of cells in silica while minimizing cell contact with the cytotoxic products of silica generating reactions (i.e. methanol), and reduce exposure of cells to compressive stresses induced from silica condensation reactions. Using SG-CVIL, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) engineered with an inducible beta galactosidase system were encapsulated in silica solids and remained both viable and responsive 29 days post encapsulation. By tuning SG-CViL parameters, thin layer silica deposition on mammalian HeLa and U87 human cancer cells was also achieved. Thus, the ability to encapsulate various cell types in either a multi cell (S. cerevisiae) or a thin layer (HeLa and U87 cells) fashion shows the promise of SG-CViL as an encapsulation strategy for generating cell–silica constructs with diverse functions for incorporation into devices for sensing, bioelectronics, biocatalysis, and biofuel applications.
Emmanuel, Andy; Clow, Sheila E
2017-06-07
Validating a questionnaire/instrument (whether developed or adapted) before proceeding to the field for data collection is important. This article presents the modification of an Irish questionnaire for a Nigerian setting. The validation process and reliability testing of this questionnaire (which was used in assessing previous breastfeeding practices and breastfeeding intentions of pregnant women in English and Hausa languages) were also presented. Five experts in the field of breastfeeding and infant feeding voluntarily and independently evaluated the instrument. The experts evaluated the various items of the questionnaire based on relevance, clarity, simplicity and ambiguity on a Likert scale of 4. The analysis was performed to determine the content validity index (CVI).Two language experts performed the translation and back-translation. Ten pregnant women completed questionnaires which were evaluated for internal consistency. Two other pregnant women completed the questionnaire twice at an interval of two weeks to test the reliability. SPSS version 21 was used to calculate the coefficient of reliability. The content validity index was high (0.94 for relevance, clarity and ambiguity and 0.96 for simplicity). The analysis suggested that four of the seventy one items should be removed. Cronbach's Alpha was 0.81, while the reliability coefficient was 0.76. The emerged validated questionnaire was translated from English to Hausa, then, back-translated into English and compared for accuracy. The final instrument is reliable and valid for data collection on breastfeeding in Nigeria among English and Hausa speakers. Therefore, the instrument is recommended for use in assessing breastfeeding intention and practices in Nigeria.
Validation of insulin resistance indexes in a stable renal transplant population
Oterdoom, Leendert H.; de Vries, Aiko P. J.; van Son, Willem J.; Homan van der Heide, Jaap J.; Ploeg, Rutger J.; Gansevoort, Ron T.; de Jong, Paul E.; Gans, Rijk O. B.; Bakker, Stephan J. L.
2005-01-01
The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of established insulin resistance indexes, based on fasting blood parameters, in a stable renal transplant population. Fasting insulin, homeostasis model assessment (HOMA), the quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI), and
Reliability and Validity of Athletes Disability Index Questionnaire.
Noormohammadpour, Pardis; Hosseini Khezri, Alireza; Farahbakhsh, Farzin; Mansournia, Mohammad Ali; Smuck, Matthew; Kordi, Ramin
2018-03-01
The purpose of this study was to evaluate validity and reliability of a new proposed questionnaire for assessment of functional disability in athletes with low back pain (LBP). Validity and reliability study. Elite athletes participating in different fields of sports. Participants were 165 male and female athletes (between 12 and 50 years old) with LBP. Athlete Disability Index (ADI) Questionnaire which is developed by the authors for assessing LBP-related disability in athletes, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RDQ). Self-reported responses were collected regarding LBP-related disability through ADI, ODI, and RDQ. The test-retest reliability was strong, and intraclass correlation value ranged between 0.74 and 0.94. The Cronbach alpha coefficient value of 0.91 (P visual analog scale was r = 0.626 (P disability levels were mild in the large majority of subjects (91.5% and 86.0%, respectively). Alternatively, disability assessments by the ADI did not cluster at the mild level and ranged more broadly from mild to very high. The ADI is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing disability in athletes with LBP. Compared with the available LBP disability questionnaires used in the general population, ADI can more precisely stratify the disability levels of athletes due to LBP.
Validity and reliability of the Brazilian version of the Work Ability Index questionnaire.
Martinez, Maria Carmen; Latorre, Maria do Rosário Dias de Oliveira; Fischer, Frida Marina
2009-06-01
To evaluate the validity and reliability of the Portuguese language version of a work ability index. Cross sectional survey of a sample of 475 workers from an electrical company in the state of Sao Paulo, Southeastern Brazil (spread across ten municipalities in the Campinas area), carried out in 2005. The following aspects of the Brazilian version of the Work Ability Index were evaluated: construct validity, using factorial exploratory analysis, and discriminant capacity, by comparing mean Work Ability Index scores in two groups with different absenteeism levels; criterion validity, by determining the correlation between self-reported health and Work Ability Index score; and reliability, using Cronbach's alpha to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaire. Factorial analysis indicated three factors in the work ability construct: issues pertaining to 'mental resources' (20.6% of the variance), self-perceived work ability (18.9% of the variance), and presence of diseases and health-related limitations (18.4% of the variance). The index was capable of discriminating workers according to levels of absenteeism, identifying a significantly lower (pindex and all dimensions of health status analyzed (pindex was high, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.72. The Brazilian version of the Work Ability Index showed satisfactory psychometric properties with respect to construct validity, thus constituting an appropriate option for evaluating work ability in both individual and population-based settings.
Grando, Luciana Rosa; Horn, Roberta; Cunha, Vivian Trein; Cestari, Tania Ferreira
2016-04-01
The Cardiff Acne Disability Index was originally developed in English for measuring quality of life of acne patients. Considering the psychosocial impact of this disease, it is important to have instruments culturally and linguistically validated for use in Brazilian adolescents. To translate the Cardiff Acne Disability Index into Brazilian Portuguese, culturally adapt it, and verify its reliability and validity in adolescent patients with acne. In the first step, the Cardiff Acne Disability Index was translated and validated linguistically to Brazilian Portuguese in accordance with international guidelines published. In the second step, the validation of the Cardiff Acne Disability Index into Brazilian Portuguese instrument was performed, when patients aged from 12 to 20 years with acne were selected. The participants were interviewed to collect demographic data, submitted to the classification of acne by the Global Acne Grading System and invited to respond the Cardiff Acne Disability Index into Brazilian Portuguese version and DLQI (>16 years) or CDLQI (≤16 years). The internal consistency of Cardiff Acne Disability Index into Brazilian Portuguese was assessed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient and concurrent validity was measured by the Spearman correlation coefficient and Student 's t-test for paired samples. The study included 100 adolescents. The Cardiff Acne Disability Index into Brazilian Portuguese version showed good reliability and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.73). The concurrent validity of the scale was supported by a strong and significant correlation with CDLQI / DLQI instruments (rs=0.802;pPortuguese version is a reliable, valid and valuable tool to measure the impact of acne on quality of life in adolescent patients.
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Emine Sari
2016-01-01
Full Text Available This study was conducted with the aim of determining whether the Turkish form of the “Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire” developed by Godin is a valid and reliable tool for diabetic patients in Turkey. The study was conducted as a methodological research on 300 diabetic patients in Turkey. The linguistic equivalence of the questionnaire was assessed through the back-translation method, while its content validity was assessed through obtaining expert opinions. Cronbach’s alpha value was found to assess the reliability of the questionnaire. The test-retest analysis and the correlation between independent observers were examined. The content validity index (CVI was found to be .82 according to the expert assessments, and no statistical difference was found between them (Kendall’s W=.17, p=.235. Cronbach’s alpha was found to be α=.64, the result of the test-retest analysis was r=.97, and the correlation between independent observers (ICC was .98. This study found that the Turkish form of the Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool that can be used to define and assess the exercise behaviors of Turkish diabetic patients.
Characterization of commercial grade Tyranno SA/CVI-SiC composites
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Riccardi, B.; Trentini, E.; Labanti, M.; Leuchs, M.; Roccella, S.; Visca, E.
2007-01-01
The objective of the present work was to characterize commercial-grade Tyranno SA SiC fiber reinforced chemically vapour infiltrated (CVI) SiC matrix composites (SiC f /SiC) with chemically vapour deposited (CVD) SiC coating. The characterization includes the assessment of the monotonic mechanical properties. Low cycle flexural fatigue behaviour has been investigated at room temperature (RT) and 1000 o C by means of 4-point bending tests. The creep behaviour at 1000 o C was preliminary investigated by means of constant bending stress rupture test. The material showed a pronounced degradation of monotonic mechanical properties at high temperature. Low cycle flexural fatigue behaviour showed excellent and satisfactory results at RT and 1000 o C, respectively. The creep resistance at 1000 o C is significant only at low load level
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Dong X
2016-12-01
Full Text Available Xiao-Yan Dong,1,* Lan Wang,1,* Yan-Xia Tao,1 Xiu-li Suo,2 Yue-Chuan Li,2 Fang Liu,1 Yue Zhao,1 Qing Zhang1 1School of Nursing, Tianjin Medical University, 2Department of Respiratory Care, Tianjin Chest Hospital, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Anxiety is a common comorbidity in patients with COPD in China, and it can significantly decrease patients’ quality of life. Almost all anxiety measurements contain somatic items that can overlap with symptoms of COPD and side effects of medicines, which can lead to bias in measuring anxiety in patients with COPD. Therefore, a brief and disease-specific non-somatic anxiety measurement scale, the Anxiety Inventory for Respiratory Disease (AIR, which has been developed and validated in its English version, is needed for patients with COPD in China.Methods: A two-center study was conducted in two tertiary hospitals in Tianjin, China. A total of 181 outpatients with COPD (mean age 67.21±8.10 years, 32.6% women, who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria, were enrolled in the study. Test–retest reliability was examined using intraclass correlation coefficients. The internal consistency was calculated by Cronbach’s α. Content validity was examined using the Content Validity Index (CVI, scale-level CVI/universal agreement, and scale-level CVI/average agreement (S-CVI/Ave. Besides, convergent validity and construct validity were also examined.Results: The AIR-C (AIR-Chinese version scale had high test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient =0.904 and internal consistency (Cronbach’s α=0.914; the content validity of the AIR-C scale was calculated by CVI, scale-level CVI/universal agreement, and S-CVI/Ave at values of 0.89–1, 0.90, and 0.98, respectively. Meanwhile, the AIR-C scale had good convergent validity, correlating with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety (r=0.81, P<0.01, and there were
Psychometric evaluation of the ostomy complication severity index.
Pittman, Joyce; Bakas, Tamilyn; Ellett, Marsha; Sloan, Rebecca; Rawl, Susan M
2014-01-01
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a new instrument to measure incidence and severity of ostomy complications early in the postoperative period. 71 participants were enrolled, most were men (52%), white (96%), and married or partnered (55%). The mean age of participants was 57 ± 15.09 years (mean ± SD). Fifty-two participants (84%) experienced at least 1 ostomy complication in the 60-day postoperative period. The research setting was 3 acute care settings within a large healthcare system in the Midwestern United States. We developed an evidence-based conceptual model to guide development and evaluation of a new instrument, the Pittman Ostomy Complication Severity Index (OCSI). The OCSI format includes Likert-like scale with 9 individual items scored 0 to 3 and a total score computed by summing the individual items. Higher scores indicate more severe ostomy complications. This study consisted of 2 phases: (1) an expert review, conducted to establish content validity; and (2) a prospective, longitudinal study design, to examine psychometric properties of the instrument. A convenience sample of 71 adult patients who underwent surgery to create a new fecal ostomy was recruited from 3 hospitals. Descriptive analyses, content validity indices, interrater reliability testing, and construct validity testing were employed. Common complications included leakage (60%), peristomal moisture-associated dermatitis (50%), stomal pain (42%), retraction (39%), and bleeding (32%). The OCSI demonstrated acceptable evidence of content validity index (CVI = 0.9) and interrater reliability for individual items (k = 0.71-1.0), as well as almost perfect agreement for total scores among raters (ICC = 0.991, P ≤ .001). Construct validity of the OCSI was supported by significant correlations among variables in the conceptual model (complications, risk factors, stoma care self-efficacy, and ostomy adjustment). OCSI demonstrated acceptable validity and
Validation and simplification of Fournier's gangrene severity index.
Lin, Tsung-Yen; Ou, Chien-Hui; Tzai, Tzong-Shin; Tong, Yat-Ching; Chang, Chien-Chen; Cheng, Hong-Lin; Yang, Wen-Horng; Lin, Yung-Ming
2014-07-01
To validate the predictive value of Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index in patients with Fournier gangrene and to facilitate patient mortality risk-stratification by simplifying the Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index. From January 1989 to December 2011, 85 male patients with clinically-documented Fournier's gangrene undergoing intensive treatment and with complete medical records were recruited. The demographic information and nine parameters of Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index were compared between survivors and non-survivors. The parameters that showed a significant difference between the two groups were selected to generate a simplified scoring index. Of the 85 patients recruited, 16 patients died of the disease with mortality rate of 18.8%. The Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index score at initial diagnosis was significantly higher in non-survivors than in survivors. Of the nine parameters of Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index, the scores of serum creatinine level, hematocrit level and serum potassium level were significantly different between the two groups. However, the mean body temperatures, heart rate, respiration rate, white blood cell count, serum sodium and bicarbonate levels were non-significantly different. Of the 12 patients with chronic kidney disease or end-stage renal disease, 10 died of severe sepsis. A simplified scoring index including parameters of creatinine, hematocrit and potassium was generated, which provided sensitivity and specificity of 87% and 77% in predicting patient mortality, respectively. The predictive values of this simplified Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index were shown to be non-inferior to Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index in our patients. The simplified Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index is easy to use at initial diagnosis, and offers a way to compare outcomes in different clinical populations. © 2014 The Japanese Urological Association.
Salavati, M; Rameckers, E A A; Waninge, A; Krijnen, W P; Steenbergen, B; van der Schans, C P
2017-01-01
To investigate whether the adapted version of the Gross Motor Function Measure-88 (GMFM-88) for children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) results in higher scores. This is most likely to be a reflection of their gross motor function, however it may be the result of a better comprehension of the instruction of the adapted version. The scores of the original and adapted GMFM-88 were compared in the same group of children (n=21 boys and n=16 girls), mean (SD) age 113 (30) months with CP and CVI, within a time span of two weeks. A paediatric physical therapist familiar with the child assessed both tests in random order. The GMFCS level, mental development and age at testing were also collected. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare two different measurements (the original and adapted GMFM-88) on a single sample, (the same child with CP and CVI; pchildren with CP and CVI showed a positive difference in percentage score on at least one of the five dimensions and positive percentage scores for the two versions differed on all five dimensions for fourteen children. For six children a difference was seen in four dimensions and in 10 children difference was present in three dimensions (GMFM dimension A, B& C or C, D & E) (pchildren with CP and CVI that is not adversely impacted bytheir visual problems. On the basis of these findings, we recommend using the adapted GMFM-88 to measure gross motor functioning in children with CP and CVI. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
French validation of the Foot Function Index (FFI).
Pourtier-Piotte, C; Pereira, B; Soubrier, M; Thomas, E; Gerbaud, L; Coudeyre, E
2015-10-01
French validation of the Foot Function Index (FFI), self-questionnaire designed to evaluate rheumatoid foot according to 3 domains: pain, disability and activity restriction. The first step consisted of translation/back translation and cultural adaptation according to the validated methodology. The second stage was a prospective validation on 53 patients with rheumatoid arthritis who filled out the FFI. The following data were collected: pain (Visual Analog Scale), disability (Health Assessment Questionnaire) and activity restrictions (McMaster Toronto Arthritis questionnaire). A test/retest procedure was performed 15 days later. The statistical analyses focused on acceptability, internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha and Principal Component Analysis), test-retest reproducibility (concordance coefficients), external validity (correlation coefficients) and responsiveness to change. The FFI-F is a culturally acceptable version for French patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.85 to 0.97. Reproducibility was correct (correlation coefficients>0.56). External validity and responsiveness to change were good. The use of a rigorous methodology allowed the validation of the FFI in the French language (FFI-F). This tool can be used in routine practice and clinical research for evaluating the rheumatoid foot. The FFI-F could be used in other pathologies with foot-related functional impairments. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
Measuring cervical cancer risk: development and validation of the CARE Risky Sexual Behavior Index.
Reiter, Paul L; Katz, Mira L; Ferketich, Amy K; Ruffin, Mack T; Paskett, Electra D
2009-12-01
To develop and validate a risky sexual behavior index specific to cervical cancer research. Sexual behavior data on 428 women from the Community Awareness Resources and Education (CARE) study were utilized. A weighting scheme for eight risky sexual behaviors was generated and validated in creating the CARE Risky Sexual Behavior Index. Cutpoints were then identified to classify women as having a low, medium, or high level of risky sexual behavior. Index scores ranged from 0 to 35, with women considered to have a low level of risky sexual behavior if their score was less than six (31.3% of sample), a medium level if their score was 6–10 (30.6%), or a high level if their score was 11 or greater (38.1%). A strong association was observed between the created categories and having a previous abnormal Pap smear test (p Sexual Behavior Index provides a tool for measuring risky sexual behavior level for cervical cancer research. Future studies are needed to validate this index in varied populations and test its use in the clinical setting.
Validation of the Neurological Fatigue Index for stroke (NFI-Stroke)
Mills, Roger J; Pallant, Julie F; Koufali, Maria; Sharma, Anil; Day, Suzanne; Tennant, Alan; Young, Carolyn A
2012-01-01
Abstract Background Fatigue is a common symptom in Stroke. Several self-report scales are available to measure this debilitating symptom but concern has been expressed about their construct validity. Objective To examine the reliability and validity of a recently developed scale for multiple sclerosis (MS) fatigue, the Neurological Fatigue Index (NFI-MS), in a sample of stroke patients. Method Six patients with stroke participated in qualitative interviews which were analysed and the themes c...
Hadzaman, N. A. H.; Takim, R.; Nawawi, A. H.; Mohamad Yusuwan, N.
2018-04-01
BIM governance assessment instrument is a process of analysing the importance in developing BIM governance solution to tackle the existing problems during team collaboration in BIM-based projects. Despite the deployment of integrative technologies in construction industry particularly BIM, it is still insufficient compare to other sectors. Several studies have been established the requirements of BIM implementation concerning all technical and non-technical BIM adoption issues. However, the data are regarded as inadequate to develop a BIM governance framework. Hence, the objective of the paper is to evaluate the content validity of the BIM governance instrument prior to the main data collection. Two methods were employed in the form of literature review and questionnaire survey. Based on the literature review, 273 items with six main constructs are suggested to be incorporated in the BIM governance instrument. The Content Validity Ratio (CVR) scores revealed that 202 out of 273 items are considered as the utmost critical by the content experts. The findings for Item Level Content Validity Index (I-CVI) and Modified Kappa Coefficient however revealed that 257 items in BIM governance instrument are appropriate and excellent. The instrument is highly reliable for future strategies and the development of BIM projects in Malaysia.
Child-OIDP index in Brazil: Cross-cultural adaptation and validation
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Tsakos Georgios
2008-09-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL measures are being increasingly used to introduce dimensions excluded by normative measures. Consequently, there is a need for an index which evaluates children's OHRQoL validated for Brazilian population, useful for oral health needs assessments and for the evaluation of oral health programs, services and technologies. The aim of this study was to do a cross-cultural adaptation of the Child Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (Child-OIDP index, and assess its reliability and validity for application among Brazilian children between the ages of eleven and fourteen. Methods For cross-cultural adaptation, a translation/back-translation method integrated with expert panel reviews was applied. A total of 342 students from four public schools took part of the study. Results Overall, 80.7% of the sample reported at least one oral impact in the last three months. Cronbach's alpha was 0.63, the weighted kappa 0.76, and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC 0.79. The index had a significant association with self-reported health measurements (self-rated oral health, satisfaction with oral health, perceived dental treatment needs, self-rated general health; all p Conclusion It was concluded that the Child-OIDP index is a measure of oral health-related quality of life that can be applied to Brazilian children.
de Carvalho, Karla Emanuelle Cotias; Gois Júnior, Miburge Bolívar; Sá, Katia Nunes
2014-01-01
To translate and validate the Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with Assistive Technology (QUEST 2.0) into Brazilian Portuguese. Certified translators translated and back-translated Quest. Content validity (CVI) was determined by 5 experts and, after the final version of B-Quest, a pre-test was applied to users of manual wheelchairs, walkers and crutches. The psychometric properties were tested to assure the validity of items and the reliability and stability of the scale. Data were obtained from 121 users of the above-mentioned devices. Our study showed a CVI of 91.66% and a satisfactory factor analysis referent to the two-dimensional structure of the instrument that ensured the representativeness of the items. The Cron-bach's alpha of the items device, service and total score of B-Quest were 0.862, 0.717 and 0.826, respectively. Test-retest stability conducted after a time interval of 2 months was analyzed using Spearman's correlation test, which showed high correlation (ρ >0.6) for most items. The study suggests that the B-Quest is a reliable, representative, and valid instrument to measure the satisfaction of users of assistive technology in Brazil. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.
The Multicultural Quality of Life Index: presentation and validation.
Mezzich, Juan E; Cohen, Neal L; Ruiperez, Maria A; Banzato, Claudio E M; Zapata-Vega, Maria I
2011-04-01
Quality of life has emerged as a crucial concept for the assessment of health and the planning of health care. Desirable features for the evaluation of quality of life include comprehensiveness, self-ratedness, cultural sensitivity, practicality and psychometric soundness. An attempt to meet these challenges led to the development of a brief multicultural quality of life instrument and to the appraisal of its applicability, reliability and validity. The development of the proposed assessment instrument was based on a wide review of the literature and the engagement of a multicultural mental health scholarly team. Its validation was conducted on samples of psychiatric patients (n = 124) and hospital professionals (n = 53) in New York City. A new generic culture-informed and self-rate instrument, the Multicultural Quality of Life Index, has been developed. Its 10 items cover key aspects of the concept, from physical well-being to spiritual fulfilment. Concerning its applicability, mean time for completion was less than 3 minutes and 96% of raters found it easy to use. Test-retest reliability was high (r = 0.87). A Cronbach's α of 0.92 documented its internal consistency and a factor analysis revealed a strong structure. With regard to discriminant validity, a highly significant difference was found between the mean total scores of professionals (x = 8.41) and patients (x = 6.34) presumed to have different levels of quality of life. The Multicultural Quality of Life Index is a brief and culturally informed instrument that appears to be easy to complete, reliable, internally consistent and valid. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Using Indexed and Synchronous Events to Model and Validate Cyber-Physical Systems
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Chen-Wei Wang
2015-06-01
Full Text Available Timed Transition Models (TTMs are event-based descriptions for modelling, specifying, and verifying discrete real-time systems. An event can be spontaneous, fair, or timed with specified bounds. TTMs have a textual syntax, an operational semantics, and an automated tool supporting linear-time temporal logic. We extend TTMs and its tool with two novel modelling features for writing high-level specifications: indexed events and synchronous events. Indexed events allow for concise description of behaviour common to a set of actors. The indexing construct allows us to select a specific actor and to specify a temporal property for that actor. We use indexed events to validate the requirements of a train control system. Synchronous events allow developers to decompose simultaneous state updates into actions of separate events. To specify the intended data flow among synchronized actions, we use primed variables to reference the post-state (i.e., one resulted from taking the synchronized actions. The TTM tool automatically infers the data flow from synchronous events, and reports errors on inconsistencies due to circular data flow. We use synchronous events to validate part of the requirements of a nuclear shutdown system. In both case studies, we show how the new notation facilitates the formal validation of system requirements, and use the TTM tool to verify safety, liveness, and real-time properties.
Reproducibility and validity of a diet quality index for children assessed using a FFQ
Huybrechts, I.; Vereecken, C.; Bacquer, De D.; Vandevijvere, S.; Oyen, van H.; Maes, L.; Vanhauwaert, E.; Temme, E.H.M.; Backer, De G.; Henauw, de S.
2010-01-01
The diet quality index (DQI) for preschool children is a new index developed to reflect compliance with four main food-based dietary guidelines for preschool children in Flanders. The present study investigates: (1) the validity of this index by comparing DQI scores for preschool children with
Muyimbwa, Dennis; Dahlback, Arne; Ssenyonga, Taddeo; Chen, Yi-Chun; Stamnes, Jakob J; Frette, Øyvind; Hamre, Børge
2015-10-01
The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) overpass solar ultraviolet (UV) indices have been validated against the ground-based UV indices derived from Norwegian Institute for Air Research UV measurements in Kampala (0.31° N, 32.58° E, 1200 m), Uganda for the period between 2005 and 2014. An excessive use of old cars, which would imply a high loading of absorbing aerosols, could cause the OMI retrieval algorithm to overestimate the surface UV irradiances. The UV index values were found to follow a seasonal pattern with maximum values in March and October. Under all-sky conditions, the OMI retrieval algorithm was found to overestimate the UV index values with a mean bias of about 28%. When only days with radiation modification factor greater than or equal to 65%, 70%, 75%, and 80% were considered, the mean bias between ground-based and OMI overpass UV index values was reduced to 8%, 5%, 3%, and 1%, respectively. The overestimation of the UV index by the OMI retrieval algorithm was found to be mainly due to clouds and aerosols.
A functional approach to cerebral visual impairments in very preterm/very-low-birth-weight children.
Geldof, Christiaan J A; van Wassenaer-Leemhuis, Aleid G; Dik, Marjolein; Kok, Joke H; Oosterlaan, Jaap
2015-08-01
Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) is a major cause of visual impairment, with very preterm birth/very low birth weight (VP/VLBW) being a major risk factor. There is no generally accepted definition of CVI. This study aims to investigate the usefulness of an empirically-based functional definition of CVI. One-hundred-five VP/VLBW children and 67 controls participated. CVI was defined after comprehensive oculomotor, visual sensory and perceptive assessment, and validated against vision problems in daily life and in terms of intellectual, behavioral, emotional and social functioning, as well as use of therapeutic services. Twenty-four per cent of the VP/VLBW children met criteria for CVI, compared to 7% of controls (P = 0.006, OR: 3.86, 95% CI: 1.40-10.70). VP/VLBW children with CVI had lower performance IQ, but not verbal IQ, than those without CVI. Visual problems in daily life were confirmed in VP/VLBW children classified with CVI. Additionally, difficulties in behavioral and social functioning were most prominent among VP/VLBW children with CVI. In VP/VLBW children, CVI defined in terms of visual function deficits is accompanied by intellectual, behavioral, and social impairments, validating our operational definition of CVI. CVI might act as a marker for developmental problems in VP/VLBW children.
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Caroline de Oliveira Cardoso
Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective: The goal of this study was to describe the construction process and content validity evidence of an early and preventive intervention program for stimulating executive functions (EF in Elementary School children within the school environment. Methods: The process has followed the recommended steps for creating neuropsychological instruments: internal phase of program organization, with literature search and analyses of available materials in the classroom; program construction; analysis by expert judges; data integration and program finalization. To determine the level of agreement among the judges, a Content Validity Index (CVI was calculated. Results: Content validity was evidenced by the agreement among the experts with regards to the program, both in general and for each activity. All steps taken were deemed necessary because they contributed to the identification of positive aspects and possible flaws in the process Conclusion: The steps also helped to adapt stimuli and improve program tasks and activities. Methodological procedures implemented in this study can be adopted by other researchers to create or adapt neuropsychological stimulation and rehabilitation programs. Furthermore, the methodological approach allows the reader to understand, in detail, the technical and scientific rigor adopted in devising this program.
Roorda, Leo D.; Green, John; De Kluis, Kiki R. A.; Molenaar, Ivo W.; Bagley, Pam; Smith, Jane; Geurts, Alexander C. H.
2008-01-01
Objective: To investigate the cross-cultural validity of international Dutch-English comparisons when using the Dutch Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI), and the intra-test reliability and construct validity of the Dutch RMI. Methods: Cross-cultural validity was studied in a combined data-set of Dutch
IMatter: validation of the NHS Scotland Employee Engagement Index.
Snowden, Austyn; MacArthur, Ewan
2014-11-08
Employee engagement is a fundamental component of quality healthcare. In order to provide empirical data of engagement in NHS Scotland an Employee Engagement Index was co-constructed with staff. 'iMatter' consists of 25 Likert questions developed iteratively from the literature and a series of validation events with NHS Scotland staff. The aim of this study was to test the face, content and construct validity of iMatter. Cross sectional survey of NHS Scotland staff. In January 2013 iMatter was sent to 2300 staff across all disciplines in NHS Scotland. 1280 staff completed it. Demographic data were collected. Internal consistency of the scale was calculated. Construct validity consisted of concurrent application of factor analysis and Rasch analysis. Face and content validity were checked using 3 focus groups. The sample was representative of the NHSScotland population. iMatter showed very strong reliability (α = 0.958). Factor analysis revealed a four-factor structure consistent with the following interpretation: iMatter showed evidence of high reliability and validity. It is a popular measure of staff engagement in NHS Scotland. Implications for practice focus on the importance of coproduction in psychometric development.
Quantitative measurement of ventricular dilatation on CT scan
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Okita, Naoshi; Mochizuki, Hiroshi; Takase, Sadao
1985-01-01
Cerebral atrophy might be judged from the ventricular dilatation with some indices, calculated from various ventricular width. But, there is no general agreement on what index is the most reliable. In this paper, we attempted to establish the index, easy to measure and most reliable. Our method is as follow. 1) We carried out the CT scan (EMI 1010) on 89 neurologically intact patients. Scans were parallel to orbito-meatal line (OML), and were 10 mm in thickness. On CT scan films, various width, area of anterior horns and area of bodies of lateral ventricles were measured. Measurement about the anterior horns of lateral ventricles were carried out on image the most clearly showed the foramen of Monro. And measurements about the bodies of lateral ventricles were on image, 20 mm above the image of anterior horn. Correlations of various width and areas were calculated. Then we proposed new indices with high correlations (over 0.9) with ventricular area; Anterior horn CVI (Cerebro-Ventricular Index) and Body CVI. 2) Patients with myotonic dystrophy show cerebral atrophy. We carried out the CT scan (GECT/T 8800) on 17 myotonic dystrophy patients and 30 controls. Between the two groups, age and sex were almost matched. In the two groups, we calculated our new indices as well as various indices which have been reported; Huckman number, Bifrontal CVI, Bicaudal CVI, Anterior horn index, Hirajima's index, and Cella-media index. The data were analyzed statistically. The ventricular dilatation of myotonic dystrophy patients is more definite with Anterior horn CVI, Bicaudal CVI and Body CVI (p<0.01). These indices have higher correlations with the ventricular area (about 0.9). (J.P.N.)
Validation of the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) for web-based administration.
Crisp, Catrina C; Fellner, Angela N; Pauls, Rachel N
2015-02-01
Web-based questionnaires are becoming increasingly valuable for clinical research. The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) is the gold standard for evaluating female sexual function; yet, it has not been validated in this format. We sought to validate the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) for web-based administration. Subjects enrolled in a web-based research survey of sexual function from the general population were invited to participate in this validation study. The first 151 respondents were included. Validation participants completed the web-based version of the FSFI followed by a mailed paper-based version. Demographic data were collected for all subjects. Scores were compared using the paired t test and the intraclass correlation coefficient. One hundred fifty-one subjects completed both web- and paper-based versions of the FSFI. Those subjects participating in the validation study did not differ in demographics or FSFI scores from the remaining subjects in the general population study. Total web-based and paper-based FSFI scores were not significantly different (mean 20.31 and 20.29 respectively, p = 0.931). The six domains or subscales of the FSFI were similar when comparing web and paper scores. Finally, intraclass correlation analysis revealed a high degree of correlation between total and subscale scores, r = 0.848-0.943, p Web-based administration of the FSFI is a valid alternative to the paper-based version.
The development and validation of an ergonomics index for assessing tractor operator work place
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Juan Paulo Barbieri
2018-02-01
Full Text Available ABSTRACT: This study aimed to develop and validate an ergonomics index for the operator workplace assessment of agricultural tractors sold in the Brazilian market. To develop the ergonomics index, the operator work places were assessed for compliance with current, national and international, safety and ergonomics standards. The following standards were analyzed to develop ergonomics index: ISO 15077 (1996, which regulates the position of operator controls; ABNT NBR ISO 4254-1(2015 and ABNT NBR ISO 4252 (2011, which regulate the access to operator workplaces; and NR 12 (2010, which determines the mandatory items of operator workplaces.Thirty-four operator work places of 152 models of new agricultural tractors sold in the Brazilian market were analyzed in this study. Ergonomics index was developed and validated using these standards, and the findings enabled the ranking of agricultural tractors. Therefore, the proposed ergonomics index proved feasible and may be applied to other agricultural machines.
Validation of a Russian Language Oswestry Disability Index Questionnaire.
Yu, Elizabeth M; Nosova, Emily V; Falkenstein, Yuri; Prasad, Priya; Leasure, Jeremi M; Kondrashov, Dimitriy G
2016-11-01
Study Design Retrospective reliability and validity study. Objective To validate a recently translated Russian language version of the Oswestry Disability Index (R-ODI) using standardized methods detailed from previous validations in other languages. Methods We included all subjects who were seen in our spine surgery clinic, over the age of 18, and fluent in the Russian language. R-ODI was translated by six bilingual people and combined into a consensus version. R-ODI and visual analog scale (VAS) questionnaires for leg and back pain were distributed to subjects during both their initial and follow-up visits. Test validity, stability, and internal consistency were measured using standardized psychometric methods. Results Ninety-seven subjects participated in the study. No change in the meaning of the questions on R-ODI was noted with translation from English to Russian. There was a significant positive correlation between R-ODI and VAS scores for both the leg and back during both the initial and follow-up visits ( p Russian-speaking population in the United States.
Validation of insulin resistance indexes in a stable renal transplant population
Oterdoom, LH; De Vries, APJ; Van Son, WJ; Van Der Heide, JJH; Ploeg, RJ; Gansevoort, RT; De Jong, PE; Gans, ROB; Bakker, SJL
2005-01-01
OBJECTIVE - The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of established insulin resistance indexes, based on fasting blood parameters, in a stable renal transplant population. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - Fasting insulin, homeostasis model assessment (HOMA), the quantitative insulin
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Reza Charkhandaz Yeganeh
2016-12-01
Full Text Available Introduction: High mental workload is one of the important factors that results in errors in safety and occupational health scope and its measurement has high importance. So, this study aimed to determine validity and reliability of Verbal Online Subjective Opinion (VOSO and Modified Cooper-Harper (MCH scales in measuring mental workload. Methods: This study was conducted on 90 male students of Iran University of Medical Sciences. In this study, the Forward-Backward translation was used for translation of scales. Moreover, Content Validity Ratio (CVR and Content Validity Index (CVI were calculated by having suggestion of 6 Ergonomics and Occupational health experts. The Hybrid Memory Search Task software was used to create mental workload. Convergent validity of scales was calculated using correlation of scales with reaction time and then Test-Retest method was used to determine the reliability of scales. Results: Content and convergent validity of scales were confirmed and correlation of both scales with reaction time were higher than 0.8. Moreover for determination of scales reliabilities, Pearson correlation coefficient between scales values in test and retest trials were 0.86 and 0.91 for VOSO and MCH respectively. Conclusion: It seems that in regard to confirmation of validity and reliability of VOSO and MCH in this study and their high correlation with reaction time, it can use these scales in measurement of mental workload.
Lo Martire, Riccardo; de Alwis, Manudul Pahansen; Äng, Björn Olov; Garme, Karl
2017-07-20
High-performance marine craft personnel (HPMCP) are regularly exposed to vibration and repeated shock (VRS) levels exceeding maximum limitations stated by international legislation. Whereas such exposure reportedly is detrimental to health and performance, the epidemiological data necessary to link these adverse effects causally to VRS are not available in the scientific literature, and no suitable tools for acquiring such data exist. This study therefore constructed a questionnaire for longitudinal investigations in HPMCP. A consensus panel defined content domains, identified relevant items and outlined a questionnaire. The relevance and simplicity of the questionnaire's content were then systematically assessed by expert raters in three consecutive stages, each followed by revisions. An item-level content validity index (I-CVI) was computed as the proportion of experts rating an item as relevant and simple, and a scale-level content validity index (S-CVI/Ave) as the average I-CVI across items. The thresholds for acceptable content validity were 0.78 and 0.90, respectively. Finally, a dynamic web version of the questionnaire was constructed and pilot tested over a 1-month period during a marine exercise in a study population sample of eight subjects, while accelerometers simultaneously quantified VRS exposure. Content domains were defined as work exposure, musculoskeletal pain and human performance, and items were selected to reflect these constructs. Ratings from nine experts yielded S-CVI/Ave of 0.97 and 1.00 for relevance and simplicity, respectively, and the pilot test suggested that responses were sensitive to change in acceleration and that the questionnaire, following some adjustments, was feasible for its intended purpose. A dynamic web-based questionnaire for longitudinal survey of key variables in HPMCP was constructed. Expert ratings supported that the questionnaire content is relevant, simple and sufficiently comprehensive, and the pilot test suggested
Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Foot Function Index to Spanish.
Paez-Moguer, Joaquin; Budiman-Mak, Elly; Cuesta-Vargas, Antonio I
2014-03-01
The purpose of this study was to adapt and validate the Foot Function Index to the Spanish (FFI-Sp) following the guidelines of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. A cross-sectional study 80 participants with some foot pathology. A statistical analysis was made, including a correlation study with other questionnaires (the Foot Health Status Questionnaire, EuroQol 5-D, Visual Analogue Pain Scale, and the Short Form SF-12 Health Survey). Data analysis included reliability, construct and criterion-related validity and factor analyses. The principal components analysis with varimax rotation produced 3 principal factors that explained 80% of the variance. The confirmatory factor analysis showed an acceptable fit with a comparative fit index of 0.78. The FFI-Sp demonstrated excellent internal consistency on the three subscales: pain 0.95; disability 0.96; and activity limitation 0.69, the subscale that scored lowest. The correlation between the FFI-Sp and the other questionnaires was high to moderate. The Spanish version of the Foot Function Index (FFI-Sp) is a tool that is a valid and reliable tool with a very good internal consistency for use in the assessment of pain, disability and limitation of the function of the foot, for use both in clinic and research. Copyright © 2013 European Foot and Ankle Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Validation of an Arabic version of the Oswestry index in Saudi Arabia.
Algarni, A S; Ghorbel, S; Jones, J G; Guermazi, M
2014-12-01
The aim of this study was to adapt and validate the Tunisian version of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) within a Saudi Arabian population. The translation of items 8 and 10 taken out of the Tunisian version was conducted according to Beaton's method. Adaptations were made after a pilot study on 100 patients. The validation study included 100 patients suffering from chronic low back pain aged 18 to 65 years old. Intra-observer reliability was assessed using the intra-class coefficient (ICC). Spearman rank correlation coefficient, the Kruskall-Wallis test and factor analysis were used to evaluate construct validity (convergent and divergent validity). Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. One hundred Saudi patients were included in the study. Intra-observer reliability was excellent (ICC: 0.99). The correlations of the index with the VAS pain scale (r=0.708), the Roland-Morris Low Back Pain Disability (r=0.656), and the Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale (r=0.792) suggest good construct validity. Factor analysis unveiled two main factors explaining a cumulative percentage variance of 63.5%. The first factor represents static activities and the second factor represents dynamic activities. The Arabic version of the ODI adapted to the Saudi population has high metrological qualities. Further studies assessing its responsiveness to change should be conducted. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
Delgado Hernández, Jonathan; León Gómez, Nieves M; Jiménez, Alejandra; Izquierdo, Laura M; Barsties V Latoszek, Ben
2018-05-01
The aim of this study was to validate the Acoustic Voice Quality Index 03.01 (AVQIv3) and the Acoustic Breathiness Index (ABI) in the Spanish language. Concatenated voice samples of continuous speech (cs) and sustained vowel (sv) from 136 subjects with dysphonia and 47 vocally healthy subjects were perceptually judged for overall voice quality and breathiness severity. First, to reach a higher level of ecological validity, the proportions of cs and sv were equalized regarding the time length of 3 seconds sv part and voiced cs part, respectively. Second, concurrent validity and diagnostic accuracy were verified. A moderate reliability of overall voice quality and breathiness severity from 5 experts was used. It was found that 33 syllables as standardization of the cs part, which represents 3 seconds of voiced cs, allows the equalization of both speech tasks. A strong correlation was revealed between AVQIv3 and overall voice quality and ABI and perceived breathiness severity. Additionally, the best diagnostic outcome was identified at a threshold of 2.28 and 3.40 for AVQIv3 and ABI, respectively. The AVQIv3 and ABI showed in the Spanish language valid and robust results to quantify abnormal voice qualities regarding overall voice quality and breathiness severity.
Wada, Tomoki; Yasunaga, Hideo; Yamana, Hayato; Matsui, Hiroki; Fushimi, Kiyohide; Morimura, Naoto
2018-03-01
There was no established disability predictive measurement for patients with trauma that could be used in administrative claims databases. The aim of the present study was to develop and validate a diagnosis-based disability predictive index for severe physical disability at discharge using the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10) coding. This retrospective observational study used the Diagnosis Procedure Combination database in Japan. Patients who were admitted to hospitals with trauma and discharged alive from 01 April 2010 to 31 March 2015 were included. Pediatric patients under 15 years old were excluded. Data for patients admitted to hospitals from 01 April 2010 to 31 March 2013 was used for development of a disability predictive index (derivation cohort), while data for patients admitted to hospitals from 01 April 2013 to 31 March 2015 was used for the internal validation (validation cohort). The outcome of interest was severe physical disability defined as the Barthel Index score of predictive index for each patient was defined as the sum of the scores. The predictive performance of the index was validated using the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis in the validation cohort. The derivation cohort included 1,475,158 patients, while the validation cohort included 939,659 patients. Of the 939,659 patients, 235,382 (25.0%) were discharged with severe physical disability. The c-statistics of the disability predictive index was 0.795 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.794-0.795), while that of a model using the disability predictive index and patient baseline characteristics was 0.856 (95% CI 0.855-0.857). Severe physical disability at discharge may be well predicted with patient age, sex, CCI score, and the diagnosis-based disability predictive index in patients admitted to hospitals with trauma. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Ewerling, Fernanda; Lynch, John W; Victora, Cesar G; van Eerdewijk, Anouka; Tyszler, Marcelo; Barros, Aluisio J D
2017-09-01
The Sustainable Development Goals strongly focus on equity. Goal 5 explicitly aims to empower all women and girls, reinforcing the need to have a reliable indicator to track progress. Our objective was to develop a novel women's empowerment indicator from widely available data sources, broadening opportunities for monitoring and research on women's empowerment. We used Demographic and Health Survey data from 34 African countries, targeting currently partnered women. We identified items related to women's empowerment present in most surveys, and used principal component analysis to extract the components. We carried out a convergent validation process using coverage of three health interventions as outcomes; and an external validation process by analysing correlations with the Gender Development Index. 15 items related to women's empowerment were selected. We retained three components (50% of total variation) which, after rotation, were identified as three dimensions of empowerment: attitude to violence, social independence, and decision making. All dimensions had moderate to high correlation with the Gender Development Index. Social independence was associated with higher coverage of maternal and child interventions; attitude to violence and decision making were more consistently associated with the use of modern contraception. The index, named Survey-based Women's emPowERment index (SWPER), has potential to widen the research on women's empowerment and to give a better estimate of its effect on health interventions and outcomes. It allows within-country and between-country comparison, as well as time trend analysis, which no other survey-based index provides. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
[Relevance and validity of a new French composite index to measure poverty on a geographical level].
Challier, B; Viel, J F
2001-02-01
A number of disease conditions are influenced by deprivation. Geographical measurement of deprivation can provide an independent contribution to individual measures by accounting for the social context. Such a geographical approach, based on deprivation indices, is classical in Great Britain but scarcely used in France. The objective of this work was to build and validate an index readily usable in French municipalities and cantons. Socioeconomic data (unemployment, occupations, housing specifications, income, etc.) were derived from the 1990 census of municipalities and cantons in the Doubs departement. A new index was built by principal components analysis on the municipality data. The validity of the new index was checked and tested for correlations with British deprivation indices. Principal components analysis on municipality data identified four components (explaining 76% of the variance). Only the first component (CP1 explaining 42% of the variance) was retained. Content validity (wide choice of potential deprivation items, correlation between items and CP1: 0.52 to 0.96) and construct validity (CP1 socially relevant; Cronbach's alpha=0.91; correlation between CP1 and three out of four British indices ranging from 0.73 to 0.88) were sufficient. Analysis on canton data supported that on municipality data. The validation of the new index being satisfactory, the user will have to make a choice. The new index, CP1, is closer to the local background and was derived from data from a French departement. It is therefore better adapted to more descriptive approaches such as health care planning. To examine the relationship between deprivation and health with a more etiological approach, the British indices (anteriority, international comparisons) would be more appropriate, but CP1, once validated in various health problem situations, should be most useful for French studies.
Impurities and evaluation of induced activity of CVI SiCf/SiC composites
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Noda, Tetsuji; Fujita, Mitsutane; Araki, Hiroshi; Kohyama, Akira
2000-01-01
Impurity of SiC f /SiC composites prepared by CVI was analyzed by neutron activation analysis and glow discharge mass spectrometry. The evaluation of the induced activity of the composites based on the chemical compositions was made using a simulation calculation for fusion reactor blanket. Impurities of 35 elements were detected in the composites. However, the total concentration of metallic impurities was below 20 mass ppm. The analyses of induced activity of the composites show that the dose rate decreases by about six orders of magnitude in a day after the shutdown. It is recommended that the purification of SiC composites, especially reduction of Fe and Ni contents, is necessary to reduce the activity to satisfy the limit of remote handling recycling after several 10 years cooling of fusion reactors
Eaton, Jennifer L; Mohr, David C; Hodgson, Michael J; McPhaul, Kathleen M
2018-02-01
To describe development and validation of the work-related well-being (WRWB) index. Principal components analysis was performed using Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) data (N = 392,752) to extract variables representing worker well-being constructs. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to verify factor structure. To validate the WRWB index, we used multiple regression analysis to examine relationships with burnout associated outcomes. Principal Components Analysis identified three positive psychology constructs: "Work Positivity", "Co-worker Relationships", and "Work Mastery". An 11 item index explaining 63.5% of variance was achieved. The structural equation model provided a very good fit to the data. Higher WRWB scores were positively associated with all three employee experience measures examined in regression models. The new WRWB index shows promise as a valid and widely accessible instrument to assess worker well-being.
Beloosesky, Yichayaou; Weiss, Avraham; Mansur, Nariman
2011-12-01
Co-morbidity is common in older people. A co-morbidity index reduces coexisting illnesses and their severity to a single numerical score, allowing comparison with scores from other patients. Recently, the Medication-Based Disease Burden Index (MDBI) was developed. The aim of the study was to assess the MDBI's validity in hospitalized elderly patients. Clinical and demographic data and data on patients' medications on admission were obtained prospectively. Retrospectively, we applied the MDBI to the patients' medication regimens, determining their co-morbidity using the Charlson Comorbidity Index and Cumulative Illness Rating Scale for Geriatrics (CIRS-G). The MDBI's criterion validity was assessed against the Charlson and CIRS-G indices. Convergent and discriminant validities were also assessed. The MDBI's predictive validity was assessed by its ability to predict 3-month post-discharge readmissions or mortality compared with the Charlson and CIRS-G indices. MDBI scores were correlated with the Charlson and CIRS-G indices' scores (r = 0.44 and r = 0.37, respectively [p indices had good predictive ability for mortality (OR 1.50 [95% CI 1.22, 1.84; p failed to differentiate between cognitive and functional patient groups. The MDBI should be investigated in larger studies to determine its validity in settings where medication data rather than diagnostic data are more readily available. In clinical practice with elderly patients, we recommend employing co-morbidity indices that are based on medical records, such as the Charlson Comorbidity Index and CIRS-G.
Liu, S; Oh, H; Chambers, D W; Baumrind, S; Xu, T
2017-08-01
To assess the validity of the American Board of Orthodontics Discrepancy Index (ABO-DI) and Peer Assessment Rating (PAR) Index in evaluating malocclusion severity in Chinese orthodontic patients. A stratified random sample of 120 orthodontic patients based on Angle classification was collected from six university orthodontic centres. Sixty-nine orthodontists rated malocclusion severity on a five-point scale by assessing a full set of pre-treatment records for each case and listed reasons for their decision. Their judgement was then compared with ABO-DI and PAR scores determined by three calibrated examiners. Excellent interexaminer reliability of clinician judgement, ABO-DI and PAR index was demonstrated by the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (rho= 0.995, 0.990 and 0.964, respectively). Both the ABO-DI and US-PAR index showed good correlation with clinician judgement (r=.700 and r=.707, respectively). There was variability among the different Angle classifications: the ABO-DI showed the highest correlation with clinician judgement in Class II patients (r=.780), whereas the US-PAR index showed the highest correlation with clinician judgement in Class III patients (r=.710). Both indices demonstrated the lowest correlations with clinician judgement in Class I patients. With strong interexaminer agreement, the panel consensus was used for validating the ABO-DI and US-PAR index for malocclusion severity. Overall, the ABO-DI and US-PAR index were reliable for measuring malocclusion severity with significantly variable weightings for different Angle classifications. Further modification of the indices for different Angle classification may be indicated. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
The development and validation of an ergonomics index for assessing tractor operator work place
Barbieri, Juan Paulo; Schlosser, José Fernando; Farias, Marcelo Silveira de; Negri, Giácomo Müller; Oliveira, Luis Fernando Vargas de
2018-01-01
ABSTRACT: This study aimed to develop and validate an ergonomics index for the operator workplace assessment of agricultural tractors sold in the Brazilian market. To develop the ergonomics index, the operator work places were assessed for compliance with current, national and international, safety and ergonomics standards. The following standards were analyzed to develop ergonomics index: ISO 15077 (1996), which regulates the position of operator controls; ABNT NBR ISO 4254-1(2015) and ABNT ...
Validation of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIFE) for Use in Brazil
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Gonzáles, Ana Inês; Sties, Sabrina Weiss; Wittkopf, Priscilla Geraldine; Mara, Lourenço Sampaio de; Ulbrich, Anderson Zampier; Cardoso, Fernando Luiz; Carvalho, Tales de
2013-01-01
The International Index of Erectile Function has been proposed as a method for assessing sexual function assisting the diagnosis and classification of erectile dysfunction. However, IIEF was not validated for the Portuguese language. Validate the International Index of Erectile Function in patients with cardiopulmonary and metabolic diseases. The sample consisted of 108 participants of to Cardiopulmonary and Metabolic program Rehabilitation (CPMR) in southern Brazil. The clarity assessment of the instrument was performed using a scale ranging from zero to 10. The construct validity was carried out by confirmatory factor analysis (KMO = 0.85; Barllet p < 0.001), internal consistency by Cronbach's alpha and reproducibility and interrater reliability via the test retest method. The items were considered very clear with averages superior to 9. The internal consistency resulted in 0.89. The majority of items related correctly with their domains, with exception of three questions from sexual satisfaction domain, and one from erectile function. All items showed excellent stability of measure and substantial to almost perfect agreement. The present study showed that the IIEF is valid and reliable for use in participants of a cardiopulmonary and metabolic rehabilitation program
Validation of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIFE) for Use in Brazil
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Gonzáles, Ana Inês; Sties, Sabrina Weiss; Wittkopf, Priscilla Geraldine, E-mail: sabrinasties@yahoo.com.br; Mara, Lourenço Sampaio de; Ulbrich, Anderson Zampier; Cardoso, Fernando Luiz; Carvalho, Tales de [Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC (Brazil)
2013-08-15
The International Index of Erectile Function has been proposed as a method for assessing sexual function assisting the diagnosis and classification of erectile dysfunction. However, IIEF was not validated for the Portuguese language. Validate the International Index of Erectile Function in patients with cardiopulmonary and metabolic diseases. The sample consisted of 108 participants of to Cardiopulmonary and Metabolic program Rehabilitation (CPMR) in southern Brazil. The clarity assessment of the instrument was performed using a scale ranging from zero to 10. The construct validity was carried out by confirmatory factor analysis (KMO = 0.85; Barllet p < 0.001), internal consistency by Cronbach's alpha and reproducibility and interrater reliability via the test retest method. The items were considered very clear with averages superior to 9. The internal consistency resulted in 0.89. The majority of items related correctly with their domains, with exception of three questions from sexual satisfaction domain, and one from erectile function. All items showed excellent stability of measure and substantial to almost perfect agreement. The present study showed that the IIEF is valid and reliable for use in participants of a cardiopulmonary and metabolic rehabilitation program.
Eaton, Jennifer L; Mohr, David C; Hodgson, Michael J; McPhaul, Kathleen M
2017-10-11
To describe development and validation of the Work-Related Well-Being (WRWB) Index. Principal Components Analysis was performed using Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) data (N = 392,752) to extract variables representing worker well-being constructs. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to verify factor structure. To validate the WRWB index, we used multiple regression analysis to examine relationships with burnout associated outcomes. PCA identified three positive psychology constructs: "Work Positivity", "Co-worker Relationships", and "Work Mastery". An 11 item index explaining 63.5% of variance was achieved. The structural equation model provided a very good fit to the data. Higher WRWB scores were positively associated with all 3 employee experience measures examined in regression models. The new WRWB index shows promise as a valid and widely accessible instrument to assess worker well-being.
Clinical indicators to monitor patients with risk for ineffective cerebral tissue perfusion
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Miriam de Abreu Almeida
2015-04-01
Full Text Available Objective. Select and validate the clinical indicators to monitor patients on risk for ineffective cerebral tissue perfusion, according to the Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC. Methodology. Validation study carried out between November 2012 and August 2013, in a Brazilian hospital. Seventeen judges nurses evaluated the clinical indicators of Nursing Outcomes, according to NOC for patients on risk for ineffective cerebral tissue perfusion. In the first stage, were selected the nursing results for the assessment of the studied diagnosis and, in the second nurses assessment the importance of the indicators of the validated results in the previous step through a five points Likert scale (1 = not important to 5 = extremely important. Were used the content validity index (CVI that corresponds to the calculation of weighted averages of them marks awarded for each indicator, as it considered the following weights: 1=0.00, 2=0.25, 3=0.50; 4=0.75; 5=1.00. For categorization, the CVI considered as critical = ≥0.80; supplementary =≥0.50 to 0.79 and were disposed results <0.50. Results. Of the 9 nursing results, only the cerebral tissue perfusion obtained a 100% consensus. The CVI of the 18 indicators of this result showed that five were validated as critical (impaired neurological reflexes, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, reduced level of consciousness and mean arterial pressure, 12 were validated as supplementary (Agitation, Impaired cognition, Intracranial pressure, Syncope, Vomiting, Findings of cerebral angiography, Headache, Restlessness, Fever, Unexplained anxiety, listlessness and Hiccughs and one was disposed (carotid bruit. Conclusions. The validation of information about the conditions of risk may allow early intervention to minimize the consequences of ineffective cerebral tissue perfusion.
Development and validation of an index to assess hospital quality management systems
Wagner, C.; Groene, O.; Thompson, C. A.; Klazinga, N. S.; Dersarkissian, M.; Arah, O. A.; Suñol, R.; Kringos, D. S.; Lombarts, M. J. M. H.; Plochg, T.; Lopez, M. A.; Secanell, M.; Sunol, R.; Vallejo, P.; Bartels, P.; Kristensen, S.; Michel, P.; Saillour-Glenisson, F.; Vlcek, F.; Car, M.; Jones, S.; Klaus, E.; Bottaro, S.; Garel, P.; Saluvan, M.; Bruneau, C.; Depaigne-Loth, A.; Shaw, C.; Hammer, A.; Ommen, O.; Pfaff, H.; Botje, D.; Kutaj-Wasikowska, H.; Kutryba, B.; Escoval, A.; Lívio, A.; Eiras, M.; Franca, M.; Leite, I.; Almeman, F.; Kus, H.; Ozturk, K.; Mannion, R.; Chow, A.; Wang, A.; Thompson, A.
2014-01-01
The aim of this study was to develop and validate an index to assess the implementation of quality management systems (QMSs) in European countries. Questionnaire development was facilitated through expert opinion, literature review and earlier empirical research. A cross-sectional online survey
The Neck Disability Index-Russian Language Version (NDI-RU): A Study of Validity and Reliability.
Bakhtadze, Maxim A; Vernon, Howard; Zakharova, Olga B; Kuzminov, Kirill O; Bolotov, Dmitry A
2015-07-15
Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric testing. To perform a validated Russian translation and then to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Russian language version of the Neck Disability Index (NDI-RU). Neck pain is highly prevalent and can greatly affect daily activity. The Neck Disability Index (NDI) is the most frequently used scale for self-rating of disability due to neck pain. Its translated versions are applied in many countries. However, the Russian language version of the NDI has not been developed yet. Cross-cultural adaptation of the NDI-RU was performed according to established guidelines. Then, the NDI-RU was evaluated for content validity, concurrent criterion validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, factor structure, and minimum detectable change. Two hundred thirty-two patients took part in the study in total: 109 in validity (39.5 ± 10 yr), 123 in reliability (38.4 ± 11 yr; 80 in the test-retest phase). A culturally valid translation was achieved. NDI-RU total scores were distributed normally. Floor/ceiling effects were absent. Good values of Cronbach α were obtained for each item (from 0.80 to 0.84) and for the total NDI-RU (0.83). A 2-factor solution was found for the NDI-RU. The average interitem correlation coefficient was 0.53. Intraclass correlation coefficients for test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.65 to 0.92 for different items and 0.91 for the total NDI-RU. Moderate correlation (Spearman rs = 0.62; P Russian language version of the Neck Disability Index resulted in a valid, reliable instrument that can be used both in clinical practice and scientific investigations. 1.
Validation of the Spanish version of the Index of Spouse Abuse.
Plazaola-Castaño, Juncal; Ruiz-Pérez, Isabel; Escribà-Agüir, Vicenta; Jiménez-Martín, Juan Manuel; Hernández-Torres, Elisa
2009-04-01
Partner violence against women is a major public health problem. Although there are currently a number of validated screening and diagnostic tools that can be used to evaluate this type of violence, such tools are not available in Spain. The aim of this study is to analyze the validity and reliability of the Spanish version of the Index of Spouse Abuse (ISA). A cross-sectional study was carried out in 2005 in two health centers in Granada, Spain, in 390 women between 18 and 70 years old. Analyses of the factorial structure, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity were conducted. Cutoff points for each subscale were also defined. For the construct validity analysis, the SF-36 perceived general health dimension, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Goldberg 12-item General Health Questionnaire were included. The psychometric analysis shows that the instrument has good internal consistency, reproducibility, and construct validity. The scale is useful for the analysis of partner violence against women in both a research setting and a healthcare setting.
Validation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Polish version of the Oswestry Disability Index.
Miekisiak, Grzegorz; Kollataj, Marta; Dobrogowski, Jan; Kloc, Wojciech; Libionka, Witold; Banach, Mariusz; Latka, Dariusz; Sobolewski, Tomasz; Sulewski, Adam; Nowakowski, Andrzej; Kiwic, Grzegorz; Pala, Adam; Potaczek, Tomasz; Gierlotka, Maciej
2013-02-15
Validation of a translated, culturally adapted questionnaire. To translate and culturally adapt a Polish version of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and to validate its use in Polish patients. The ODI is among the most popular questionnaires used to evaluate back pain-related disability. To our knowledge no validated Polish version of the index was available at the time our study was initiated. The questionnaire was translated and culturally adapted by 2 independent translators and approved by expert committee. Final version was included in the booklet consisting in addition of a previously validated Roland-Morris disability questionnaire, VAS for low back and leg and 3 Likert scale questions (pain medications, pain frequency, disability). It was tested on 169 patients with chronic low back pain, 164 (97%) of them were enrolled, and 84 of 164 (53%) returned the completed retest booklet within 2 to 14 days after the baseline test. There were no differences between the 2 groups in demographic and clinical parameters. Test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity were investigated. The mean ODI (standard deviation [SD]) was 48.45 (18.94); minimum 2, maximum 94. The Cronbach α for baseline questionnaires (n = 164) was 0.90. Concurrent validity, measured by comparing ODI responses with the results of the Roland-Morris disability questionnaire score was very good (r = 0.607, P disability in Polish-speaking patients with lower back pain.
Validation of the UCLA Child Post traumatic stress disorder-reaction index in Zambia
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Cohen Judith A
2011-09-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Sexual violence against children is a major global health and human rights problem. In order to address this issue there needs to be a better understanding of the issue and the consequences. One major challenge in accomplishing this goal has been a lack of validated child mental health assessments in low-resource countries where the prevalence of sexual violence is high. This paper presents results from a validation study of a trauma-focused mental health assessment tool - the UCLA Post-traumatic Stress Disorder - Reaction Index (PTSD-RI in Zambia. Methods The PTSD-RI was adapted through the addition of locally relevant items and validated using local responses to three cross-cultural criterion validity questions. Reliability of the symptoms scale was assessed using Cronbach alpha analyses. Discriminant validity was assessed comparing mean scale scores of cases and non-cases. Concurrent validity was assessed comparing mean scale scores to a traumatic experience index. Sensitivity and specificity analyses were run using receiver operating curves. Results Analysis of data from 352 youth attending a clinic specializing in sexual abuse showed that this adapted PTSD-RI demonstrated good reliability, with Cronbach alpha scores greater than .90 on all the evaluated scales. The symptom scales were able to statistically significantly discriminate between locally identified cases and non-cases, and higher symptom scale scores were associated with increased numbers of trauma exposures which is an indication of concurrent validity. Sensitivity and specificity analyses resulted in an adequate area under the curve, indicating that this tool was appropriate for case definition. Conclusions This study has shown that validating mental health assessment tools in a low-resource country is feasible, and that by taking the time to adapt a measure to the local context, a useful and valid Zambian version of the PTSD-RI was developed to detect
The Borderline Syndrome Index: a validation study using the personality assessment schedule.
Marlowe, M J; O'Neill-Byrne, K; Lowe-Ponsford, F; Watson, J P
1996-01-01
This study examines the validity and screening properties of the Borderline Syndrome Index--BSI (developed in the USA) for categories of the Personality Assessment Schedule--PAS (developed in the UK). Patients were recruited by case control sampling. Chance corrected agreement between instruments and screening properties of the BSI were calculated. The BSI proved a moderately sensitive but non-specific screen. Questionnaire scores were highly correlated with symptom measures. The results do not support the validity of the BSI or its use as a screening instrument. BSI scores may be distorted by current symptoms.
[Validating the Oswestry Disability Index in patients with low back pain in Sichuan].
Tan, Ke; Zheng, Min; Yang, Bang-xiang; Ernest, Volinn; Liu, Hui; He, Jing; Jiang, Min; Li, Xiao-song
2009-05-01
To test the reliability and validity of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) in patients with low back pain in China. Eighty six patients (female 51, male 35, average age 39.5 +/- 10.1) with chronic low back pain were assessed with the ODI. The assessment was repeated 48 hours after the first test. The Cronbach' Alpha coefficient for the ODI was 0.891. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the repeated tests was 0.854 (95% CI = 0.775-0.905). The exploratory factor analysis extracted two factors, which accounted for 61.91% of the total variance. Significant correlations were found between the ODI and the 6 domains of the SF-36. The Chinese version of Oswestry Disability Index has satisfactory reliability and validity. It can be used as an instrument for assessing chronic low back pain-related disability.
Chao, Kuo-Yu; Wang, Huei-Shyong; Chang, Hsueh-Ling; Wang, Yi-Wen; See, Lai-Chu
2010-02-01
The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the stress index for 10-18-years-old children or adolescents with Tourette syndrome. Tourette syndrome is a chronic tic disorder, which occurs in childhood. Children with Tourette syndrome exhibit sudden and unexpected voices or movements that may have influence on their daily activities and cause interaction barriers for children with Tourette syndrome. Therefore, a self-report stress index is necessary for children with Tourette syndrome to quickly measure the stress they have. Eight experts rated appropriateness, comprehensiveness and relevance of the questionnaire to establish content validity. A total of 116 paediatric patients filled out the stress index for 10-18-years-old children or adolescents with Tourette syndrome to evaluate its construct validity using exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency. Data from 90 pairs of paediatric patients and their caregivers were used to evaluate the inter-rater reliability. The criterion validity index ranged from 80-98%. One item was deleted because of a small item-to-total correlation. Therefore, 26 items made up the final stress index for 10-18-years-old children or adolescents with Tourette syndrome. In exploratory factor analysis, four factors (unfairly treated, psychological, symptom control and future concern) were achieved and accounted for 52.3% of the total variance. Cronbach's alphas of the stress index for 10-18-years-old children or adolescents with Tourette syndrome were 0.89. The inter-rater reliability of stress Index for 10-18-years-old children or adolescents with Tourette syndrome (Pearson correlation coefficient between patients and their caregivers) was 0.56. The stress Index for 10-18-years-old children or adolescents with Tourette syndrome is a self-administered tool to assess the stress of children or adolescents with Tourette syndrome. Validity (content and construct) and reliability (internal consistency and inter
Bispectral Index Monitoring: validity and utility in pediatric dentistry.
Goyal, Ashima; Mittal, Neeti; Mittal, Parteek; Gauba, K
2014-01-01
Reliable and safe provision of sedation and general anesthesia is dependent on continuous vigilance of patient's sedation depth. Failure to do so may result in unintended oversedation or undersedation. It is a common practice to observe sedation depth by applying subjective sedation scales and in case of general anesthesia, practitioner is dependent on vital sign assessment. The Bispectral Index System (BIS) is a recently introduced objective, quantitative, easy to use, and free from observer bias, and clinically useful tool to assess sedation depth and it precludes the need to stimulate the patient to assess his sedation level. The present article is an attempt to orient the readers towards utility and validity of BIS for sedation and general anesthesia in pediatric dentistry. In this article, we attempt to make the readers understand the principle of BIS, its variation across sedation continuum, its validity across different age groups and for a variety of sedative drugs.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Alireza Agha Yousefi
2013-06-01
Full Text Available Objective:Having a good quality of life has always been desirable for humans, and the concept of a good life and the ways of achieving it have become important over the years. Personal wellbeing is the mental component of quality of life. Thus, the current study was conducted to assess the reliability and validity of the ‘‘Personal Well-Being Index- Cognitive Disability’’ on mentally retarded students.Method:200 mentally retarded students in north districts of Tehran (districts 1, 2 and 3 were selected by systematic random sampling. The collected data using Personal Well-Being Index- Cognitive Disability was analyzed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for internal consistency and linear multivariate regression for construct validity.Results:Results confirmed the reliability and validity for the Personal Well-Being Index- Cognitive Disability in mentally retarded students of exceptional schools. Studying the internal consistency of seven items showed that all the items were correlated with the total score and their scores averages were similar to each other. This indicates that the test’s questions have reliability with regard to evaluation of a common feature and results showed Personal Well-Being Index- Cognitive Disability had the most extensive coverage of construct validity .Conclusion:Personal Well-Being Index- Cognitive Disability scale could be applied to measure personal wellbeing in mentally retarded students.
Validation of a new prognostic index score for disseminated nasopharyngeal carcinoma
Toh, C-K; Heng, D; Ong, Y-K; Leong, S-S; Wee, J; Tan, E-H
2005-01-01
Patients with metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma have variable survival outcomes. We previously designed a scoring system to better prognosticate these patients. Here, we report results on validation of this new prognostic index score in a separate cohort of patients. Clinical features and laboratory parameters were examined in 172 patients with univariate and multivariate analyses and a numerical score was derived for each independent prognostic variable. Significant independent prognostic ...
[Validation of the German Version of Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI)].
Brüggemann, Petra; Szczepek, Agnieszka J; Kleinjung, Tobias; Ojo, Michael; Mazurek, Birgit
2017-09-01
Tinnitus belongs to seriously debilitating auditory conditions and is often complicated by comorbidities such as insomnia, difficulties with concentration, depression, frustration and irritability. To facilitate the grading of symptoms and the effects of therapeutic strategies, we validated a German-version Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) in 229 subjects suffering from chronic tinnitus. Outcome validity was assessed using the Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ, German adaptation by Goebel u. Hiller [1998]). Construct validity was assessed using the "Hamburger Allgemeine Depressionsskala" (HADS). The German TFI featured excellent internal consistency (total score Cronbach's α=0.93). Factor analysis disclosed eight TFI subscales as proposed earlier by Meikle et al. [2012]. Intercorrelations were strong both between the TFI and the TQ (r=0.83), and between the TFI and the HADS (depression r=0.49, anxiety r=0.51). The German-version TFI qualifies as a rapid and statistically robust tool for grading the impact of tinnitus on daily living and for the measurements of therapeutic effects. Regarding depressive symptomatology, sensitivity of the TFI was comparable to that of the TQ. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jianping Li
2017-06-01
Full Text Available SiBCN ceramics were introduced into porous Si3N4 ceramics via a low-pressure chemical vapor deposition and infiltration (LPCVD/CVI technique, and then the composite ceramics were heat-treated from 1400 °C to 1700 °C in a N2 atmosphere. The effects of annealing temperatures on microstructure, phase evolution, dielectric properties of SiBCN ceramics were investigated. The results revealed that α-Si3N4 and free carbon were separated below 1700 °C, and then SiC grains formed in the SiBCN ceramic matrix after annealing at 1700 °C through a phase-reaction between free carbon and α-Si3N4. The average dielectric loss of composites increased from 0 to 0.03 due to the formation of dispersive SiC grains and the increase of grain boundaries.
Reliability and validity of the de Morton Mobility Index in individuals with sub-acute stroke.
Braun, Tobias; Marks, Detlef; Thiel, Christian; Grüneberg, Christian
2018-02-04
To establish the validity and reliability of the de Morton Mobility Index (DEMMI) in patients with sub-acute stroke. This cross-sectional study was performed in a neurological rehabilitation hospital. We assessed unidimensionality, construct validity, internal consistency reliability, inter-rater reliability, minimal detectable change and possible floor and ceiling effects of the DEMMI in adult patients with sub-acute stroke. The study included a total sample of 121 patients with sub-acute stroke. We analysed validity (n = 109) and reliability (n = 51) in two sub-samples. Rasch analysis indicated unidimensionality with an overall fit to the model (chi-square = 12.37, p = 0.577). All hypotheses on construct validity were confirmed. Internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.94) and inter-rater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.95; 95% confidence interval: 0.92-0.97) were excellent. The minimal detectable change with 90% confidence was 13 points. No floor or ceiling effects were evident. These results indicate unidimensionality, sufficient internal consistency reliability, inter-rater reliability, and construct validity of the DEMMI in patients with a sub-acute stroke. Advantages of the DEMMI in clinical application are the short administration time, no need for special equipment and interval level data. The de Morton Mobility Index, therefore, may be a useful performance-based bedside test to measure mobility in individuals with a sub-acute stroke across the whole mobility spectrum. Implications for Rehabilitation The de Morton Mobility Index (DEMMI) is an unidimensional measurement instrument of mobility in individuals with sub-acute stroke. The DEMMI has excellent internal consistency and inter-rater reliability, and sufficient construct validity. The minimal detectable change of the DEMMI with 90% confidence in stroke rehabilitation is 13 points. The lack of any floor or ceiling effects on hospital admission indicates
Vztah mezi poptávkou a nabídkou restaurace „U Cvičáku“ v Liberci
Hlavatá, Martina
2017-01-01
The aim of the bachelor thesis is to find out whether the supply of U Cvičáku restaurant in Liberec corresponds to the needs and demands of its customers and, based on the obtained data, to suggest improvements of the restaurant marketing tools, which would increase customer satisfaction and alternatively attract new customers. The theoretical part gives basic information on hospitality and marketing. The practical part includes an analysis of the restaurant marketing mix and a marketing rese...
Development and validation of the Patient Benefit Index for peripheral arterial disease.
Zander, Nicole; Demirel, Ebru-Berrin; Augustin, Matthias; Sommer, Rachel; Debus, Eike Sebastian; Breuer, Peter; Blome, Christine
2018-01-25
The aim of this study was to develop and validate a specific Patient Benefit Index (PBI) version for the treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). A non-interventional longitudinal development study was conducted. The first phase comprised a qualitative pre-study with n = 50 patients, in which the PBI was adapted for peripheral arterial disease. The resulting Patient Benefit Index for peripheral arterial disease (PBI-PAD) was validated in the second phase at two points of measurement. The total PBI-PAD score was calculated by weighting item-wise the achievement of treatment goals with the initially assessed needs. Feasibility, internal consistency, and construct validity were analysed and the generic three level version of the EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D-3L) and the disease-specific instrument Vascular Quality of Life Questionnaire (VascuQoL) were used for convergent validation. In the pre-study, the PBI-PAD, consisting of 12 items, was developed. N = 103 patients participated in the main study. At T2, data were available for n = 57 patients. Mean age was 71.0 years ± 9.1 and 66.7 % of the participants were male. The amount of missing values of the PBI-PAD score was low (PBI (needs at T1 and benefits at T2) were internally consistent with Cronbach's alpha > 0.7. PBI-PAD total score correlated significantly with the T2-T1-differences of the EuroQol-visual analogue scale (EQ VAS) (r = 0.4, p = 0.007) and the Vascular Quality of Life Questionnaire (r = 0.5, p PBI-PAD is a feasible, internally consistent, and valid instrument to assess patient-relevant benefits in PAD patients receiving minimally invasive treatment or surgical procedures. It can be recommended for use in routine care as well as in clinical studies.
[Cross-cultural validation of the Oswestry disability index in French].
Vogler, D; Paillex, R; Norberg, M; de Goumoëns, P; Cabri, J
2008-06-01
The aim of this study was to interpret and validate a French version of the Oswestry disability index (ODI), using a cross-cultural validation method. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was assessed in order to ensure the psychometric characteristics. The cross-cultural validation was carried out according to Beaton's methodology. The study was conducted with 41 patients suffering from low back pain. The correlation between the ODI and the Roland-Morris disability questionnaire (RMDQ), the medical outcome survey short form-36 (MOS SF-36) and a pain visual analogical scale (VAS) was assessed. The validity of the Oswestry questionnaire was studied using the Cronbach Alpha coefficient calculation: 0.87 (n=36). The significant correlation between the ODI and RMDQ was 0.8 (P<0.001, n=41) and 0.71 (P<0.001, n=36) for the pain VAS. The correlation between the ODI and certain subscales (physical functioning 0.7 (P<0.001, n=41), physical role 0.49 et bodily pain 0.73 (P<0.001, n=41)) of the MOS SF-36 were equally significant. The reproducibility of the ODI was calculated using the Wilcoxon matched pairs test: there was no significant difference for eight out of ten sections or for the final score. This French translation of the ODI should be considered as valid and reliable. It should be used for any future clinical studies carried out using French language patients. Complimentary studies must be completed in order to assess its sensitivity to change in the event of any modifications in the patients functional capacity.
Mechanical performance of Hi-Nicalon/CVI-SiC composites with multilayer SiC/C interfaces
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Halverson, H.G.; Carter, R.H.; Curtin, W.A. [Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ., Blacksburg, VA (United States). Dept. of Engineering Science and Mechanics
1997-12-01
The mechanical properties and interfacial characteristics of new SiC/SiC ceramic composites, composed of Hi-Nicalon fibers in a CVI-SiC matrix and having a variety of multilayer SiC/C coatings between the fibers and the matrix, are studied in detail to elucidate the roles of the coatings and fibers. Axial tension tests and unload/reload hysteresis loop measurements are performed to determine mechanical performance. All materials exhibit the strong and tough behavior characteristic of good ceramic composites, with all multilayer variants performing quite similarly. SEM microscopy demonstrates that matrix cracks penetrate through the multilayers and debond at the fiber/inner-coating interface. Analysis of the hysteretic behavior leads to values for interfacial sliding resistance {tau} {approx} 11 ksi and interfacial toughness {Gamma}{sub i} {approx} 2 J/m{sup 2} that are nearly independent of multilayer structure, and are similar to values obtained for standard pyrolitic carbon interfaces. These results all indicate debonding at the fiber surface for all coating structures, which provides a common roughness, {tau}, and {Gamma}{sub i}. Analysis of fiber fracture mirrors provides an estimate of the in-situ strength of the fibers and demonstrates the high strength retention of the Hi-Nicalon fibers. The in-situ fiber strengths are combined with the measured pullout lengths to obtain an independent determination of {tau} = 8.5 ksi that agrees well with the value found from the hysteretic behavior. Predictions of composite strength using the derived fiber strengths agree well with the measured value although the predicted failure strain is too large. This study demonstrates that Hi-Nicalon fiber/CVI-SiC composites perform well for a wide range of multilayer interface structures and that the interfaces present relatively high values of {tau} and {Gamma}{sub i}, both of which are beneficial to strength and toughness. The small carbon layer thicknesses in these multilayer
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Majid Barati
2015-03-01
Full Text Available Background: At present, there are no comprehensive validated instruments for measuring adolescents’ beliefs regarding tobacco smoking in the Iranian society. This study aimed to evaluate the validity, reliability and feasibility of the belief-based tobacco smoking scale using the Theory of Planned Behavior’s (TPB constructs as a theoretical framework.Methods: This cross-sectional validation study was carried out on 410 male adolescents of Hamadan, west of Iran, recruited through multi-stage random sampling method. Reliability was assessed by internal consistency and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC. In addition, Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA and Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA were performed to test construct valid-ity. Content validity was examined using Content Validity Index (CVI and Con-tent Validity Ratio (CVR.Results: Results obtained from factor analysis showed that the data was fit to the model (X2=391.43, P<0.001 and TPB consisted of 22 items measuring sev-en components which explaining 69.7% of the common variance. The mean scores for the CVI and CVR were 0.89 and 0.80; respectively. Additional anal-yses indicated acceptable results for internal consistency reliability values ranging from 0.55 to 0.92.Conclusion: The belief-based tobacco smoking questionnaire is a reliable and valid instrument and now is acceptable and suitable and can be used in future studies.
Saez de la Fuente, Javier; Such Diaz, Ana; Cañamares-Orbis, Irene; Ramila, Estela; Izquierdo-Garcia, Elsa; Esteban, Concepcion; Escobar-Rodríguez, Ismael
2016-11-01
The most widely used validated instrument to assess the complexity of medication regimens is the Medication Regimen Complexity Index (MRCI). This study aimed to translate, adapt, and validate a reliable version of the MRCI adapted to Spanish (MRCI-E). The cross-cultural adaptation process consisted of an independent translation by 3 clinical pharmacists and a backtranslation by 2 native English speakers. A reliability analysis was conducted on 20 elderly randomly selected patients. Two clinical pharmacists calculated the MRCI-E from discharge treatments and 2 months later. For the validity analysis, the sample was augmented to 60 patients. Convergent validity was assessed by analyzing the correlation between the number of medications; discriminant validity was stratified by gender; and predictive validity was determined by analyzing the ability to predict readmission and mortality at 3 and 6 months. The MRCI-E retained the original structure of 3 sections. The reliability analysis demonstrated an excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0.83), and the intraclass correlation coefficient exceeded 0.9 in all cases. The correlation coefficient with the number of medications was 0.883 ( Pdifferences were found when stratified by gender (3.6; 95%CI=-2.9 to 10.2; P=0.27). Patients who were readmitted at 3 months had a higher MRCI-E score (10.7; 95%CI=4.4 to 17.2; P=0.001). The differences remained significant in patients readmitted at 6 months, but differences in mortality were not detected. The MRCI-E retains the reliability and validity of the original index and provides a suitable tool to assess the complexity of medication regimens in Spanish.
Reliability and validity of the Yoruba version of the Oswestry disability index.
Aiyegbusi, Ayoola Ibifubara; Akodu, Ashiyat Kehinde; Agbede, Eniolorunda Olajide
2017-01-01
Low back pain (LBP) is a major cause of disability, and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) is a validated assessment tool for evaluating disability in LBP patients. Cross-cultural adaptation of the ODI is important because not all populations are proficient in English. The Yoruba language is an indigenous language spoken by 40 million people in the Western part of Nigeria and some countries in West Africa and Latin America. Currently, no validated Yoruba version of ODI is available. The aim of the study was to translate, culturally adapt and validate the ODI in Yoruba language for participants with LBP. The ODI was translated into Yoruba, and this translated version was analysed in terms of semantics and linguistics. Then, the Yoruba version was translated back into English and both versions administered to 160 participants with LBP. The internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, criterion validity and test-retest reliability were assessed using Spearman's rank correlation with significance set at Pdisability in LBP patients.
Validation of the Spanish Addiction Severity Index Multimedia Version (S-ASI-MV).
Butler, Stephen F; Redondo, José Pedro; Fernandez, Kathrine C; Villapiano, Albert
2009-01-01
This study aimed to develop and test the reliability and validity of a Spanish adaptation of the ASI-MV, a computer administered version of the Addiction Severity Index, called the S-ASI-MV. Participants were 185 native Spanish-speaking adult clients from substance abuse treatment facilities serving Spanish-speaking clients in Florida, New Mexico, California, and Puerto Rico. Participants were administered the S-ASI-MV as well as Spanish versions of the general health subscale of the SF-36, the work and family unit subscales of the Social Adjustment Scale Self-Report, the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test, the alcohol and drug subscales of the Personality Assessment Inventory, and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-90. Three-to-five-day test-retest reliability was examined along with criterion validity, convergent/discriminant validity, and factorial validity. Measurement invariance between the English and Spanish versions of the ASI-MV was also examined. The S-ASI-MV demonstrated good test-retest reliability (ICCs for composite scores between .59 and .93), criterion validity (rs for composite scores between .66 and .87), and convergent/discriminant validity. Factorial validity and measurement invariance were demonstrated. These results compared favorably with those reported for the original interviewer version of the ASI and the English version of the ASI-MV.
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Juliana Cerentini Pacico
2011-01-01
Full Text Available This study aimed at adapting and validating the Staats Hope Index for Brazilian adolescents. Participants were 450 high school students aged from 14 to 18 years old being 56% females. They responded to the Staats Hope Index, Adult Dispositional Hope Scale, Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. A factor analysis extracted two factors, replicating the structure of the original scale. Coefficients alphas were .83 and .81, for each factor, respectively. The correlations of the Hope Index factors with dispositional hope, optimism and self-esteem were similar to the findings reported in the literature and indicated convergent validity. The results indicate that the Hope Index is valid to be used in Brazil and that hope is perceived similarly by Brazilians and Americans despite of some cultural differences.O objetivo deste estudo foi adaptar e validar a escala The Hope Index para adolescentes brasileiros. Participaram 450 estudantes do ensino médio, sendo 56% do sexo feminino. As idades variaram entre 14 e 18 anos. Os instrumentos utilizados foram the Hope Index, Adult Dispositional Hope Scale, Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R e Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale. A análise fatorial revelou duas dimensões, conforme a estrutura original da escala com valores do coeficiente alfa de 0,83 e 0,81. As correlações dos fatores da escala The Hope Index com esperança disposicional, otimismo e autoestima foram similares aos achados da literatura e indicam validade convergente. Esses resultados indicam que a escala é válida para uso no Brasil e que Brasileiros e Americanos percebem a esperança de modo similar, apesar de algumas diferenças culturais.
Development and validation of a new simple Healthy Meal Index for canteen meals
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Lassen, Anne Dahl; Biltoft-Jensen, Anja Pia; L Hansen, Gitte
2010-01-01
OBJECTIVE: Nutrition evaluation tools should be developed both for scientific purposes and to encourage and facilitate healthy nutritional practices. The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate a simple food-based Healthy Meal Index (HMI) reflecting the nutritional profile...... and potatoes. The development was built on the principles embodied by the Plate Model, but providing more specificity in some areas. The simple HMI was validated against weighed and chemically analysed food and nutrient content of a representative sample of canteen meals. The sample was split into four...
Hussein, Ahmed A; Sexton, Kevin J; May, Paul R; Meng, Maxwell V; Hosseini, Abolfazl; Eun, Daniel D; Daneshmand, Siamak; Bochner, Bernard H; Peabody, James O; Abaza, Ronney; Skinner, Eila C; Hautmann, Richard E; Guru, Khurshid A
2018-04-13
We aimed to develop a structured scoring tool: cystectomy assessment and surgical evaluation (CASE) that objectively measures and quantifies performance during robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) for men. A multinational 10-surgeon expert panel collaborated towards development and validation of CASE. The critical steps of RARC in men were deconstructed into nine key domains, each assessed by five anchors. Content validation was done utilizing the Delphi methodology. Each anchor was assessed in terms of context, score concordance, and clarity. The content validity index (CVI) was calculated for each aspect. A CVI ≥ 0.75 represented consensus, and this statement was removed from the next round. This process was repeated until consensus was achieved for all statements. CASE was used to assess de-identified videos of RARC to determine reliability and construct validity. Linearly weighted percent agreement was used to assess inter-rater reliability (IRR). A logit model for odds ratio (OR) was used to assess construct validation. The expert panel reached consensus on CASE after four rounds. The final eight domains of the CASE included: pelvic lymph node dissection, development of the peri-ureteral space, lateral pelvic space, anterior rectal space, control of the vascular pedicle, anterior vesical space, control of the dorsal venous complex, and apical dissection. IRR > 0.6 was achieved for all eight domains. Experts outperformed trainees across all domains. We developed and validated a reliable structured, procedure-specific tool for objective evaluation of surgical performance during RARC. CASE may help differentiate novice from expert performances.
2013-01-01
Purpose We introduce the Pemberton Happiness Index (PHI), a new integrative measure of well-being in seven languages, detailing the validation process and presenting psychometric data. The scale includes eleven items related to different domains of remembered well-being (general, hedonic, eudaimonic, and social well-being) and ten items related to experienced well-being (i.e., positive and negative emotional events that possibly happened the day before); the sum of these items produces a combined well-being index. Methods A distinctive characteristic of this study is that to construct the scale, an initial pool of items, covering the remembered and experienced well-being domains, were subjected to a complete selection and validation process. These items were based on widely used scales (e.g., PANAS, Satisfaction With Life Scale, Subjective Happiness Scale, and Psychological Well-Being Scales). Both the initial items and reference scales were translated into seven languages and completed via Internet by participants (N = 4,052) aged 16 to 60 years from nine countries (Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and USA). Results Results from this initial validation study provided very good support for the psychometric properties of the PHI (i.e., internal consistency, a single-factor structure, and convergent and incremental validity). Conclusions Given the PHI’s good psychometric properties, this simple and integrative index could be used as an instrument to monitor changes in well-being. We discuss the utility of this integrative index to explore well-being in individuals and communities. PMID:23607679
Structural Validity of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index in Chinese Undergraduate Students
Guo, Suran; Sun, Wenmei; Liu, Chang; Wu, Siwei
2016-01-01
The purpose of this study was to examine the structural validity of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) in Chinese undergraduate students. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey with 631 Chinese undergraduate students was conducted, and the questionnaire package included a measure of demographic characteristics, PSQI, Chinese editions of Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression, State- Trait Anxiety Inventory, Rumination Response Scale, and Perceived Social Support Scale. Results sho...
Reliability and validity study of the Gujarati version of the Oswestry Disability Index 2.1a.
Shah, Sweni; Balaganapathy, M
2017-09-22
Among all musculoskeletal disorders back pain is the most common reason for functional limitation in working age. It is due to low back pain (LBP) that the ODI has become one of the principal outcome measures for evaluation of disability and has been widely used in research as well as in clinical practice. So far, validated Gujarati version of the ODI 2.1a has not been reported. To accomplish the translation and validation of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) version 2.1a into the Gujarati language. Cross-sectional study. The validation of the ODI-Gujarati was tested in 120 patients diagnosed with non-specific LBP, who were receiving physiotherapy at a clinic in Gujarat, India. Data was collected at on initial visit and after 48 hours. During both visits, patients completed the Oswestry Disability Index-Gujarati (ODI-G), Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire-Gujarati (RMDQ-G), and Visual Analogue Scale-Pain (VAS-P). Internal consistency was measured by Cronbach's alpha. The Gujarati version indicated high internal consistency (α= 0.96). Test-retest reliability was measured by intra-class correlation coefficient and it revealed very high correlation (ICC = 0.92). Construct validity was confirmed by strong correlation with RMDQ-G (r= 0.76), and concurrent validity indicated moderate correlation with VAS-P (r= 0.50). Factor analysis explained that the ODI was loaded on 1 factor. The Oswestry disability index version 2.1a was successfully translated into Gujarati language, showing excellent psychometric properties. Therefore, it can be used in evaluating the disability amongst Gujarati population with LBP for both clinical and research purposes.
Suran Guo; chang liu; wenmei sun; siwei wu
2016-01-01
The purpose of this study was to examine the structural validity of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) in Chinese undergraduate students. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey with 631 Chinese undergraduate students was conducted, and the questionnaire package included a measure of demographic characteristics, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Chinese editions of Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression, State- Trait Anxiety Inventory, Rumination Response Scale, and Perceived ...
Development and Validation of the Consumer Health Activation Index.
Wolf, Michael S; Smith, Samuel G; Pandit, Anjali U; Condon, David M; Curtis, Laura M; Griffith, James; O'Conor, Rachel; Rush, Steven; Bailey, Stacy C; Kaplan, Gordon; Haufle, Vincent; Martin, David
2018-04-01
Although there has been increasing interest in patient engagement, few measures are publicly available and suitable for patients with limited health literacy. We sought to develop a Consumer Health Activation Index (CHAI) for use among diverse patients. Expert opinion, a systematic literature review, focus groups, and cognitive interviews with patients were used to create and revise a potential set of items. Psychometric testing guided by item response theory was then conducted among 301 English-speaking, community-dwelling adults. This included differential item functioning analyses to evaluate item performance across participant health literacy levels. To determine construct validity, CHAI scores were compared to scales measuring similar personality constructs. Associations between the CHAI and physical and mental health established predictive validity. A second study among 9,478 adults was used to confirm CHAI associations with health outcomes. Exploratory factor analyses revealed a single-factor solution with a 10-item scale. The CHAI showed good internal consistency (alpha = 0.81) and moderate test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.53). Reading grade level was found to be at the 6 th grade. Moderate to strong correlations were found with similar constructs (Multidimensional Health Locus of Control, r = 0.38, P measures (depression, r = -0.28, P < 0.001; anxiety, r = -0.22, P < 0.001; and physical functioning, r = 0.22, P < 0.001). In the validation sample, the CHAI was significantly associated with self-reported physical and mental health ( r = 0.31 and 0.32 respectively; both P < 0.001). The CHAI appears to be a valid, reliable, and easily administered tool that can be used to assess health activation among adults, including those with limited health literacy. Future studies should test the tool in actual use and explore further applications.
Halek, Margareta; Holle, Daniela; Bartholomeyczik, Sabine
2017-08-14
One of the most difficult issues for care staff is the manifestation of challenging behaviour among residents with dementia. The first step in managing this type of behaviour is analysing its triggers. A structured assessment instrument can facilitate this process and may improve carers' management of the situation. This paper describes the development of an instrument designed for this purpose and an evaluation of its content validity and its feasibility and practicability in nursing homes. The development process and evaluation of the content validity were based on Lynn's methodology (1998). A literature review (steps 1 + 2) provided the theoretical framework for the instrument and for item formation. Ten experts (step 3) evaluated the first version of the instrument (the Innovative dementia-oriented Assessment (IdA®)) regarding its relevance, clarity, meaningfulness and completeness; content validity indices at the scale-level (S-CVI) and item-level (I-CVI) were calculated. Health care workers (step 4) evaluated the second version in a workshop. Finally, the instrument was introduced to 17 units in 11 nursing homes in a field study (step 5), and 60 care staff members assessed its practicability and feasibility. The IdA® used the need-driven dementia-compromised behaviour (NDB) model as a theoretical framework. The literature review and expert-based panel supported the content validity of the IdA®. At the item level, 77% of the ratings had a CVI greater than or equal to 0.78. The majority of the question-ratings (84%, n = 154) and answer-ratings (69%, n = 122) showed valid results, with none below 0.50. The health care workers confirmed the understandability, completeness and plausibility of the IdA®. Steps 3 and 4 led to further item clarification. The carers in the study considered the instrument helpful for reflecting challenging behaviour and beneficial for the care of residents with dementia. Negative ratings referred to the time required and the
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Elena Chover-Sierra
Full Text Available Palliative care is nowadays essential in nursing care, due to the increasing number of patients who require attention in final stages of their life. Nurses need to acquire specific knowledge and abilities to provide quality palliative care. Palliative Care Quiz for Nurses is a questionnaire that evaluates their basic knowledge about palliative care. The Palliative Care Quiz for Nurses (PCQN is useful to evaluate basic knowledge about palliative care, but its adaptation into the Spanish language and the analysis of its effectiveness and utility for Spanish culture is lacking.To report the adaptation into the Spanish language and the psychometric analysis of the Palliative Care Quiz for Nurses.The Palliative Care Quiz for Nurses-Spanish Version (PCQN-SV was obtained from a process including translation, back-translation, comparison with versions in other languages, revision by experts, and pilot study. Content validity and reliability of questionnaire were analyzed. Difficulty and discrimination indexes of each item were also calculated according to Item Response Theory (IRT.Adequate internal consistency was found (S-CVI = 0.83; Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.67 and KR-20 test result of 0,72 reflected the reliability of PCQN-SV. The questionnaire had a global difficulty index of 0,55, with six items which could be considered as difficult or very difficult, and five items with could be considered easy or very easy. The discrimination indexes of the 20 items, show us that eight items are good or very good while six items are bad to discriminate between good and bad respondents.Although in shows internal consistency, reliability and difficulty indexes similar to those obtained by versions of PCQN in other languages, a reformulation of the items with lowest content validity or discrimination indexes and those showing difficulties with their comprehension is an aspect to take into account in order to improve the PCQN-SV.The PCQN-SV is a useful
Development, linguistic and clinimetric validation of the WOMAC VA3.01 Bangla for Bangladesh Index.
Rabbani, M G; Haq, S A; Bellamy, N; Islam, M N; Choudhury, M R; Naheed, A; Ahmed, S; Shahin, A
2015-06-01
The aim of this study was to develop and to validate a Bengali version of the Western Ontario and McMaster Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) index in Bangladesh. The WOMAC was translated into the local language of Bangladesh (Bengali) and adapted in the local sociocultural context, following the standard guidelines by Beaton et al. Content validity of the preliminary Bengali version was assessed by using the index of content validity (ICV) and floor and ceiling effects. Patients were assessed at the Department of Rheumatology of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and were diagnosed to have knee OA by American College of Rheumatology criteria and recruited according to the requirements of the validation study. Convergent and divergent validity were measured by comparing with Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and the Short Form-36 (SF-36), and internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The questionnaire was readministered to 40 patients within a week for assessing reliability by using intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. In addition, factor analysis of Bengali WOMAC questionnaire was performed to examine the number of factors influencing a common set of items. A Bengali version was developed with changes in three items to suit local practices. The ICV of the content validity was 1 for all items. The Bengali WOMAC had similar construct validity when compared to the HAQ (ρ 0.74, n = 70) and SF-36 bodily pain and physical functioning. It had dissimilar construct validity to SF-36 mental health domain except WOMAC pain. Factor analysis revealed five factors with eigenvalues of more than 1.0. Cronbach's alpha and ICC exceeded 0.7 in all domains. In the test-retest reliability testing, Spearman's ρ for all items exceeded 0.4 (n = 40). This study has demonstrated that the Bengali version of WOMAC is a valid tool for assessing quality of life of patients with knee osteoarthritis in Bangladesh
The Clinical Impression of Severity Index for Parkinson's Disease: international validation study.
Martínez-Martín, Pablo; Rodríguez-Blázquez, Carmen; Forjaz, Maria João; de Pedro, Jesús
2009-01-30
This study sought to provide further information about the psychometric properties of the Clinical Impression of Severity Index for Parkinson's Disease (CISI-PD), in a large, international, cross-culturally diverse sample. Six hundred and fourteen patients with PD participated in the study. Apart from the CISI-PD, assessments were based on Hoehn & Yahr (HY) staging, the Scales for Outcomes in PD-Motor (SCOPA-M), -Cognition (SCOPA-COG) and -Psychosocial (SCOPA-PS), the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale-Geriatrics, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The total CISI-PD score displayed no floor or ceiling effects. Internal consistency was 0.81, the test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.84, and item homogeneity was 0.52. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.07) confirmed CISI-PD's unifactorial structure. The CISI-PD showed adequate convergent validity with SCOPA-COG and SCOPA-M (r(S) = 0.46-0.85, respectively) and discriminative validity for HY stages and disease duration (P validation study, thus showing that the CISI-PD is a valid instrument to measure clinical impression of severity in PD. Its simplicity and easy application make it an attractive and useful tool for clinical practice and research.
Identification of core objectives for teaching sustainable healthcare education.
Teherani, Arianne; Nishimura, Holly; Apatira, Latifat; Newman, Thomas; Ryan, Susan
2017-01-01
Physicians will be called upon to care for patients who bear the burden of disease from the impact of climate change and ecologically irresponsible practices which harm ecosystems and contribute to climate change. However, physicians must recognize the connection between the climate, ecosystems, sustainability, and health and their responsibility and capacity in changing the status quo. Sustainable healthcare education (SHE), defined as education about the impact of climate change and ecosystem alterations on health and the impact of the healthcare industry on the aforementioned, is vital to prevention of adverse health outcomes due to the changing climate and environment. To systematically determine which and when a set of SHE objectives should be included in the medical education continuum. Fifty-two SHE experts participated in a two-part modified-Delphi study. A survey was developed based on 21 SHE objectives. Respondents rated the importance of each objective and when each objective should be taught. Descriptive statistics and an item-level content validity index (CVI) were used to analyze data. Fifteen of the objectives achieved a content validity index of 78% or greater. The remaining objectives had content validity indices between 58% and 77%. The preclinical years of medical school were rated as the optimal time for introducing 13 and the clinical years for introducing six of the objectives. Respondents noted the definition of environmental sustainability should be learned prior to medical school and identifying ways to improve the environmental sustainability of health systems in post-graduate training. This study proposes SHE objectives for the continuum of medical education. These objectives ensure the identity of the physician includes the requisite awareness and competence to care for patients who experience the impact of climate and environment on health and advocate for sustainability of the health systems in which they work. CVI: Content validity
Quantitative validation of a habitat suitability index for oyster restoration
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Seth eTheuerkauf
2016-05-01
Full Text Available Habitat suitability index (HSI models provide spatially explicit information on the capacity of a given habitat to support a species of interest, and their prevalence has increased dramatically in recent years. Despite caution that the reliability of HSIs must be validated using independent, quantitative data, most HSIs intended to inform terrestrial and marine species management remain unvalidated. Furthermore, of the eight HSI models developed for eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica restoration and fishery production, none has been validated. Consequently, we developed, calibrated, and validated an HSI for the eastern oyster to identify optimal habitat for restoration in a tributary of Chesapeake Bay, the Great Wicomico River (GWR. The GWR harbors a high density, restored oyster population, and therefore serves as an excellent model system for assessing the validity of the HSI. The HSI was derived from GIS layers of bottom type, salinity, and water depth (surrogate for dissolved oxygen, and was tested using live adult oyster density data from a survey of high vertical relief reefs (HRR and low vertical relief reefs (LRR in the sanctuary network. Live adult oyster density was a statistically-significant sigmoid function of the HSI, which validates the HSI as a robust predictor of suitable oyster reef habitat for rehabilitation or restoration. In addition, HRR had on average 103-116 more adults m^−2 than LRR at a given level of the HSI. For HRR, HSI values ≥0.3 exceeded the accepted restoration target of 50 live adult oysters m^−2. For LRR, the HSI was generally able to predict live adult oyster densities that meet or exceed the target at HSI values ≥0.3. The HSI indicated that there remain large areas of suitable habitat for restoration in the GWR. This study provides a robust framework for HSI model development and validation, which can be refined and applied to other systems and previously developed HSIs to improve the efficacy of
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Andersson Ingemar H
2009-05-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background The Locomotor Capabilities Index (LCI is a validated measure of lower-limb amputees' ability to perform activities with prosthesis. We have developed the LCI Swedish version and evaluated its validity and reliability. Methods Cross-cultural adaptation to Swedish included forward/backward translations and field testing. The Swedish LCI was then administered to 144 amputees (55 women, mean age 74 (40–93 years, attending post-rehabilitation prosthetic training. Construct validity was assessed by examining the relationship between the LCI and Timed "Up-and-Go" (TUG test and between the LCI and EQ-5D health utility index in 2 subgroups of 40 and 20 amputees, respectively. Discriminative validity was assessed by comparing scores in different age groups and in unilateral and bilateral amputees. Test-retest reliability (1–2 weeks was evaluated in 20 amputees (14 unilateral. Results The Swedish LCI showed good construct convergent validity, with high correlation with the TUG (r = -0.75 and the EQ-5D (r = 0.84, and discriminative validity, with significantly worse mean scores for older than younger and for bilateral than unilateral amputees (p Conclusion The Swedish version of the LCI demonstrated good validity and internal consistency in adult amputees. Test-retest reliability in a small subsample appears to be acceptable. The high ceiling effect of the LCI may imply that it would be most useful in assessing amputees with low to moderate functional abilities.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Yusof Zamros YM
2012-06-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background The study aimed to develop and test a Malay version of the Child-OIDP index, evaluate its psychometric properties and report on the prevalence of oral impacts on eight daily performances in a sample of 11–12 year old Malaysian schoolchildren. Methods The Child-OIDP index was translated from English into Malay. The Malay version was tested for reliability and validity on a non-random sample of 132, 11–12 year old schoolchildren from two urban schools in Kuala Lumpur. Psychometric analysis of the Malay Child-OIDP involved face, content, criterion and construct validity tests as well as internal and test-retest reliability. Non-parametric statistical methods were used to assess relationships between Child-OIDP scores and other subjective outcome measures. Results The standardised Cronbach’s alpha was 0.80 and the weighted Kappa was 0.84 (intraclass correlation = 0.79. The index showed significant associations with different subjective measures viz. perceived satisfaction with mouth, perceived needs for dental treatment, perceived oral health status and toothache experience in the previous 3 months (p Conclusion This study indicated that the Malay Child-OIDP index is a valid and reliable instrument to measure the oral impacts of daily performances in 11–12 year old urban schoolchildren in Malaysia.
Extensive Validation of the Pain Disability Index in 3 Groups of Patients With Musculoskeletal Pain
Soer, Remko; Koke, Albere J. A.; Vroomen, C.A.J.; Stegeman, Patrick; Smeets, Rob J. E. M.; Coppes, Maarten H.; Reneman, Michiel F.
2013-01-01
Study Design. A cross-sectional study design was performed. Objective. To validate the pain disability index (PDI) extensively in 3 groups of patients with musculoskeletal pain. Summary of Background Data. The PDI is a widely used and studied instrument for disability related to various pain
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Loulou Kobeissi
2014-06-01
Full Text Available Background: Breast cancer affects over one million women annually and is the most common global malignancy among women. Extensive improvements have taken place in the management of breast cancer in recent years and a higher percentage of women are cured from this disease. A proper assessment of the quality of life of women with breast cancer is an essential component in disease management. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy- Breast Symptom Index has been commonly used and well-validated among English speaking populations as well as other populations. To date, no formal translation and evaluation of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast System Index exists in Arabic. Therefore, this study intends to translate, adapt and face-validate the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast System Index into Arabic, specifically in the context of the Lebanese culture. Methods: We conducted forward and backward translation in Arabic, combined with face validity by clinicians. This was followed by pre-testing to ensure the instrument’s adequacy and cultural sensitivity conducted by the administration of face-to-face interviews with individual breast cancer patients (n=33 and two focus groups (4 women/group to evaluate the relevance and appropriateness of each item and words used in the questionnaire. Results: Study results reinforced the value of the Arabic translated version of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast System Index in capturing the quality of life of women with breast cancer in Lebanon. Conclusion: The instrument was perceived to be adequate, appropriate for use, culturally sensitive, simple as well as exhaustive. Suggestions have been made to enrich the instruments’ ability to incorporate other quality of life dimensions not captured, as well to enhance the cultural specificity of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast System Index, when administered among Lebanese women diagnosed with
Content validation of a standardized algorithm for ostomy care.
Beitz, Janice; Gerlach, Mary; Ginsburg, Pat; Ho, Marianne; McCann, Eileen; Schafer, Vickie; Scott, Vera; Stallings, Bobbie; Turnbull, Gwen
2010-10-01
The number of ostomy care clinician experts is limited and the majority of ostomy care is provided by non-specialized clinicians or unskilled caregivers and family. The purpose of this study was to obtain content validation data for a new standardized algorithm for ostomy care developed by expert wound ostomy continence nurse (WOCN) clinicians. After face validity was established using overall review and suggestions from WOCN experts, 166 WOCNs self-identified as having expertise in ostomy care were surveyed online for 6 weeks in 2009. Using a cross-sectional, mixed methods study design and a 30-item instrument with a 4-point Likert-type scale, the participants were asked to quantify the degree of validity of the Ostomy Algorithm's decisions and components. Participants' open-ended comments also were thematically analyzed. Using a scale of 1 to 4, the mean score of the entire algorithm was 3.8 (4 = relevant/very relevant). The algorithm's content validity index (CVI) was 0.95 (out of 1.0). Individual component mean scores ranged from 3.59 to 3.91. Individual CVIs ranged from 0.90 to 0.98. Qualitative data analysis revealed themes of difficulty associated with algorithm formatting, especially orientation and use of the Studio Alterazioni Cutanee Stomali (Study on Peristomal Skin Lesions [SACS™ Instrument]) and the inability of algorithms to capture all individual patient attributes affecting ostomy care. Positive themes included content thoroughness and the helpful clinical photos. Suggestions were offered for algorithm improvement. Study results support the strong content validity of the algorithm and research to ascertain its construct validity and effect on care outcomes is warranted.
Bhatt, Jay P; Manish, Kumar; Mehta, Rajender; Pandit, Maharaj K
2016-05-01
Conservation efforts globally are skewed toward terrestrial ecosystems. To date, conservation of aquatic ecosystems, in particular fish fauna, is largely neglected. We provide a country-wide assessment of Indian river ecosystems in order to identify and prioritize areas for protection and restoration of freshwater fish fauna. Using various biodiversity and anthropogenic attributes, coupled with tools of ecological modeling, we delineated areas for fish fauna conservation and restoration in the 20 major river basins of India. To do this, we used prioritization analyses and reserve selection algorithms to derive conservation value index (CVI) and vulnerability index (VI) of the river basins. CVI was estimated using endemicity, rarity, conservation value, and taxonomic singularity, while VI was estimated using a disturbance index derived from percent geographic area of the basin under human settlements, human population density, predominant land use, and total number of exotic fish species in each basin. The two indices, CVI and VI, were converted into geo-referenced maps, and each map was super-imposed onto species richness and forest cover maps, respectively. After superimposition, areas with high CVI and low VI shade intensities were delineated for conservation, while areas with high CVI and high VI shade intensities were demarcated for restoration. In view of the importance of freshwater fish for human livelihoods and consumption, and ecosystems of India's rivers, we call for urgent attention to the conservation of their fish fauna along with restoration of their degraded habitats.
Wong, Wendy; Lam, Cindy L K; Leung, K F; Zhao, L
2009-01-01
Content validity is crucial in quality of life instrument development but there is very little literature on this in Chinese culture. The Chinese Quality of Life Instrument (ChQOL) was developed in Mainland China to capture the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) concepts specific to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The aim of this study was to evaluate the content validity of ChQOL in a Chinese population whose spoken dialect and health-care system are different from those of Mainland China to find out whether the instrument is generalizable. 8 TCM practitioners and 10 patients rated the clarity, relevance and appropriateness of each of the 50 items of the ChQOL (HK version), and completed qualitative cognitive debriefing interviews. The content of ChQOL was rated valid by TCM practitioners with CVIs on clarity, relevance and appropriateness ranging from 80 to 100%. 49 out of 50 items were well understood by patients, but 12 items had CVI on relevance and 5 items had CVI on appropriateness lower than 70% among patients. After reviewing the patients and TCM practitioners' opinions, revisions were made for three items (2, 8 and 29) to form the ChQOL (HK version)-2008. In general, the ChQOL was found to be too long which called for shorter version. The content of ChQOL was shown to be really valid in the context of Chinese Medicine for Cantonese speaking Chinese. There was some discrepancy between the judgments of TCM practitioners and patients indicating the importance of evaluation by both experts and lay persons.
Juneja, Prabhjot; Evans, Philp M; Harris, Emma J
2013-08-01
Validation is required to ensure automated segmentation algorithms are suitable for radiotherapy target definition. In the absence of true segmentation, algorithmic segmentation is validated against expert outlining of the region of interest. Multiple experts are used to overcome inter-expert variability. Several approaches have been studied in the literature, but the most appropriate approach to combine the information from multiple expert outlines, to give a single metric for validation, is unclear. None consider a metric that can be tailored to case-specific requirements in radiotherapy planning. Validation index (VI), a new validation metric which uses experts' level of agreement was developed. A control parameter was introduced for the validation of segmentations required for different radiotherapy scenarios: for targets close to organs-at-risk and for difficult to discern targets, where large variation between experts is expected. VI was evaluated using two simulated idealized cases and data from two clinical studies. VI was compared with the commonly used Dice similarity coefficient (DSCpair - wise) and found to be more sensitive than the DSCpair - wise to the changes in agreement between experts. VI was shown to be adaptable to specific radiotherapy planning scenarios.
van Bergen, Addi P L; Hoff, Stella J M; Schreurs, Hanneke; van Loon, Annelies; van Hemert, Albert M
2017-03-14
Social exclusion (SE) refers to the inability of certain groups or individuals to fully participate in society. SE is associated with socioeconomic inequalities in health, and its measurement in routine public health monitoring is considered key to designing effective health policies. In an earlier retrospective analysis we demonstrated that in all four major Dutch cities, SE could largely be measured with existing local public health monitoring data. The current prospective study is aimed at constructing and validating an extended national measure for SE that optimally employs available items. In 2012, a stratified general population sample of 258,928 Dutch adults completed a version of the Netherlands Public Health Monitor (PHM) questionnaire in which 9 items were added covering aspects of SE that were found to be missing in our previous research. Items were derived from the SCP social exclusion index, a well-constructed 15-item instrument developed by the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP). The dataset was randomly divided into a development sample (N =129,464) and a validation sample (N = 129,464). Canonical correlation analysis was conducted in the development sample. The psychometric properties were studied and compared with those of the original SCP index. All analyses were then replicated in the validation sample. The analysis yielded a four dimensional index, the Social Exclusion Index for Health Surveys (SEI-HS), containing 8 SCP items and 9 PHM items. The four dimensions: "lack of social participation", "material deprivation", "lack of normative integration" and "inadequate access to basic social rights", were each measured with 3 to 6 items. The SEI-HS showed adequate internal consistency for both the general index and for two of four dimension scales. The internal structure and construct validity of the SEI-HS were satisfactory and similar to the original SCP index. Replication of the SEI-HS in the validation sample confirmed its
Validation of a Russian-language version of the Foot Functional Index (FFI) questionnaire
E. V. Orlova; A. V. Surnov; D. E. Karateev; V. N. Amirdzhanova
2016-01-01
The Foot Functional Index (FFI) questionnaire most completely reflects the functional status of patients with joint diseases of the feet.Objective: to study the psychometric properties of a Russian-language version of the FFI questionnaire.Patients and methods. The reliability, sensitivity, and validity of the Russian-language version of the FFI questionnaire were assessed in 55 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The investigators checked the reliability by assessing the internal consis...
Validation of an image quality index: its correlation with quality control parameters
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Cabrejas, M.L.C.; Giannone, C.A.; Arashiro, J.G.; Cabrejas, R.C.
2002-01-01
Objective and Rationale: To validate a new image quality index (the Performance Index: PI) that assesses detectability of simulated lesions with a phantom. This index, presumably must depend markedly on quality control (QC) parameters as tomographic uniformity (Unif), Centre of Rotation (COR) and Spatial resolution (FWHM). The simultaneous effects of the QC parameters may explain much of the variation in the PIs; i.e. they may be predictors of the PI values. Methods: An overall performance phantom containing 3 sections was used. The first uniform section was used to determine tomographic uniformity. From the analysis of the slices corresponding to the second section containing 8 cold cylindrical simulated lesions of different diameters (range 7 mm - 17 mm), the number of true and false positives are determined and from these a new Performance Index (PI) is defined as the ratio between the positive predictive value and the sensitivity (expressed as its complement adding a constant to avoid a singularity). A point source located on the top of the phantom was used to determine the Centre of Rotation and the Spatial Resolution expressed by the FWHM in mm. 40 nuclear medicine labs participate at the survey. Standard multiple regression analysis between the Performance Index, as dependent variable, and FWHM, COR and Unif as independent variables was performed to evaluate the influence of the QC parameters on the PI values. Results: It is shown that resolution and COR are both predictors of the PIs, with statistical significance for the multiple correlation co-efficient R. However the addition of the variable tomographic uniformity to the model, does not improve the prediction of PIs. Moreover, the regression model lacks overall statistical significance. Regression summary for dependent variable Performance Index is presented. Conclusions: We confirm that the new Performance Index (PI), depends on QC parameters as COR and Spatial resolution. Those labs whose PIs are out
Hassani, Lale; Dehdari, Tahereh; Hajizadeh, Ebrahim; Shojaeizadeh, Davoud; Abedini, Mehrandokht; Nedjat, Saharnaz
2014-01-01
Given that there are many Iranian women who have never had a Pap smear, this study was designed to develop and validate a measurement tool based on the Protection Motivation Theory to assess factors influencing the Iranian women's intention to perform first Pap testing. In this psychometric research, to determine the Content Validity Index (CVI) and the Content Validity Ratio (CVR), a panel of experts (n=10) reviewed scale items. Reliability was estimated through the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (n=30) and internal consistency (n=240). Also, factor analysis (exploratory and conformity) was performed on the data of the sample women who had never had a Pap smear test (n=240). A 26-item questionnaire was developed. The CVI and CVR scores of the scale were 0.89 and 0.90, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis loaded a 26-item with seven factors questionnaire (perceived vulnerability and severity, fear, response costs, response efficacy, self-efficacy, and protection motivation (or intention)) that jointly accounted for 72.76% of the observed variance. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit for the data. Internal consistency (range 0.70-0.93) and test-retest reliability (range 0.72-0.96) of sub-scales were acceptable. This study showed that the designed instrument was a valid and reliable tool for measuring the factors influencing the women's intention to perform their first Pap testing.
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Park, Kyeong Hwan; Park, Ji Yeon; Kang, Suk Min; Kim, Weon Ju; Jung, Choong Hwan; Ryu, Woo Seog
2005-01-01
SiC f /SiC composites are one of promising candidates for structural material of the next generation energy system such as GFR and fusion reactors. A number of fabrication methods have been studied for obtaining an outstanding SiC f /SiC composite with a high density, high crystallinity and purity. SiC f /SiC composites consisted of whisker-reinforced matrix have a great potential at the viewpoint both of the fabrication process and the mechanical properties. SiC whiskers formed between SiC fibers improve the densification of SiC matrix during CVI process. In addition, the reinforced whiskers would be likely to enhance the mechanical properties of matrix and SiC f /SiC composite. While there has been significant developmental work on manufacturing the SiC f /SiC composite by the whisker growing assisted CVI process, detailed understanding of what effects the complex in the operating conditions combined with realistic materials property data is not adequately understood. Especially, its irradiation effects are even less clear and not well understood. A method of charged-particle irradiation is the most important R and D topics for simulating the core conditions of the advanced nuclear systems. Many studies on radiation effects of SiC and SiC f /SiC composites using a method of ion irradiation have in progress for R and D of the advanced nuclear systems. In this present work, changes of the mechanical property of SiC whisker-reinforced matrix in SiC f /SiC composite were evaluated by means of the depth sensing indentation method before and after chargedparticle irradiation
Validation of the Physician-Pharmacist Collaborative Index for physicians in Malaysia.
Sellappans, Renukha; Ng, Chirk Jenn; Lai, Pauline Siew Mei
2015-12-01
Establishing a collaborative working relationship between doctors and pharmacists is essential for the effective provision of pharmaceutical care. The Physician-Pharmacist Collaborative Index (PPCI) was developed to assess the professional exchanges between doctors and pharmacists. Two versions of the PPCI was developed: one for physicians and one for pharmacists. However, these instruments have not been validated in Malaysia. To determine the validity and reliability of the PPCI for physicians in Malaysia. An urban tertiary hospital in Malaysia. This prospective study was conducted from June to August 2014. Doctors were grouped as either a "collaborator" or a "non-collaborator". Collaborators were doctors who regularly worked with one particular clinical pharmacist in their ward, while non-collaborators were doctors who interacted with any random pharmacist who answered the general pharmacy telephone line whenever they required assistance on medication-related enquiries, as they did not have a clinical pharmacist in their ward. Collaborators were firstly identified by the clinical pharmacist he/she worked with, then invited to participate in this study through email, as it was difficult to locate and approach them personally. Non-collaborators were sampled conveniently by approaching them in person as these doctors could be easily sampled from any wards without a clinical pharmacist. The PPCI for physicians was administered at baseline and 2 weeks later. Validity (face validity, factor analysis and discriminative validity) and reliability (internal consistency and test-retest) of the PPCI for physicians. A total of 116 doctors (18 collaborators and 98 non-collaborators) were recruited. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that the PPCI for physicians was a 3-factor model. The correlation of the mean domain scores ranged from 0.711 to 0.787. "Collaborators" had significantly higher scores compared to "non-collaborators" (81.4 ± 10.1 vs. 69.3 ± 12.1, p Malaysia.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Eli FLAXER
2008-09-01
Full Text Available We present a complete design of a multi channels PID controller for Thermoelectric Cooler (TEC using a pulse width modulation (PWM technique implemented by a dedicated programmable logic device (PLD programmed by VHDL. The PID control loop is implemented by software written by National Instrument Lab-Windows CVI. Due to the fact that the implementation is by a VHDL and PLD the design is modular, as a result, the circuit is very compact in size and very low cost as compared to any commercial product. In addition, since the control loop is implemented by software running on a personal computer (PC using a C language, it is easy to adjust the controller to various environmental conditions and for a width range of sensors like: a thermo couple (TC, thermistor, resistance temperature detectors (RTD etc. We demonstrate the performance of this circuit as a controller for a small incubator using thermistor as the temperature sensor.
Mechanical characterization of Si-C(O) fiber/SiC (CVI) matrix composites with a BN-interphase
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Prouhet, S.; Camus, G.; Labrugere, C.; Guette, A.; Martin, E.
1994-01-01
The mechanical behavior of three CVI-processed 2D woven SiC/BN/SiC composite materials with different initial BN interphase thicknesses has been investigated by means of tensile and impact tests. The results have established the efficiency of a BN interphase in promoting a nonlinear/noncatastrophic tensile behavior and high impact resistance. The effect of the initial BN interphase thickness on the resulting mechanical behavior has also been demonstrated. AES and TEM has revealed the presence of a SiO 2 /C double layer at the BN/fiber interface, which might result from a decomposition undergone by the Si-C(O) Nicalon fiber during processing. It has been suggested that the influence of the initial BN interphase thickness on the mechanical properties of the composites results from both changes occurring in the composition and morphology of the interfacial zones and modifications of the interfacial forces due to accommodation of the radial residual clamping stress
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sean Martin
2007-01-01
Full Text Available Integrative cancer biology research relies on a variety of data-driven computational modeling and simulation methods and techniques geared towards gaining new insights into the complexity of biological processes that are of critical importance for cancer research. These include the dynamics of gene-protein interaction networks, the percolation of subcellular perturbations across scales and the impact they may have on tumorigenesis in both experiments and clinics. Such innovative ‘systems’ research will greatly benefi t from enabling Information Technology that is currently under development, including an online collaborative environment, a Semantic Web based computing platform that hosts data and model repositories as well as high-performance computing access. Here, we present one of the National Cancer Institute’s recently established Integrative Cancer Biology Programs, i.e. the Center for the Development of a Virtual Tumor, CViT, which is charged with building a cancer modeling community, developing the aforementioned enabling technologies and fostering multi-scale cancer modeling and simulation.
Aghamollaei, Maryam; Jafari, Zahra; Tahaei, Aliakbar; Toufan, Reyhane; Keyhani, Mohammadreza; Rahimzade, Shadi; Esmaeili, Mahdieh
2013-09-01
The Dichotic Verbal Memory Test (DVMT) is useful in detecting verbal memory deficits and differences in memory function between the brain hemispheres. The purpose of this study was to prepare the Persian version of DVMT, to obtain its results in 18- to 25-yr-old Iranian individuals, and to examine the ear, gender, and serial position effect. The Persian version of DVMT consisted of 18 10-word lists. After preparing the 18 lists, content validity was assessed by a panel of eight experts and the equivalency of the lists was evaluated. Then the words were recorded on CD in a dichotic mode such that 10 words were presented to one ear, with the same words reversed simultaneously presented to the other ear. Thereafter, it was performed on a sample of young, normal, Iranian individuals. Thirty normal individuals (no history of neurological, ontological, or psychological diseases) with ages ranging from 18 to 25 yr were examined for evaluating the equivalency of the lists, and 110 subjects within the same age range participated in the final stage of the study to obtain the normative data on the developed test. There was no significant difference between the mean scores of the 18 developed lists (p > 0.05). The mean content validity index (CVI) score was .96. A significant difference was found between the mean score of the two ears (p < 0.05) and between female and male participants (p < 0.05). The Persian version of DVMT has good content validity and can be used for verbal memory assessment in Iranian young adults. American Academy of Audiology.
Validation of the UNC OCT Index for the Diagnosis of Early Glaucoma.
Mwanza, Jean-Claude; Lee, Gary; Budenz, Donald L; Warren, Joshua L; Wall, Michael; Artes, Paul H; Callan, Thomas M; Flanagan, John G
2018-04-01
To independently validate the performance of the University of North Carolina Optical Coherence Tomography (UNC OCT) Index in diagnosing and predicting early glaucoma. Data of 118 normal subjects (118 eyes) and 96 subjects (96 eyes) with early glaucoma defined as visual field mean deviation (MD) greater than -4 decibels (dB), aged 40 to 80 years, and who were enrolled in the Full-Threshold Testing Size III, V, VI comparison study were used in this study. CIRRUS OCT average and quadrants' retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL); optic disc vertical cup-to-disc ratio (VCDR), cup-to-disc area ratio, and rim area; and average, minimum, and six sectoral ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) measurements were run through the UNC OCT Index algorithm. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and sensitivities at 95% and 99% specificity were calculated and compared between single parameters and the UNC OCT Index. Mean age was 60.1 ± 11.0 years for normal subjects and 66.5 ± 8.1 years for glaucoma patients ( P < 0.001). MD was 0.29 ± 1.04 dB and -1.30 ± 1.35 dB in normal and glaucomatous eyes ( P < 0.001), respectively. The AUC of the UNC OCT Index was 0.96. The best single metrics when compared to the UNC OCT Index were VCDR (0.93, P = 0.054), average RNFL (0.92, P = 0.014), and minimum GCIPL (0.91, P = 0.009). The sensitivities at 95% and 99% specificity were 85.4% and 76.0% (UNC OCT Index), 71.9% and 62.5% (VCDR, all P < 0.001), 64.6% and 53.1% (average RNFL, all P < 0.001), and 66.7% and 58.3% (minimum GCIPL, all P < 0.001), respectively. The findings confirm that the UNC OCT Index may provide improved diagnostic perforce over that of single OCT parameters and may be a good tool for detection of early glaucoma. The UNC OCT Index algorithm may be incorporated easily into routine clinical practice and be useful for detecting early glaucoma.
Adaptation and Validation of the Foot Function Index-Revised Short Form into Polish
Rutkowski, Radosław; Gałczyńska-Rusin, Małgorzata; Gizińska, Małgorzata; Straburzyński-Lupa, Marcin; Zdanowska, Agata; Romanowski, Mateusz Wojciech; Romanowski, Wojciech; Budiman-Mak, Elly; Straburzyńska-Lupa, Anna
2017-01-01
Purpose The aim of the present study was to adapt the Foot Function Index-Revised Short Form (FFI-RS) questionnaire into Polish and verify its reliability and validity in a group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods The study included 211 patients suffering from RA. The FFI-RS questionnaire underwent standard linguistic adaptation and its psychometric parameters were investigated. The enrolled participants had been recruited for seven months as a convenient sample from the rheu...
YAKHFOROSHHA, AFSANEH; SHIRAZI, MANDANA; YOUSEFZADEH, NASER; GHANBARNEJAD, AMIN; CHERAGHI, MOHAMMADALI; MOJTAHEDZADEH, RITA; MAHMOODI-BAKHTIARI, BEHROOZ; EMAMI, SEYED AMIR HOSSEIN
2018-01-01
Introduction: Communication skill (CS) has been regarded as one of the fundamental competencies for medical and other health care professionals. Student's attitude toward learning CS is a key factor in designing educational interventions. The original CSAS, as positive and negative subscales, was developed in the UK; however, there is no scale to measure these attitudes in Iran. The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric characteristic of the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS), in an Iranian context and to understand if it is a valid tool to assess attitude toward learning communication skills among health care professionals. Methods: Psychometric characteristics of the CSAS were assessed by using a cross-sectional design. In the current study, 410 medical students were selected using stratified sampling framework. The face validity of the scale was estimated through students and experts’ opinion. Content validity of CSAS was assessed qualitatively and quantitatively. Reliability was examined through two methods including Chronbach’s alpha coefficient and Intraclass Correlation of Coefficient (ICC). Construct validity of CSAS was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and explanatory factor analysis (PCA) followed by varimax rotation. Convergent and discriminant validity of the scale was measured through Spearman correlation. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 19 and EQS, 6.1. Results: The internal consistency and reproducibility of the total CSAS score were 0.84 (Cronbach’s alpha) and 0.81, which demonstrates an acceptable reliability of the questionnaire. The item-level content validity index (I-CVI) and the scale-level content validity index (S-CVI/Ave) demonstrated appropriate results: 0.97 and 0.94, respectively. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on the 25 items of the CSAS revealed 4-factor structure that all together explained %55 of the variance. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated an
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
AFSANEH YAKHFOROSHHA
2018-01-01
Full Text Available Introduction: Communication skill (CS has been regarded as one of the fundamental competencies for medical and other health care professionals. Student’s attitude toward learning CS is a key factor in designing educational interventions. The original CSAS, as positive and negative subscales, was developed in the UK; however, there is no scale to measure these attitudes in Iran. The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric characteristic of the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS, in an Iranian context and to understand if it is a valid tool to assess attitude toward learning communication skills among health care professionals. Methods: Psychometric characteristics of the CSAS were assessed by using a cross-sectional design. In the current study, 410 medical students were selected using stratified sampling framework. The face validity of the scale was estimated through students and experts’ opinion. Content validity of CSAS was assessed qualitatively and quantitatively. Reliability was examined through two methods including Chronbach’s alpha coefficient and Intra class Correlation of Coefficient (ICC. Construct validity of CSAS was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA and explanatory factor analysis (PCA followed by varimax rotation. Convergent and discriminant validity of the scale was measured through Spearman correlation. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 19 and EQS, 6.1. Results: The internal consistency and reproducibility of the total CSAS score were 0.84 (Cronbach’s alpha and 0.81, which demonstrates an acceptable reliability of the questionnaire. The item-level content validity index (I-CVI and the scale-level content validity index (S-CVI/ Ave demonstrated appropriate results: 0.97 and 0.94, respectively. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA on the 25 items of the CSAS revealed 4-factor structure that all together explained %55 of the variance. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Puhan, Milo A; Hansel, Nadia N; Sobradillo, Patricia
2012-01-01
Background: Little evidence on the validity of simple and widely applicable tools to predict mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exists.Objective: To conduct a large international study to validate the ADO index that uses age, dyspnoea and FEV1 to predict 3-yea...
Klemencsics, Istvan; Lazary, Aron; Valasek, Tamas; Szoverfi, Zsolt; Bozsodi, Arpad; Eltes, Peter; Fekete, Tamás Fülöp; Varga, Peter Pal
2016-01-01
The Core Outcome Measure Index (COMI) is a short, multidimensional outcome instrument developed for the evaluation of patients with spinal conditions. The aim of this study was to produce a cross-culturally adapted and validated Hungarian version of the COMI Back questionnaire. A cross-cultural adaptation of the COMI into Hungarian was carried out using established guidelines. Low back pain patients completed a booklet of questionnaires containing the Hungarian versions of COMI, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and WHO Quality of Life-BREF assessment (WHOQOL-BREF). The validation of the COMI included assessment of its construct validity, reliability, and responsiveness. 145 patients participated in the assessment of reliability and 159 surgically treated patients were included in the responsiveness study. Excellent correlation was found between COMI and ODI scores (rho = 0.83, p cross-cultural adaptation of the COMI into the Hungarian language was successful, resulting in a reliable and valid measurement tool with good clinimetric properties.
Cross-diagnostic validity of the Nottingham health profile index of distress (NHPD
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Klevsgård Rosemarie
2008-07-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background The Nottingham Health Profile index of Distress (NHPD has been proposed as a generic undimensional 24-item measure of illness-related distress that is embedded in the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP. Data indicate that the NHPD may have psychometric advantages to the 6-dimensional NHP profile scores. Detailed psychometric evaluations are, however, lacking. Furthermore, to support the validity of the generic property of outcome measures evidence that scores can be interpreted in the same manner in different diagnostic groups are needed. It is currently unknown if NHPD scores have the same meaning across patient populations. This study evaluated the measurement properties and cross-diagnostic validity of the NHPD as a survey instrument among people with Parkinson's disease (PD and peripheral arterial disease (PAD. Methods Data from 215 (PD and 258 (PAD people were Rasch analyzed regarding model fit, reliability, differential item functioning (DIF, unidimensionality and targeting. In cases of cross-diagnostic DIF this was adjusted for and the impact of DIF on the total score and person measures was assessed. Results The NHPD was found to have good overall and individual item fit in both disorders as well as in the pooled sample, but seven items displayed signs of cross-diagnostic DIF. Following adjustment for DIF some aspects of model fit were slightly compromised, whereas others improved somewhat. DIF did not impact total NHPD scores or resulting person measures, but the unadjusted scale displayed minor signs of multidimensionality. Reliability was > 0.8 in all within- and cross-diagnostic analyses. Items tended to represent more distress (mean, 0 logits than that experienced by the sample (mean, -1.6 logits. Conclusion This study supports the within- and cross-diagnostic validity of the NHPD as a survey tool among people with PD and PAD. We encourage others to reassess available NHP data within the NHPD framework to further
Tinnitus functional index: validation of the German version for Switzerland.
Peter, Nicole; Kleinjung, Tobias; Jeker, Raphael; Meyer, Martin; Klaghofer, Richard; Weidt, Steffi
2017-05-05
Different standardized questionnaires are used to assess tinnitus severity, making comparisons across studies difficult. These questionnaires are also used to measure treatment-related changes in tinnitus although they were not designed for this purpose. To solve these problems, a new questionnaire - the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) - has been established. The TFI is highly responsive to treatment-related change and promises to be the new gold standard in tinnitus evaluation. The aim of the current study was to validate a German version of the TFI for a German-speaking population in Switzerland. At the ENT department of the University Hospital Zurich, 264 subjects completed an online survey including the German version for Switzerland of TFI, Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and sociodemographic variables. Internal consistency of the TFI was calculated with Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Pearson correlation coefficients were used for the test-retest reliability of the TFI and to investigate convergent and discriminant validity between the THI and the BDI and BAI, respectively. Factor analysis was assessed using a principal component analysis with oblique rotation. The different factors extracted were then compared with the original questionnaire. The German version of the TFI for Switzerland showed an excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha of 0.97) and an excellent test-retest reliability of 0.91. The convergent validity with THI was high (r = 0.86). The discriminant validity with BAI and BDI showed moderate results (BAI: r = 0.60 and BDI: r = 0.65). In the factor analysis only five factors with one main factor could be extracted instead of eight factors as described in the original version. Nevertheless, relations to the original eight subscales could be demonstrated. The German version of the TFI for Switzerland is a suitable instrument for measuring the impact of tinnitus
The development and preliminary validation of a Preference-Based Stroke Index (PBSI
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Clarke Ann E
2003-09-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Health-related quality of life (HRQL is a key issue in disabling conditions like stroke. Unfortunately, HRQL is often difficult to quantify in a comprehensive measure that can be used in cost analyses. Preference-based HRQL measures meet this challenge. To date, there are no existing preference-based HRQL measure for stroke that could be used as an outcome in clinical and economic studies of stroke. The aim of this study was to develop the first stroke-specific health index, the Preference-based Stroke Index (PBSI. Methods The PBSI includes 10 items; walking, climbing stairs, physical activities/sports, recreational activities, work, driving, speech, memory, coping and self-esteem. Each item has a 3-point response scale. Items known to be impacted by a stroke were selected. Scaling properties and preference-weights obtained from individuals with stroke and their caregivers were used to develop a cumulative score. Results Compared to the EQ-5D, the PBSI showed no ceiling effect in a high-functioning stroke population. Moderately high correlations were found between the physical function (r = 0.78, vitality (r = 0.67, social functioning (r = 0.64 scales of the SF-36 and the PBSI. The lowest correlation was with the role emotional scale of the SF-36 (r = 0.32. Our results indicated that the PBSI can differentiate patients by severity of stroke (p Conclusions Content validity and preliminary evidence of construct validity has been demonstrated. Further work is needed to develop a multiattribute utility function to gather information on psychometric properties of the PBSI.
The development, validity, and reliability of the Addiction Profile Index (API).
Ögel, Kültegin; Evren, Cüneyt; Karadağ, Figen; Gürol, Defne Tamar
2012-01-01
The objective of this study was to develop a practical questionnaire for multidimensional assessment of problems associated with alcohol and substance abuse that would also be useful for treatment planning. The Addiction Profile Index (API) is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 37 items and the following 5 subscales: characteristics of substance use; dependency diagnosis; the effects of subsance use on the user; craving; motivation to quit using substances. The study included 345 alcohol and/or substance abusers from 2 addiction treatment clinics and a prison addiction service. The validity of the questionnaire was assessed using the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), Readiness to Change Questionnaire (SOCRATES), Penn Alcohol Craving Scale (PACS), Drug Craving Scale (DCS), Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I), and Addiction Severity Index (ASI). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the total API was 0.89 and for the subscales it ranged from 0.63 to 0.86. Item-total correlation coefficients ranged from 0.42 to 0.89. The Spearman Brown split-half method coefficient for the total API was 0.83. In all, 4 factors were obtained using explanatory factor analysis that represented 52.3% of the total variance. The API craving subscale was observed to be consistent with PACS and the API motivation subscale was consistent with SOCRATES. The API total score was strongly correlated with the mean MAST score, and the composite ASI medical status, substance use, legal status, and family social relations subscale scores. Based on ROC analyses, the area under curve was 0.90. With a total API cut-off score of 4, the scale's sensitivity and specificity 0.85 was 0.78, respectively. The findings show that the API is a valid and reliable questionnaire that can be used to measure the severity of different dimensions of substance dependency.
Duke Activity Status Index for Cardiovascular Diseases: Validation of the Portuguese Translation
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Coutinho-Myrrha, Mariana A. [Ciências da Reabilitação Programa de Pós-Graduação - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) (Brazil); Dias, Rosângela C. [Ciências da Reabilitação Programa de Pós-Graduação - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) (Brazil); Departamento de Fisioterapia - UFMG (Brazil); Fernandes, Aline A. [Ciências da Reabilitação Programa de Pós-Graduação - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) (Brazil); Araújo, Christiano G. [Setor de Cardiologia do Hospital das Clínicas da UFMG (Brazil); Hlatky, Mark A. [Standford University School of Medicine (United States); Pereira, Danielle G.; Britto, Raquel R., E-mail: r3britto@gmail.com [Ciências da Reabilitação Programa de Pós-Graduação - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) (Brazil); Departamento de Fisioterapia - UFMG (Brazil)
2014-04-15
The Duke Activity Status Index (DASI) assesses the functional capacity of patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), but there is no Portuguese version validated for CVD. To translate and adapt cross-culturally the DASI for the Portuguese-Brazil language, and to verify its psychometric properties in the assessment of functional capacity of patients with CVD. The DASI was translated into Portuguese, then checked by back-translation into English and evaluated by an expert committee. The pre-test version was first evaluated in 30 subjects. The psychometric properties and correlation with exercise testing was performed in a second group of 67 subjects. An exploratory factor analyses was performed in all 97 subjects to verify the construct validity of the DASI. The intraclass correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.87 and for the inter-rater reliability was 0.84. Cronbach's α for internal consistency was 0.93. The concurrent validity was verified by significant positive correlations of DASI scores with the VO{sub 2}max (r = 0.51, p < 0.001). The factor analysis yielded two factors, which explained 54% of the total variance, with factor 1 accounting for 40% of the variance. Application of the DASI required between one and three and a half minutes per patient. The Brazilian version of the DASI appears to be a valid, reliable, fast and easy to administer tool to assess functional capacity among patients with CVD.
Duke Activity Status Index for Cardiovascular Diseases: Validation of the Portuguese Translation
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Coutinho-Myrrha, Mariana A.; Dias, Rosângela C.; Fernandes, Aline A.; Araújo, Christiano G.; Hlatky, Mark A.; Pereira, Danielle G.; Britto, Raquel R.
2014-01-01
The Duke Activity Status Index (DASI) assesses the functional capacity of patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), but there is no Portuguese version validated for CVD. To translate and adapt cross-culturally the DASI for the Portuguese-Brazil language, and to verify its psychometric properties in the assessment of functional capacity of patients with CVD. The DASI was translated into Portuguese, then checked by back-translation into English and evaluated by an expert committee. The pre-test version was first evaluated in 30 subjects. The psychometric properties and correlation with exercise testing was performed in a second group of 67 subjects. An exploratory factor analyses was performed in all 97 subjects to verify the construct validity of the DASI. The intraclass correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.87 and for the inter-rater reliability was 0.84. Cronbach's α for internal consistency was 0.93. The concurrent validity was verified by significant positive correlations of DASI scores with the VO 2 max (r = 0.51, p < 0.001). The factor analysis yielded two factors, which explained 54% of the total variance, with factor 1 accounting for 40% of the variance. Application of the DASI required between one and three and a half minutes per patient. The Brazilian version of the DASI appears to be a valid, reliable, fast and easy to administer tool to assess functional capacity among patients with CVD
Barsties, Ben; Maryn, Youri
2016-07-01
The Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) is an objective method to quantify the severity of overall voice quality in concatenated continuous speech and sustained phonation segments. Recently, AVQI was successfully modified to be more representative and ecologically valid because the internal consistency of AVQI was balanced out through equal proportion of the 2 speech types. The present investigation aims to explore its external validation in a large data set. An expert panel of 12 speech-language therapists rated the voice quality of 1058 concatenated voice samples varying from normophonia to severe dysphonia. The Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients (r) were used to measure concurrent validity. The AVQI's diagnostic accuracy was evaluated with several estimates of its receiver operating characteristics (ROC). Finally, 8 of the 12 experts were chosen because of reliability criteria. A strong correlation was identified between AVQI and auditoryperceptual rating (r = 0.815, P = .000). It indicated that 66.4% of the auditory-perceptual rating's variation was explained by AVQI. Additionally, the ROC results showed again the best diagnostic outcome at a threshold of AVQI = 2.43. This study highlights external validation and diagnostic precision of the AVQI version 03.01 as a robust and ecologically valid measurement to objectify voice quality. © The Author(s) 2016.
Mohamed, Rachid; Raman, Maitreyi; Anderson, John; McLaughlin, Kevin; Rostom, Alaa; Coderre, Sylvain
2014-03-01
Although workplace workload assessments exist in different fields, an endoscopy-specific workload assessment tool is lacking. To validate such a workload tool and use it to map the progression of novice trainees in gastroenterology in performing their first endoscopies. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) workload assessment tool was completed by eight novice trainees in gastroenterology and 10 practicing gastroenterologists⁄surgeons. An exploratory factor analysis was performed to construct a streamlined endoscopy-specific task load index, which was subsequently validated. The 'Endoscopy Task Load Index' was used to monitor progression of trainee exertion and self-assessed performance over their first 40 procedures. From the factor analysis of the NASA-TLX, two principal components emerged: a measure of exertion and a measure of self-efficacy. These items became the components of the newly validated Endoscopy Task Load Index. There was a steady decline in self-perceived exertion over the training period, which was more rapid for gastroscopy than colonoscopy. The self-efficacy scores for gastroscopy rapidly increased over the first few procedures, reaching a plateau after this period of time. For colonoscopy, there was a progressive increase in reported self-efficacy over the first three quartiles of procedures, followed by a drop in self-efficacy scores over the final quartile. The present study validated an Endoscopy Task Load Index that can be completed in <1 min. Practical implications of such a tool in endoscopy education include identifying periods of higher perceived exertion among novice endoscopists, facilitating appropriate levels of guidance from trainers.
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Schölzel-Dorenbos Carla J M
2012-09-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Index measures for health-related quality of life (HRQoL quantify the desirability (utility of a certain health state. The commonly used generic index measure, e.g. EuroQol: EQ-5D, may underestimate relevant areas of specific diseases, resulting in lower validity. Disease-specific index measures on the other hand combine disease-specificity and quantification of perceived quality on several health domains of a certain disease into one single figure. These instruments have been developed for several diseases, but a dementia-specific HRQoL index instrument was not yet available. Facing the increasing individual and societal burden of dementia, specific HRQoL values with metric characteristics are especially useful because they will provide vital information for health outcome research and economic evaluations. Aims of the study To develop and validate the prototype of a dementia-specific HRQoL index measure: Dementia Quality of life Instrument (DQI, as the first step towards valuation of the dementia health state. Methods For development of the DQI we created a conceptual framework based on a review of the literature, qualitative interviews with people with dementia and their carers, expert opinion and team discussion. To assess validity we undertook a survey under 241 dementia professionals. Measurements consisted of ranking (1–5 and rating (1–10 of 5 dementia-specific DQI domains (memory, orientation, independence, social activities and mood and simultaneously rating of 9 DQI-derived health states on a visual analogue scale (VAS. We also performed a cross-sectional study in a large sample of people with very mild to moderate dementia and their caregivers (N = 145 to assess feasibility and concurrent validity. In addition, caregivers valued 10 DQI and 10 EQ-5D + C derived health states of the patient simultaneously on the same VAS. Setting: outpatient clinics, nursing homes and patient residences. Results All
González-Sánchez, Manuel; Ruiz-Muñoz, Maria; Li, Guang Zhi; Cuesta-Vargas, Antonio I
2017-05-11
To perform a cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Foot Function Index (FFI) questionnaire to develop the Chinese version. Three hundred and six patients with foot and ankle neuromusculoskeletal diseases participated in this observational study. Construct validity, internal consistency and criterion validity were calculated for the FFI Chinese version after the translation and transcultural adaptation process. Internal consistency ranged from 0.996 to 0.998. Test-retest analysis ranged from 0.985 to 0.994; minimal detectable change 90: 2.270; standard error of measurement: 0.973. Load distribution of the three factors had an eigenvalue greater than 1. Chi-square value was 9738.14 (p Foot Function Index (Taiwan Version), Short-Form 12 (Version 2) and EuroQol-5D were used for criterion validity. Factors 1 and 2 showed significant correlation with 15/16 and 14/16 scales and subscales, respectively. Foot Function Index Chinese version psychometric characteristics were good to excellent. Chinese researchers and clinicians may use this tool for foot and ankle assessment and monitoring. Implications for rehabilitation A cross-cultural adaptation of the FFI has been done from original version to Chinese. Consistent results and satisfactory psychometric properties of the Foot Function Index Chinese version have been reported. For Chinese speaking researcher and clinician FFI-Ch could be used as a tool to assess patients with foot disease.
Epstein, Richard H; Dexter, Franklin
2017-07-01
Comorbidity adjustment is often performed during outcomes and health care resource utilization research. Our goal was to develop an efficient algorithm in structured query language (SQL) to determine the Elixhauser comorbidity index. We wrote an SQL algorithm to calculate the Elixhauser comorbidities from Diagnosis Related Group and International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes. Validation was by comparison to expected comorbidities from combinations of these codes and to the 2013 Nationwide Readmissions Database (NRD). The SQL algorithm matched perfectly with expected comorbidities for all combinations of ICD-9 or ICD-10, and Diagnosis Related Groups. Of 13 585 859 evaluable NRD records, the algorithm matched 100% of the listed comorbidities. Processing time was ∼0.05 ms/record. The SQL Elixhauser code was efficient and computationally identical to the SAS algorithm used for the NRD. This algorithm may be useful where preprocessing of large datasets in a relational database environment and comorbidity determination is desired before statistical analysis. A validated SQL procedure to calculate Elixhauser comorbidities and the van Walraven index from ICD-9 or ICD-10 discharge diagnosis codes has been published. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Peng, Min; Fei, Wei; Hosseini, Mandana
2012-01-01
Objectives: To test the reliability and validity of the papilla index scores of the implant-supported single crowns (ISSCs) of maxillary central incisors. Materials and Methods: Twenty-five patients with 25 ISSCs were included. Two prosthodontists evaluated the papilla index score (PIS) of three...... inter-observer agreement. The PIS score demonstrated significant correlation to the corresponding PP value (rs=.567, p=.000). Conclusions: The feasibility, reliability and validity of the PIS made the parameter useful for quality control of the pri-implant soft tissue of ISSCs....... fill percent (PP) was calculated. The validity of PIS was tested against the corresponding papilla fill percent (PP) by using the Spearman correlation analysis. Results: The intra-observer agreement was >70% in 4/5 and >50% in all observations, the pooled Cohen’s ¿ was 0.64 and 0.70 for two observers...
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Sabinsky, Marianne; Toft, Ulla; Andersen, Klaus K.
2012-01-01
Objective School lunch programmes are one strategy to promote healthier dietary habits in children, but better evaluation tools for assessing the dietary quality of such programmes are needed. The aim of the present study was to develop and validate a simple index to assess the dietary quality...... of school lunches for children aged 7–13 years. Design A Meal Index of dietary Quality (Meal IQ) was developed to consist of seven components (nutrients and food groups) based on dietary issues for children aged 7–13 years, which were identified in a national dietary survey. The Meal IQ was validated......, higher contents of fibre, various vitamins and minerals, and more fruits, vegetables and fish. Conclusions The Meal IQ is a valid and useful evaluation tool for assessing the dietary quality of lunches provided by schools or brought to school from home....
Validation of the Abdominal Pain Index using a revised scoring method.
Laird, Kelsey T; Sherman, Amanda L; Smith, Craig A; Walker, Lynn S
2015-06-01
Evaluate the psychometric properties of child- and parent-report versions of the four-item Abdominal Pain Index (API) in children with functional abdominal pain (FAP) and healthy controls, using a revised scoring method that facilitates comparisons of scores across samples and time. Pediatric patients aged 8-18 years with FAP and controls completed the API at baseline (N = 1,967); a subset of their parents (N = 290) completed the API regarding the child's pain. Subsets of patients completed follow-up assessments at 2 weeks (N = 231), 3 months (N = 330), and 6 months (N = 107). Subsets of both patients (N = 389) and healthy controls (N = 172) completed a long-term follow-up assessment (mean age at follow-up = 20.21 years, SD = 3.75). The API demonstrated good concurrent, discriminant, and construct validity, as well as good internal consistency. We conclude that the API, using the revised scoring method, is a useful, reliable, and valid measure of abdominal pain severity. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Duruturk, Neslihan; Tonga, Eda; Gabel, Charles Philip; Acar, Manolya; Tekindal, Agah
2015-07-26
This study aims to adapt culturally a Turkish version of the Lower Limb Functional Index (LLFI) and to determine its validity, reliability, internal consistency, measurement sensitivity and factor structure in lower limb problems. The LLFI was translated into Turkish and cross-culturally adapted with a double forward-backward protocol that determined face and content validity. Individuals (n = 120) with lower limb musculoskeletal disorders completed the LLFI and Short Form-36 questionnaires and the Timed Up and Go physical test. The psychometric properties were evaluated for the all participants from patient-reported outcome measures made at baseline and repeated at day 3 to determine criterion between scores (Pearson's r), internal consistency (Cronbachs α) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient - ICC 2.1 ). Error was determined using standard error of the measurement (SEM) and minimal detectable change at the 90% level (MDC 90 ), while factor structure was determined using exploratory factor analysis with maximum likelihood extraction and Varimax rotation. The psychometric characteristics showed strong criterion validity (r = 0.74-0.76), high internal consistency (α = 0.82) and high test-retest reability (ICC 2.1 = 0.97). The SEM of 3.2% gave an MDC 90 = 5.8%. The factor structure was uni-dimensional. Turkish version of LLFI was found to be valid and reliable for the measurement of lower limb function in a Turkish population. Implications for Rehabilitation Lower extremity musculoskeletal disorders are common and greatly impact activities among the affected individuals pertaining to daily living, work, leisure and quality of life. Patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures have advantages as they are practical, cost-effective and clinically convenient for use in patient-centered care. The Lower Limb Functional Index is a recently validated PRO measure shown to have strong clinimetric properties.
An Analytical Study on an Orthodontic Index: Index of Complexity, Outcome and Need (ICON)
Torkan, Sepide; Pakshir, Hamid Reza; Fattahi, Hamid Reza; Oshagh, Morteza; Momeni Danaei, Shahla; Salehi, Parisa; Hedayati, Zohreh
2015-01-01
Statement of the Problem The validity of the Index of Complexity, Outcome and Need (ICON) which is an orthodontic index developed and introduced in 2000 should be studied in different ethnic groups. Purpose The aim of this study was to perform an analysis on the ICON and to verify whether this index is valid for assessing both the need and complexity of orthodontic treatment in Iran. Materials and Method Five orthodontists were asked to score pre-treatment diagnostic records of 100 patients with a uniform distribution of different types of malocclusions determined by Dental Health Component of the Index of Treatment Need. A calibrated examiner also assessed the need for orthodontic treatment and complexity of the cases based on the ICON index as well as the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN). 10 days later, 25% of the cases were re-scored by the panel of experts and the calibrated orthodontist. Results The weighted kappa revealed the inter-examiner reliability of the experts to be 0.63 and 0.51 for the need and complexity components, respectively. ROC curve was used to assess the validity of the index. A new cut-off point was adjusted at 35 in lieu of 43 as the suggested cut-off point. This cut-off point showed the highest level of sensitivity and specificity in our society for orthodontic treatment need (0.77 and 0.78, respectively), but it failed to define definite ranges for the complexity of treatment. Conclusion ICON is a valid index in assessing the need for treatment in Iran when the cut-off point is adjusted to 35. As for complexity of treatment, the index is not validated for our society. It seems that ICON is a well-suited substitute for the IOTN index. PMID:26331142
Salavati, M.; Rameckers, E. A. A.; Waninge, A.; Krijnen, W. P.; Steenbergen, B.; van der Schans, C. P.
Purpose: To investigate whether the adapted version of the Gross Motor Function Measure 88 (GMFM-88) for children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) results in higher scores. This is most likely to be a reflection of their gross motor function, however it may be the result
A validity assessment of the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI)™.
Desiere, Sam; Vellema, Wytse; D'Haese, Marijke
2015-04-01
Development organisations need easy-to-use and quick-to-implement indicators to quantify poverty when requested to measure program impact. In this paper we assess the validity of the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI)™, a country-specific indicator based on ten closed questions on directly observable household characteristics, by its compliance to the SMART criteria. Each response receives a pre-determined score, such that the sum of these scores can be converted into the likelihood the household is living below the poverty line. We focus on the PPI scorecard for Rwanda, which was validated using two national household surveys conducted in 2005/06 and 2010/11. The PPI is Specific, Measurable, Available cost effectively, and Timely available. Yet, its Relevance depends on the way it is used. Although it accurately distinguishes poor from non-poor households, making it a useful reporting tool, its limited sensitivity to changes in poverty status restricts its usefulness for evaluating the impact of development projects. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Design and Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of a Paternal Adaptation Questionnaire.
Eskandari, Narges; Simbar, Masoumeh; Vadadhir, AbouAli; Baghestani, Ahmad Reza
2016-07-25
The present study aimed to design and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Paternal Adaptation Questionnaire (PAQ). The study was a mixed (qualitative and quantitative) sequential exploratory study. In the qualitative phase, a preliminary questionnaire with 210 items emerged from in-depth interviews with 17 fathers and 15 key informants. In the quantitative phase, psychometric properties of the PAQ were assessed. Considering cutoff points as 1.5 for item impact, 0.49 for content validity ratio (CVR), and 0.7 for content validity index (CVI), items of the questionnaire were reduced from 210 to 132. Assessment of the content validity of the questionnaire demonstrated S-CVR = 0.68 and S-CVI = 0.92. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in the development of a PAQ with 38 items classified under five factors (ability in performing the roles and responsibilities; perceiving the parental development; stabilization in paternal position; spiritual stability and internal satisfaction; and challenges and concerns), which explained 52.19% of cumulative variance. Measurement of internal consistency reported a Cronbach's α of .89 for PAQ (.61-.86 for subscales), and stability assessment of the PAQ through the test-retest demonstrated Spearman's correlation coefficients and intraclass correlation coefficient of .96 (.81-.97 for subscales). It was identified that the PAQ is a valid and reliable instrument that could be used to assess fatherhood adaptation with the paternal roles and fathers' needs, as well as to design appropriate interventions and to evaluate their effectiveness. © The Author(s) 2016.
Husnayaen; Rimba, A. Besse; Osawa, Takahiro; Parwata, I. Nyoman Sudi; As-syakur, Abd. Rahman; Kasim, Faizal; Astarini, Ida Ayu
2018-04-01
Research has been conducted in Semarang, Indonesia, to assess coastal vulnerability under enhanced land subsidence using multi-sensor satellite data, including the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array type L-band SAR (PALSAR), Landsat TM, IKONOS, and TOPEX/Poseidon. A coastal vulnerability index (CVI) was constructed to estimate the level of vulnerability of a coastline approximately 48.68 km in length using seven physical variables, namely, land subsidence, relative sea level change, coastal geomorphology, coastal slope, shoreline change, mean tidal range, and significant wave height. A comparison was also performed between a CVI calculated using seven parameters and a CVI using six parameters, the latter of which excludes the land subsidence parameter, to determine the effects of land subsidence during the coastal vulnerability assessment. This study showed that the accuracy of coastal vulnerability was increased 40% by adding the land subsidence factor (i.e., CVI 6 parameters = 53%, CVI 7 parameters = 93%). Moreover, Kappa coefficient indicated very good agreement (0.90) for CVI 7 parameters and fair agreement (0.3) for CVI 6 parameters. The results indicate that the area of very high vulnerability increased by 7% when land subsidence was added. Hence, using the CVI calculation including land subsidence parameters, the very high vulnerability area is determined to be 20% of the total coastline or 9.7 km of the total 48.7 km of coastline. This study proved that land subsidence has significant influence on coastal vulnerability in Semarang.
Work Ability Index: Validation of the Greek Version and Descriptive Data in Heavy Industry Employees
Alexopoulos, Evangelos C.; Merekoulias, Georgios; Gnardellis, Charalambos; Jelastopulu, Eleni
2013-01-01
Aims: Validation of the Greek version of Work Ability Index (WAI). Study Design: A cross sectional survey of 943 workers from a shipyard industry. Place and Duration of Study: University of Patras, Medical School, Public Health Department, HSY occupational health department, Greece in 2006-07. Methodology: The translation and cultural adaptation of the questionnaire was performed according to the international standards. The following aspects of the questionnaire were evaluated: construct val...
van der Veer, Sabine N; Jager, Kitty J; Visserman, Ella; Beekman, Robert J; Boeschoten, Els W; de Keizer, Nicolette F; Heuveling, Lara; Stronks, Karien; Arah, Onyebuchi A
2012-08-01
Patient experience is an established indicator of quality of care. Validated tools that measure both experiences and priorities are lacking for chronic dialysis care, hampering identification of negative experiences that patients actually rate important. We developed two Consumer Quality (CQ) index questionnaires, one for in-centre haemodialysis (CHD) and the other for peritoneal dialysis and home haemodialysis (PHHD) care. The instruments were validated using exploratory factor analyses, reliability analysis of identified scales and assessing the association between reliable scales and global ratings. We investigated opportunities for improvement by combining suboptimal experience with patient priority. Sixteen dialysis centres participated in our study. The pilot CQ index for CHD care consisted of 71 questions. Based on data of 592 respondents, we identified 42 core experience items in 10 scales with Cronbach's α ranging from 0.38 to 0.88; five were reliable (α ≥ 0.70). The instrument identified information on centres' fire procedures as the aspect of care exhibiting the biggest opportunity for improvement. The pilot CQ index PHHD comprised 56 questions. The response of 248 patients yielded 31 core experience items in nine scales with Cronbach's α ranging between 0.53 and 0.85; six were reliable. Information on kidney transplantation during pre-dialysis showed most room for improvement. However, for both types of care, opportunities for improvement were mostly limited. The CQ index reliably and validly captures dialysis patient experience. Overall, most care aspects showed limited room for improvement, mainly because patients participating in our study rated their experience to be optimal. To evaluate items with high priority, but with which relatively few patients have experience, more qualitative instruments should be considered.
Assessment of exposure to traffic pollution using the ExTra index: study of validation
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Reungoat, Patrice; Chiron, Mireille; Gauvin, Stephanie; Le Moullec, Y.; Momas, Isabelle
2003-01-01
The ExTra index, produced by the French Scientific Center for Building Physics, evaluates ambient concentrations of transport-related pollutants in front of the work and living places of urban dwellers. This study contributes to the validation of the ExTra index by carrying out measurements in four French cities. It compares nitrogen oxide concentrations (NO x ) measured over 6 weeks with passive samplers, and NO x calculated concentrations using the ExTra index. The study takes into account traffic density, topographical parameters (building height, road, and pavement width), weather conditions (wind direction and strength), and background pollution levels. The model was tested at 100 street canyons sites. There were highly significant correlations (0.90 in Grenoble, 0.95 in Nice, 0.89 in Paris, and 0.89 in Toulouse) and good intraclass correlation coefficients (0.75 in Grenoble, 0.91 in Nice, 0.89 in Paris, and 0.86 in Toulouse) between the two series of values. These results suggest that if the ExTra index were to be applied to all the different residences and workplaces of a subject throughout his (her) life, it could be a useful epidemiological tool for studying the long-term health effects of transport-related emissions and for reconstructing individual exposure to such pollution in order to avoid misclassification
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Lund, Thomas Bøker; Watson, David; Smed, Sinne
2017-01-01
The aim was to construct and validate a cost-efficient index to measure GHG emissions (GHGe) caused by Danish consumers’ diets to be employed in questionnaire-based surveys. The index was modelled on the basis of actual food purchase data from a panel of ordinary Danish households...... and a questionnaire consisting of food frequency questions issued to the same panel. Based on the purchase data, diet-related GHGe were calculated for 2012. The data was then split into a learning sample and a validation sample. The index was constructed using the learning sample where a scoring procedure...... was calculated from responses to the questionnaire-based food frequency questions that predicted diet-related GHGe. Subsequently, the index scoring procedure was employed on the validation sample and the empirical relevance of the index was examined. In the learning sample, a scoring procedure to construct...
Validity and Reliability Study of Bahasa Malaysia Version of Voice Handicap Index-10.
Ong, Fei Ming; Husna Nik Hassan, Nik Fariza; Azman, Mawaddah; Sani, Abdullah; Mat Baki, Marina
2018-05-21
This study aimed to determine the validity and reliability of Bahasa Malaysia version of Voice Handicap Index-10 (mVHI-10). This cross-sectional study was carried out in the Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Department of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) from June 2015 to May 2016. The mVHI-10 was produced following a rigorous forward and backward translation. One hundred participants, including 50 healthy volunteers (17 male, 33 female) and 50 patients with voice disorders (26 male, 24 female), were recruited to complete the mVHI-10 before flexible laryngoscopic examinations and acoustic analysis. The mVHI-10 was repeated in 2 weeks via telephone interview or clinic visit. Its reliability and validity were assessed using interclass correlation. The test-retest reliability for total mVHI-10 and each item score was high, with the Cronbach alpha of >0.90. The total mVHI-10 score and domain scores were significantly higher (P Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure was 0.92, which depicted excellent construct validity. There was a significant positive correlation between the mVHI-10 score and jitter and shimmer result (P < 0.001). The present study showed good reliability and validity of the mVHI-10 when applied to both healthy volunteers and patients with voice disorders. We recommend the use of the mVHI-10 in daily clinical practice among Bahasa Malaysia-speaking population. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Evaluation of the Validity and Reliability of the Chinese Healthy Eating Index
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Ya-Qun Yuan
2018-01-01
Full Text Available The Chinese Healthy Eating Index (CHEI is a measuring instrument of diet quality in accordance with the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese (DGC-2016. The objective of the study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the CHEI. Data from 12,473 adults from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS-2011, including 3-day–24-h dietary recalls were used in this study. The CHEI was assessed by four exemplary menus developed by the DGC-2016, the general linear models, the independent t-test and the Mann–Whitney U-test, the Spearman’s correlation analysis, the principal components analysis (PCA, the Cronbach’s coefficient, and the Pearson correlation with nutrient intakes. A higher CHEI score was linked with lower exposure to known risk factors of Chinese diets. The CHEI scored nearly perfect for exemplary menus for adult men (99.8, adult women (99.7, and the healthy elderly (99.1, but not for young children (91.2. The CHEI was able to distinguish the difference in diet quality between smokers and non-smokers (P < 0.0001, people with higher and lower education levels (P < 0.0001, and people living in urban and rural areas (P < 0.0001. Low correlations with energy intake for the CHEI total and component scores (|r| < 0.34, P < 0.01 supported the index assessed diet quality independently of diet quantity. The PCA indicated that underlying multiple dimensions compose the CHEI, and Cronbach’s coefficient α was 0.22. Components of dairy, fruits and cooking oils had the greatest impact on the total score. People with a higher CHEI score had not only a higher absolute intake of nutrients (P < 0.001, but also a more nutrient-dense diet (P < 0.001. Our findings support the validity and reliability of the CHEI when using the 3-day–24-h recalls.
Validation studies on indexed sequential modeling for the Colorado River Basin
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Labadie, J.W.; Fontane, D.G.; Salas, J.D.; Ouarda, T.
1991-01-01
This paper reports on a method called indexed sequential modeling (ISM) that has been developed by the Western Area Power Administration to estimate reliable levels of project dependable power capacity (PDC) and applied to several federal hydro systems in the Western U.S. The validity of ISM in relation to more commonly accepted stochastic modeling approaches is analyzed by applying it to the Colorado River Basin using the Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS) developed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Performance of ISM is compared with results from input of stochastically generated data using the LAST Applied Stochastic Techniques Package. Results indicate that output generated from ISM synthetically generated sequences display an acceptable correspondence with results obtained from final convergent stochastically generated hydrology for the Colorado River Basin
Validation of the insomnia severity index as a web-based measure.
Thorndike, Frances P; Ritterband, Lee M; Saylor, Drew K; Magee, Joshua C; Gonder-Frederick, Linda A; Morin, Charles M
2011-01-01
Although the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) is already administered online, this frequently used instrument has not been validated for Web delivery. This study compares online and paper-and-pencil ISI versions completed by participants in a randomized controlled trial testing an Internet-delivered intervention for insomnia. Forty-three adults with insomnia completed both ISI versions during pre- (Assessment 1) and post-intervention (Assessment 2). Correlations between total scores of both versions were significant (rs ≥ .98, ps < .001). For both ISI versions, internal consistency was acceptable (Assessment 1, α = .61; Assessment 2, α ≥ .88). Among participants not receiving the parent study intervention, correlations between 1 format at Assessment 1 and the alternative format at Assessment 2 were generally significant (rs = .26-.82). Together, findings suggest the ISI can be delivered online.
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Candiasa I Made
2018-01-01
Full Text Available Test for measuring vocational aptitude has been formulated and validated. There are three main constructs involved in vocational aptitude test, which are individual characteristics, activities that are likely to be selected, and professions that tend to be idolized. Individual characteristics indicate the individuals talents, whereas the activity that tends to be chosen leads to student interest in the activity, and the intended profession gives clues about the capability of themselves to pursue the profession. Content validity test with Lawse technique yields content validity ratio (CVR for all items are in the range 0.82-0.94 and content validity index (CVI = 0.88. The construct validity test yields comparative fit index (CFI = 0.918 and chi square coefficient (χ2 = 5.85 with significance (p = 0.002. These findings indicate that the test is valid either by content or construct. Furthermore, the reliability test with Alpha Cronbach found the alpha coefficient (α = 0.82. Finally, it can be concluded that vocational aptitude test can be utilized for early identification of student vocational aptitude. The hope, the test can help students to choose the appropriate vocational school, in order to obtain the better learning outcomes.
Membrilla-Mesa, Miguel David; Cuesta-Vargas, Antonio Ignacio; Pozuelo-Calvo, Rocio; Tejero-Fernández, Victor; Martín-Martín, Lydia; Arroyo-Morales, Manuel
2015-12-21
The Shoulder Pain Disability Index (SPADI) is a recently published but widely used outcome measure. This study included 136 patients with shoulder disorders. SPADI was first translated and back-translated and then subjected to psychometric validation. Participants completed the Spanish versions of the SPADI, general health (SF-12), the Simple Shoulder Test (SST), Disability of Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaires and a pain intensity visual analog scale (VAS). The factors explained 62.8 % of the variance, with an internal consistency of α = 0.916 and 0.860, respectively. The confirmatory factor analysis showed a Comparative Fit Index of 0.82 and a Normed Fit Index of 0.80. The Root Mean Square Error of Aproximation was 0.12. The x (2) test for the 2-factor model was significant (x (2) = 185.41, df = 62, p validity analysis, strong positive correlations were observed between Spanish Version of the SPADI and DASH (pain: r = 0.80; p Spanish Version of the SPADI and VAS (pain: r = 0.67; p Spanish Version of the SPADI and SST-Sp (pain: r = -0.71; p Spanish Version of the SPADI was only weakly correlated with physical and mental components of SF-12 (both r = 0.40; p Spanish version of SPADI demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties in a patient sample in the hospital setting.
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Hsiao-Lan Wang
2017-01-01
Full Text Available The challenge of using exergames to promote physical activity among cancer survivors lies in the selection of the exergames that match their fitness level. There is a need for a standardized grading scheme by which to judge an exergame’s capacity to address specific physical fitness attributes with different levels of physical engagement. The study aimed to develop an Exergame Grading Scheme and preliminarily evaluate its psychometric properties. Fourteen (14 items were created from the human movement and exergame literature. The content validity index (CVI was rated by content experts with two consecutive rounds (N=5 and N=3 independently. The interrater reliability (IRR was determined by two raters who used the Exergame Grading Scheme to determine the grading score of the five exergames performed by two cancer survivors (N=10. Each item had a score of 1 for item-level CVI and 1 for k. For IRR, 9 items had rho values of 1, 1 item had 0.93, and 4 items had between 0.80 and 0.89. This valid and reliable Exergame Grading Scheme makes it possible to develop a personalized physical activity program using any type of exergame or fitness mobile application in rehabilitation practice to meet the needs of cancer survivors.
A consideration of a measuring point of ventricular dilatation on CT scanning
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kuno, Koichi; Miyake, Kazuo
1980-01-01
Ventricular dilatation has been judged by pneumo-ventricurography, pneumo-encepharography and carotid angiography (CAG), though all these procedures are very uncomfortable for patients. On the other hand, the CT scan is very easy as a follow-up study of ventricular dilatation for a weak patient. We carried out the CT scan (Hitachi CT-H 250 Scanner, NaI detector) and CAG on 84 cases. The ventricular dilatation was judged by the degree of outstretch of the strio-thalamic vein on an AP view of the phrebogram, classified into 3 types. For all three types classified by the phrebogram, we studied various measuring points of the ventricle on the CT scan. The portions measured on the CT scan were: (1) the frontal cerebro-ventricular index (F-CVI), (2) the bicaudate cerebro-ventricular index (Bicaud-CVI), and (3) the maximum Monro's cerebro-ventricular index (M-CVI), the width of the frontal horn, and the thickness of the ventricular body. The following results were obtained: (1) In measuring the ventricular size on the CT scan, the most interrelated point with the ventricular dilatation is the M-CVI - the ratio of the largest width of the body through the Monro foramen to the width of the brain. In this case, however, the width of the frontal horn and of the body should also be considered. (2) Voltage and electric current changed the EMI-number, but did not alter the measuring value. In this case, the width and the level should be kept constant. (3) The group with the marked ventricular dilatation has a larger value of the CT scan than its value of GAG. (4) The normal value of the M-CVI is 24 +- 3%, moreover, the width of the frontal horn is less than 10 mm, and the thickness of the ventricular body is less than 17 mm. (author)
Falls in long-term care institutions for elderly people: protocol validation.
Baixinho, Cristina Rosa Soares Lavareda; Dixe, Maria Dos Anjos Coelho Rodrigues; Henriques, Maria Adriana Pereira
2017-01-01
To validate the content of a fall management risk protocol in long-term institutions for elderly people. Methodological, quanti-qualitative study using the Delphi technique. The tool, based on the literature, was sent electronically to obtain consensus among the 14 experts that meet the defined inclusion criteria. The 27 indicators of the protocol are organized in three dimensions: prepare for the institutionalization (IRA=.88); manage the risk of falls throughout the institutionalization (IRA=.9); and lead the communication and formation (IRA=1), with a CVI=.91. Two rounds were performed to get a consensus superior to 80% in every item. The values obtained in the reliability test (>0.8) show that the protocol can be used to meet the intended goal. The next step is the clinic validation of the protocol with residents of long-term care institutions for elderly people. Validar o conteúdo de um protocolo para a gestão do risco de queda em Instituições de Longa Permanência para Idosos. Estudo metodológico, de abordagem quantiqualitativa, utilizando a técnica de Delphi. O instrumento, construído com base na literatura, foi enviado por via electrónica, para obter consenso entre os 14 peritos que respeitam os critérios de inclusão definidos. Os 27 indicadores do protocolo estão organizados em três dimensões: Preparar a Institucionalização (IRA=,88); Gerir o Risco de Queda ao longo da Institucionalização (IRA=,9) e Liderar a comunicação e formação (IRA=1), com um CVI=,91. Foram efetuadas duas rodadas para se obter consenso superior a 80% em todos os itens. Os valores obtidos no teste de fidedignidade (>0,8) atestam que o protocolo pode ser utilizado para atingir o fim que se pretende. A próxima etapa é a validação clínica do protocolo com idosos residentes em Instituições de Longa Permanência para Idosos.
Validation of the dyspnea index in adolescents with exercise-induced paradoxical vocal fold motion.
De Guzman, Vanessa; Ballif, Catherine L; Maurer, Rie; Hartnick, Christopher J; Raol, Nikhila
2014-09-01
Paradoxical vocal fold motion (PVFM) affects almost 1 million adolescents in the United States. However, to date, no disease-specific objective measure exists to assess symptom severity and response to treatment in adolescents with exercise-induced PVFM. To validate the Dyspnea Index (DI) quality-of-life instrument (previously validated for adults with breathing disorders) in children aged 12 to 18 years with exercise-induced PVFM and to determine the minimum significant DI change corresponding to patient-reported or caregiver-reported improvement or worsening of symptoms. A longitudinal study of 56 patients (age range, 12-18 years) diagnosed as having exercise-induced PVFM and their caregivers from February 1, 2013, to September 30, 2013, in an outpatient pediatric otolaryngology office practice. The DI was administered to patients and caregivers, with items modified to reflect the perspective of caregivers. Appropriate DI change was measured to reflect improvement or worsening of symptoms. Test-retest reliability was accomplished by having a subset of patients and caregivers complete the instrument twice within 2 weeks before therapy. Internal consistency was assessed by calculation of Cronbach α. Discriminant validity and convergent validity were determined by comparing DIs with assessment of global change in symptoms. The patient and caregiver mean (SD) DI changes were -12.9 (9.6) and -14.7 (9.3), respectively (P therapy.
van der Veer, Sabine N.; Jager, Kitty J.; Visserman, Ella; Beekman, Robert J.; Boeschoten, Els W.; de Keizer, Nicolette F.; Heuveling, Lara; Stronks, Karien; Arah, Onyebuchi A.
2012-01-01
Patient experience is an established indicator of quality of care. Validated tools that measure both experiences and priorities are lacking for chronic dialysis care, hampering identification of negative experiences that patients actually rate important. We developed two Consumer Quality (CQ) index
Yucel, Cigdem; Taskin, Lale; Low, Lisa Kane
2015-12-01
Although obstetrical interventions are used commonly in Turkey, there is no standardized evidence-based assessment tool to evaluate maternity care outcomes. The Optimality Index-US (OI-US) is an evidence-based tool that was developed for the purpose of measuring aggregate perinatal care processes and outcomes against an optimal or best possible standard. This index has been validated and used in Netherlands, USA and UK until now. The objective of this study was to adapt the OI-US to assess maternity care outcomes in Turkey. Translation and back translation were used to develop the Optimality Index-Turkey (OI-TR) version. To evaluate the content validity of the OI-TR, an expert panel group (n=10) reviewed the items and evidence-based quality of the OI-TR for application in Turkey. Following the content validity process, the OI-TR was used to assess 150 healthy and 150 high-risk pregnant women who gave birth at a high volume, urban maternity hospital in Turkey. The scores between the two groups were compared to assess the discriminant validity of the OI-TR. The percentage of agreement between two raters and the Kappa statistic were calculated to evaluate the reliability. Content validity was established for the OI-TR by an expert group. Discriminant validity was confirmed by comparing the OI scores of healthy pregnant women (mean OI score=77.65%) and those of high-risk pregnant women (mean OI score=78.60%). The percentage of agreement between the two raters was 96.19, and inter-rater agreement was provided for each item in the OI-TR. OI-TR is a valid and reliable tool that can be used to assess maternity care outcomes in Turkey. The results of this study indicate that although the risk statuses of the women differed, the type of care they received was essentially the same, as measured by the OI-TR. Care was not individualised based on risk and for a majority of items was inconsistent with evidence based practice, which is not optimal. Use of the OI-TR will help to
Mohamed, Rachid; Raman, Maitreyi; Anderson, John; McLaughlin, Kevin; Rostom, Alaa; Coderre, Sylvain
2014-01-01
BACKGROUND: Although workplace workload assessments exist in different fields, an endoscopy-specific workload assessment tool is lacking. OBJECTIVE: To validate such a workload tool and use it to map the progression of novice trainees in gastroenterology in performing their first endoscopies. METHODS: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) workload assessment tool was completed by eight novice trainees in gastroenterology and 10 practicing gastroenterologists/surgeons. An exploratory factor analysis was performed to construct a streamlined endoscopy-specific task load index, which was subsequently validated. The ‘Endoscopy Task Load Index’ was used to monitor progression of trainee exertion and self-assessed performance over their first 40 procedures. RESULTS: From the factor analysis of the NASA-TLX, two principal components emerged: a measure of exertion and a measure of self-efficacy. These items became the components of the newly validated Endoscopy Task Load Index. There was a steady decline in self-perceived exertion over the training period, which was more rapid for gastroscopy than colonoscopy. The self-efficacy scores for gastroscopy rapidly increased over the first few procedures, reaching a plateau after this period of time. For colonoscopy, there was a progressive increase in reported self-efficacy over the first three quartiles of procedures, followed by a drop in self-efficacy scores over the final quartile. DISCUSSION: The present study validated an Endoscopy Task Load Index that can be completed in <1 min. Practical implications of such a tool in endoscopy education include identifying periods of higher perceived exertion among novice endoscopists, facilitating appropriate levels of guidance from trainers. PMID:24619638
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Cindy Buj-Acosta
Full Text Available Among the various indices developed for measuring the results of treatment in patients born with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP, the GOSLON Yardstick index is the most widely used to assess the efficacy of treatment and treatment outcomes, which in UCLP cases are closely linked to jaw growth. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review to validate the predictability of growth using the GOSLON Yardstick in patients born with UCLP. A systematic literature review was conducted in four Internet databases: Medline, Cochrane Library, Scopus and Embase, complemented by a manual search and a further search in the databases of the leading journals that focus on this topic. An electronic search was also conducted among grey literature. The search identified a total of 131 articles. Duplicated articles were excluded and after reading titles and abstracts, any articles not related to the research objective were excluded, leaving a total of 21 texts. After reading the complete text, only three articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The results showed a predictive validity of between 42.2% and 64.7%, which points to a lack of evidence in the literature for the predictive validity of the GOSLON Yardstick index used in children born with UCLP.
Development and psychometric testing of the rural pregnancy experience scale (RPES).
Kornelsen, Jude; Stoll, Kathrin; Grzybowski, Stefan
2011-01-01
Rural pregnant woman who lack local access to maternity care due to their remote living circumstances may experience stress and anxiety related to pregnancy and parturition. The Rural Pregnancy Experience Scale (RPES) was designed to assess the unique worry and concerns reflective of the stress and anxiety of rural pregnant women related to pregnancy and parturition. The items of the scale were designed based on the results of a qualitative study of the experiences of pregnant rural women, thereby building a priori content validity into the measure. The relevancy content validity index (CVI) for this instrument was 1.0 and the clarity CVI was .91, as rated by maternity care specialists. A field test of the RPES with 187 pregnant rural women from British Columbia indicated that it had two factors: financial worries and worries/concerns about maternity care services, which were consistent with the conceptual base of the tool. Cronbach's alpha for the total RPES was .91; for the financial worries subscale and the worries/concerns about maternity care services subscale, alpha were .89 and .88, respectively. Construct validity was supported by significant correlations between the total scores of the RPES and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS [r =.39, p DASS supporting convergent validity (correlations ranged between .20; p < .05 and .43; p < .01). Construct validity was also supported by findings that the level of access and availability of maternity care services were significantly associated with RPES scores. It was concluded that the RPES is a reliable and valid measure of worries and concerns reflective of rural pregnant women's stress and anxiety related to pregnancy and parturition.
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Suran Guo
2016-08-01
Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to examine the structural validity of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI in Chinese undergraduate students. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey with 631 Chinese undergraduate students was conducted, and the questionnaire package included a measure of demographic characteristics, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI, Chinese editions of Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression, State- Trait Anxiety Inventory, Rumination Response Scale, and Perceived Social Support Scale. Results showed that the item use of sleep medicine was not suitable for use with this population, that a two-factor model provided the best fit to the data as assessed through confirmatory factor analysis, and that other indices were consistently correlated with the sleep quality but not the sleep efficiency factor.
Validation of Medical Tourism Service Quality Questionnaire (MTSQQ) for Iranian Hospitals.
Qolipour, Mohammad; Torabipour, Amin; Khiavi, Farzad Faraji; Malehi, Amal Saki
2017-03-01
Assessing service quality is one of the basic requirements to develop the medical tourism industry. There is no valid and reliable tool to measure service quality of medical tourism. This study aimed to determine the reliability and validity of a Persian version of medical tourism service quality questionnaire for Iranian hospitals. To validate the medical tourism service quality questionnaire (MTSQQ), a cross-sectional study was conducted on 250 Iraqi patients referred to hospitals in Ahvaz (Iran) from 2015. To design a questionnaire and determine its content validity, the Delphi Technique (3 rounds) with the participation of 20 medical tourism experts was used. Construct validity of the questionnaire was assessed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data were analyzed by Excel 2007, SPSS version18, and Lisrel l8.0 software. The content validity of the questionnaire with CVI=0.775 was confirmed. According to exploratory factor analysis, the MTSQQ included 31 items and 8 dimensions (tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, exchange and travel facilities, technical and infrastructure facilities and safety and security). Construct validity of the questionnaire was confirmed, based on the goodness of fit quantities of model (RMSEA=0.032, CFI= 0.98, GFI=0.88). Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.837 and 0.919 for expectation and perception questionnaire. The results of the study showed that the medical tourism SERVQUAL questionnaire with 31 items and 8 dimensions was a valid and reliable tool to measure service quality of medical tourism in Iranian hospitals.
Content Validity of National Post Marriage Educational Program Using Mixed Methods
MOHAJER RAHBARI, Masoumeh; SHARIATI, Mohammad; KERAMAT, Afsaneh; YUNESIAN, Masoud; ESLAMI, Mohammad; MOUSAVI, Seyed Abbas; MONTAZERI, Ali
2015-01-01
Background: Although the validity of content of program is mostly conducted with qualitative methods, this study used both qualitative and quantitative methods for the validation of content of post marriage training program provided for newly married couples. Content validity is a preliminary step of obtaining authorization required to install the program in country's health care system. Methods: This mixed methodological content validation study carried out in four steps with forming three expert panels. Altogether 24 expert panelists were involved in 3 qualitative and quantitative panels; 6 in the first item development one; 12 in the reduction kind, 4 of them were common with the first panel, and 10 executive experts in the last one organized to evaluate psychometric properties of CVR and CVI and Face validity of 57 educational objectives. Results: The raw data of post marriage program had been written by professional experts of Ministry of Health, using qualitative expert panel, the content was more developed by generating 3 topics and refining one topic and its respective content. In the second panel, totally six other objectives were deleted, three for being out of agreement cut of point and three on experts' consensus. The validity of all items was above 0.8 and their content validity indices (0.8–1) were completely appropriate in quantitative assessment. Conclusion: This study provided a good evidence for validation and accreditation of national post marriage program planned for newly married couples in health centers of the country in the near future. PMID:26056672
A validational study of the Ironson-Woods Spirituality/Religiousness Index in Nigerian adolescents.
Otakpor, Alex N; Akanni, Oluyemi O
2015-01-01
The mental health impact of spirituality/religiousness is widely recognised and studied in Western countries, but less so in developing nations, partly because of lack of valid instruments for such studies. The objective of the study was to determine the convergent validity of the Ironson-Woods Spirituality/Religiousness Index (IWSRI) in school attending Nigerian adolescents, and any relationship between spirituality/religiousness and mental health status. The 25-item IWSRI, the "Age Universal" Religious Orientation Scale (ROS) and the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) were administered to 300 randomly selected final year senior secondary students, aged 16 to 19 years, in Benin City. Responses were analysed using SPSS version 16 to determine the internal consistency for reliability, and correlation scores for convergent validity, of the IWSRI. Cronbach's alpha for the total IWSRI scale was 0.91; and for each of the two spirituality and two religiousness subscales of the IWSRI, these were quite high as well. The correlation of IWSRI with ROS intrinsic (r=0.47, p=0.00) and extrinsic personal religiosity (r=0.22, p=0.00) were significant. There was a significant difference in the IWSRI mean scores of GHQ cases and non-cases (t=4.30, p=0.00). IWSRI has acceptable psychometric properties, and therefore applicable in measuring spirituality and religiousness in Nigerian adolescents.
Carvalho, John P; Gawrysiak, Michael J; Hellmuth, Julianne C; McNulty, James K; Magidson, Jessica F; Lejuez, C W; Hopko, Derek R
2011-06-01
Behavioral models of depression implicate decreased response-contingent positive reinforcement (RCPR) as critical toward the development and maintenance of depression (Lewinsohn, 1974). Given the absence of a psychometrically sound self-report measure of RCPR, the Reward Probability Index (RPI) was developed to measure access to environmental reward and to approximate actual RCPR. In Study 1 (n=269), exploratory factor analysis supported a 20-item two-factor model (Reward Probability, Environmental Suppressors) with strong internal consistency (α=.90). In Study 2 (n=281), confirmatory factor analysis supported this two-factor structure and convergent validity was established through strong correlations between the RPI and measures of activity, avoidance, reinforcement, and depression (r=.65 to .81). Discriminant validity was supported via smaller correlations between the RPI and measures of social support and somatic anxiety (r=-.29 to -.40). Two-week test-retest reliability was strong (r=.69). In Study 3 (n=33), controlling for depression symptoms, hierarchical regression supported the incremental validity of the RPI in predicting daily diary reports of environmental reward. The RPI represents a parsimonious, reliable, and valid measure that may facilitate understanding of the etiology of depression and its relationship to overt behaviors. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Japanese version of the Family Dermatology Life Quality Index: Translation and validation.
Higaki, Yuko; Tanaka, Masaru; Futei, Yuko; Kamo, Toshiko; Basra, Mohammad Khurshid Azam; Finlay, Andrew Yule
2017-08-01
Skin conditions affect the quality of life (QoL) of patients and their family. To assess family members' QoL, a questionnaire uniquely designed for family members is necessary. We translated the Family Dermatology Life Quality Index (FDLQI), originally created and validated by Basra et al., into Japanese, and evaluated its reliability and validity. For psychometric evaluations, 150 dermatology patients and their family members were included. The Japanese version of the FDLQI showed high test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.95) and internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.86). FDLQI scores significantly correlated with DLQI scores (r = 0.58, P Family members of patients with inflammatory skin diseases showed higher FDLQI scores than those with isolated lesions, but the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.062, Mann-Whitney U-test). Responsiveness to change was demonstrated in a group in which the patient's skin condition was assessed as improved (n = 37, r = 0.46, P < 0.01) but not in that in which it became worse. The difference of the change between the two groups was statistically significant (P < 0.01). Additionally, the change in FDLQI scores and GQ were significantly correlated (r = 0.40, P < 0.01). Exploratory factor analysis suggested essential unidimensionality of the instrument. We showed acceptable validity and responsiveness of this Japanese version of FDLQI. Further clinical epidemiological studies are required to confirm this. © 2017 Japanese Dermatological Association.
Mokhtarinia, Hamid Reza; Hosseini, Azadeh; Maleki-Ghahfarokhi, Azam; Gabel, Charles Philip; Zohrabi, Majid
2018-05-15
There are various instruments and methods to evaluate spinal health and functional status. Whole-spine patient reported outcome (PRO) measures, such as the Spine Functional Index (SFI), assess the spine from the cervical to lumbo-sacral sections as a single kinetic chain. The aim of this study was to cross-culturally adapt the SFI for Persian speaking patients (SFI-Pr) and determine the psychometric properties of reliability and validity (convergent and construct) in a Persian patient population. The SFI (English) PRO was translated into Persian according to published guidelines. Consecutive symptomatic spine patients (104 female and 120 male aged between 18 and 60) were recruited from three Iranian physiotherapy centers. Test-retest reliability was performed in a sub-sample (n = 31) at baseline and repeated between days 3-7. Convergent validity was determined by calculating the Pearson's r correlation coefficient between the SFI-Pr and the Persian Roland Morris Questionnaire (RMQ) for back pain patients and the Neck Disability Index (NDI) for neck patients. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's α. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) used Maximum Likelihood Extraction followed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). High levels of internal consistency (α = 0.81, item range = 0.78-0.82) and test-retest reliability (r = 0.96, item range = 0.83-0.98) were obtained. Convergent validity was very good between the SFI and RMQ (r = 0.69) and good between the SFI and NDI (r = 0.57). The EFA from the perspective of parsimony suggests a one-factor solution that explained 26.5% of total variance. The CFA was inconclusive of the one factor structure as the sample size was inadequate. There were no floor or ceiling effects. The SFI-Pr PRO can be applied as a specific whole-spine status assessment instrument for clinical and research studies in Persian language populations.
Krishnan, Pandian; Ananthan, Pachampalayam Shanmugam; Purvaja, Ramachandran; Joyson Joe Jeevamani, Jeyapaul; Amali Infantina, John; Srinivasa Rao, Cherukumalli; Anand, Arur; Mahendra, Ranganalli Somashekharappa; Sekar, Iyyapa; Kareemulla, Kalakada; Biswas, Amit; Kalpana Sastry, Regulagedda; Ramesh, Ramachandran
2018-05-31
The impacts of climate change are of particular concern to the coastal region of tropical countries like India, which are exposed to cyclones, floods, tsunami, seawater intrusion, etc. Climate-change adaptation presupposes comprehensive assessment of vulnerability status. Studies so far relied either on remote sensing-based spatial mapping of physical vulnerability or on certain socio-economic aspects with limited scope for upscaling or replication. The current study is an attempt to develop a holistic and robust framework to assess the vulnerability of coastal India at different levels. We propose and estimate cumulative vulnerability index (CVI) as a function of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, at the village level, using nationally comparable and credible datasets. The exposure index (EI) was determined at the village level by decomposing the spatial multi-hazard maps, while sensitivity (SI) and adaptive capacity indices (ACI) were estimated using 23 indicators, covering social and economic aspects. The indicators were identified through the literature review, expert consultations, opinion survey, and were further validated through statistical tests. The socio-economic vulnerability index (SEVI) was constructed as a function of sensitivity and adaptive capacity for planning grassroot-level interventions and adaptation strategies. The framework was piloted in Sindhudurg, a coastal district in Maharashtra, India. It comprises 317 villages, spread across three taluks viz., Devgad, Malvan and Vengurla. The villages in Sindhudurg were ranked based on this multi-criteria approach. Based on CVI values, 92 villages (30%) in Sindhudurg were identified as highly vulnerable. We propose a decision tool for identifying villages vulnerable to changing climate, based on their level of sensitivity and adaptive capacity in a two-dimensional matrix, thus aiding in planning location-specific interventions. Here, vulnerability indicators are classified and designated as
Ansari, Arif M; Bhat, Kamalakshi G; Dsa, Smitha S; Mahalingam, Soundarya; Joseph, Nitin
2018-03-01
Complications like impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes mellitus due to iron overload need early identification in thalassemia. We studied the proportion of insulin resistance in thalassemia major patients on chronic transfusion, identified insulin resistance using homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and triglyceride glucose (TYG) index, compared them and validated TYG index. In total, 73 thalassemia patients on regular transfusion for 3 years with serum ferritin >1500 ng/mL were studied. Serum ferritin, fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, and insulin levels were measured, HOMA-IR, and TYG index calculated and analyzed. Mean fasting glucose, triglyceride, and serum insulin values were 104 mg/dL, 164.18 mg/dL, and 19.6 m IU/mL, respectively. Mean serum ferritin was 5156 ng/mL. Insulin resistance was prevalent in one third of thalassemia patients and showed increase with age and serum ferritin. Insulin resistance by HOMA-IR was 32% as against 16% by TYG index with a cut-off value of 4.3. Using receiver operating charecteristic curve analysis, it was found that, by lowering the value of TYG index to 4.0215, sensitivity improved to 78.3% (from 39.13%) with specificity of 70%. Hence, we recommend a newer lower cut-off value of 4.0215 for TYG index for better sensitivity and specificity in identifying insulin resistance.
Validation of a Russian-language version of the Foot Functional Index (FFI questionnaire
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E. V. Orlova
2016-01-01
Full Text Available The Foot Functional Index (FFI questionnaire most completely reflects the functional status of patients with joint diseases of the feet.Objective: to study the psychometric properties of a Russian-language version of the FFI questionnaire.Patients and methods. The reliability, sensitivity, and validity of the Russian-language version of the FFI questionnaire were assessed in 55 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA. The investigators checked the reliability by assessing the internal consistency (calculating Cronbach's alpha and reproducibility by a test-retest analysis. The criterion validity was evaluated by correlation analysis using HAQ, RAPID3, and pain visual analogue scale (VAS scores. The sensitivity of FFI was studied by comparing its dynamics with RAPID3 changes during treatment.Results. Evaluating the internal consistency yielded a high Cronbach's alpha (0.78. The test-retest analysis demonstrated a significant correlation (0.83 between the results of primary and secondary testing. Assessing the criterion validity showed a high or near-high relationship to the scores of RAPID3 (0.78, HAQ (0.69, and pain VAS (0.76. The group of patients who were observed to have a decrease in disease activity according to RAPID3 from a high (16.2±4.1 to moderate (10.5±5.2 degree displayed a more marked reduction in FFI (ΔFFI = 20.5±2.3 than the group that did not exhibit significant changes in disease activity (ΔFFI = 6.9±3.4.Conclusion. FFI is a reliable, valid, and sensitive tool to evaluate the functional status of patients with foot diseases in RA.
Coronary heart disease index based on longitudinal electrocardiography
Townsend, J. C.; Cronin, J. P.
1977-01-01
A coronary heart disease index was developed from longitudinal ECG (LCG) tracings to serve as a cardiac health measure in studies of working and, essentially, asymptomatic populations, such as pilots and executives. For a given subject, the index consisted of a composite score based on the presence of LCG aberrations and weighted values previously assigned to them. The index was validated by correlating it with the known presence or absence of CHD as determined by a complete physical examination, including treadmill, resting ECG, and risk factor information. The validating sample consisted of 111 subjects drawn by a stratified-random procedure from 5000 available case histories. The CHD index was found to be significantly more valid as a sole indicator of CHD than the LCG without the use of the index. The index consistently produced higher validity coefficients in identifying CHD than did treadmill testing, resting ECG, or risk factor analysis.
Validation of the mother-generated index in Iran: A specific postnatal quality-of-life instrument
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Roghayeh Khabiri
2013-01-01
Full Text Available Background: The mother-generated index (MGI is one of only a few existing specific questionnaires for assessing the postnatal quality of life (QoL. MGI is a single-form questionnaire that asks postnatal mothers to specify up to eight areas of their lives which have been affected by giving birth to a baby. Using this tool, it is possible to score and rank the QoL of mothers. This study aimed to validate the questionnaire for use in Iran. Methods : Forward translation was used to translate the questionnaire from English to Farsi (Persian. The questionnaire was then administered to a sample of postnatal women attending two teaching hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Face validity and criterion validity were performed to establish the validity for the Iranian version of the MGI. Face validity was assessed by asking women to indicate whether they understood the wording of the questions, how easy the questionnaire was, and so on. Criterion validity was examined using the Short Form 36-item (SF-36 Health Survey. It was hypothesized that the MGI would significantly correlate with the SF-36. Results: In all, 124 women were approached. Of these, 119 women were eligible and 96 women agreed to take part in the study. Face validity was good and all of the women found the MGI straightforward to complete; as criterion validity, the MGI scores and the subscales of the SF-36 were moderately correlated (for all subscales: Pearson r > 0.4; P < 0.001. The mean MGI primary score was 5.38 (SD = 3.05. Women who had comorbidity had significantly lower MGI scores than women without comorbidity (P = 0.04. Correlation between aggregate of comments and primary score was high (r = 0.68, P < 0.01. Conclusions: In general, the Iranian version of the MGI performed well and our data suggest that it is a valid measure to assess health-related QoL among postnatal women.
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Sarantopoulos, Ch
2007-10-15
This thesis deals with micro-fibrous glass substrates functionalized with TiO{sub 2}. The oxide is deposited as a thin film onto the micro fibres by chemical vapour infiltration (CVI), yielding a photo-catalytic material usable for cleaning polluted air. We studied the relation between the structure of the material and its photo-catalytic efficiency. TiO{sub 2} thin films were prepared at low pressure, in a hot-wall CVD reactor, using Ti(O-iPr){sub 4} as a precursor. They were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX, XPS and BET, and by recording the kinetics of decomposition of varied pollutants in solution (orange G, malic acid, imazapyr) and in air (toluene). The conditions favoring the growth of porous films through a columnar growth mode were established by MOCVD-depositing TiO{sub 2} thin films on flat substrates. The subsequent works with micro fibrous thick substrates showed the uniformity of infiltration to be the main factor governing the photo-catalytic efficiency. Operating parameters that optimize infiltration do not yield columnar growth mode. A compromise is necessary. Our photo-catalysts are showing high efficiency comparable, if not higher, to those actually commercialized. These promising results are opening real perspectives for the proposed process. (author)
Nettles, J. W.; Lofgren, G. E.; Carlson, W. D.; McSween, H. Y., Jr.
2004-01-01
Many workers have considered the degree to which partial melting occurred in chondrules they have studied, and this has led to attempts to find reliable methods of determining the degree of melting. At least two quantitative methods have been used in the literature: a convolution index (CVI), which is a ratio of the perimeter of the chondrule as seen in thin section divided by the perimeter of a circle with the same area as the chondrule, and nominal grain size (NGS), which is the inverse square root of the number density of olivines and pyroxenes in a chondrule (again, as seen in thin section). We have evaluated both nominal grain size and convolution index as melting indicators. Nominal grain size was measured on the results of a set of dynamic crystallization experiments previously described, where aliquots of LEW97008(L3.4) were heated to peak temperatures of 1250, 1350, 1370, and 1450 C, representing varying degrees of partial melting of the starting material. Nominal grain size numbers should correlate with peak temperature (and therefore degree of partial melting) if it is a good melting indicator. The convolution index is not directly testable with these experiments because the experiments do not actually create chondrules (and therefore they have no outline on which to measure a CVI). Thus we had no means to directly test how well the CVI predicted different degrees of melting. Therefore, we discuss the use of the CVI measurement and support the discussion with X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) data.
Validation of the Neurological Fatigue Index for stroke (NFI-Stroke
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Mills Roger J
2012-05-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Fatigue is a common symptom in Stroke. Several self-report scales are available to measure this debilitating symptom but concern has been expressed about their construct validity. Objective To examine the reliability and validity of a recently developed scale for multiple sclerosis (MS fatigue, the Neurological Fatigue Index (NFI-MS, in a sample of stroke patients. Method Six patients with stroke participated in qualitative interviews which were analysed and the themes compared for equivalence to those derived from existing data on MS fatigue. 999 questionnaire packs were sent to those with a stroke within the past four years. Data from the four subscales, and the Summary scale of the NFI-MS were fitted to the Rasch measurement model. Results Themes identified by stroke patients were consistent with those identified by those with MS. 282 questionnaires were returned and respondents had a mean age of 67.3 years; 62% were male, and were on average 17.2 (SD 11.4, range 2–50 months post stroke. The Physical, Cognitive and Summary scales all showed good fit to the model, were unidimensional, and free of differential item functioning by age, sex and time. The sleep scales failed to show adequate fit in their current format. Conclusion Post stroke fatigue appears to be represented by a combination of physical and cognitive components, confirmed by both qualitative and quantitative processes. The NFI-Stroke, comprising a Physical and Cognitive subscale, and a 10-item Summary scale, meets the strictest measurement requirements. Fit to the Rasch model allows conversion of ordinal raw scores to a linear metric.
Gajic, Ognjen; Malinchoc, Michael; Comfere, Thomas B.; Harris, Marcelline R.; Achouiti, Ahmed; Yilmaz, Murat; Schultz, Marcus J.; Hubmayr, Rolf D.; Afessa, Bekele; Farmer, J. Christopher
2008-01-01
OBJECTIVE: Unplanned readmission of hospitalized patients to an intensive care unit (ICU) is associated with a worse outcome, but our ability to identify who is likely to deteriorate after ICU dismissal is limited. The objective of this study is to develop and validate a numerical index, named the
Alghadir, Ahmad; Anwer, Shahnawaz; Iqbal, Zaheen Ahmed; Alsanawi, Hisham Abdulaziz
2016-01-01
We adapted the reduced Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) index for the Arabic language and tested its metric properties in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). One hundred and twenty-one consecutive patients who were referred for physiotherapy to the outpatient department were asked to answer the Arabic version of the reduced WOMAC index (ArWOMAC). After the completion of the ArWOMAC, the intensity of knee pain and general health status were assessed using the visual analog scale (VAS) and the 12-item short form health survey (SF-12), respectively. A second assessment was performed at least 48 h after the first session to assess test-retest reliability. The test-retest reliability was quantified using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), and Cronbach's alpha was calculated to assess the internal consistency of the Arabic questionnaire. The construct validity was assessed using Spearman rank correlation coefficients. The total ArWOMAC scale and pain and function subscales were internally consistent with Cronbach's coefficient alpha of 0.91, 0.89 and 0.90, respectively. Test-retest reliability was good to excellent with ICC of 0.91, 0.89 and 0.90, respectively. SF-12 and VAS score significantly correlated with ArWOMAC index (p < 0.01), which support the construct validity. The standard error of measurement (SEM) of the total scale was 2.94, based on repeated measurements for test-retest. The minimum detectable change based on the SEM for test-retest was 8.15. The ArWOMAC index is a reliable and valid instrument for evaluating the severity of knee OA, with metric properties in agreement with the original version. Although, the reduced WOMAC index has been clinically utilized within the Saudi population, the Arabic version of this instrument is not validated for an Arab population to measure lower limb functional disability caused by OA. The Arabic version of reduced WOMAC (ArWOMAC) index is a reliable and valid scale
Panella, L; La Porta, F; Caselli, S; Marchisio, S; Tennant, A
2012-09-01
Effective discharge planning is increasingly recognised as a critical component of hospital-based Rehabilitation. The BRASS index is a risk screening tool for identification, shortly after hospital admission, of patients who are at risk of post-discharge problems. To evaluate the internal construct validity and reliability of the Blaylock Risk Assessment Screening Score (BRASS) within the rehabilitation setting. Observational prospective study. Rehabilitation ward of an Italian district hospital. One hundred and four consecutively admitted patients. Using classical psychometric methods and Rasch analysis (RA), the internal construct validity and reliability of the BRASS were examined. Also, external and predictive validity of the Rasch-modified BRASS (RMB) score were determined. Reliability of the original BRASS was low (Cronbach's alpha=0.595) and factor analyses showed that it was clearly multidimensional. A RA, based on a reduced 7-BRASS item set (RMB), satisfied model's expectations. Reliability was 0.777. The RMB scores strongly correlated with the original BRASS (rho=0.952; P28 days (RR=7.6, 95%CI=1.8-31.9). This study demonstrated that the original BRASS was multidimensional and unreliable. However, the RMB holds adequate internal construct validity and is sufficiently reliable as a predictor of discharge problems for group, but not individual use. The application of tools and methods (such as the BRASS Index) developed under the biomedical paradigm in a Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine setting may have limitations. Further research is needed to develop, within the rehabilitation setting, a valid measuring tool of risk of post-discharge problems at the individual level.
TiO2 based photo-catalysts prepared by chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) on micro-fibrous substrates
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Sarantopoulos, Ch.
2007-10-01
This thesis deals with micro-fibrous glass substrates functionalized with TiO 2 . The oxide is deposited as a thin film onto the micro fibres by chemical vapour infiltration (CVI), yielding a photo-catalytic material usable for cleaning polluted air. We studied the relation between the structure of the material and its photo-catalytic efficiency. TiO 2 thin films were prepared at low pressure, in a hot-wall CVD reactor, using Ti(O-iPr) 4 as a precursor. They were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX, XPS and BET, and by recording the kinetics of decomposition of varied pollutants in solution (orange G, malic acid, imazapyr) and in air (toluene). The conditions favoring the growth of porous films through a columnar growth mode were established by MOCVD-depositing TiO 2 thin films on flat substrates. The subsequent works with micro fibrous thick substrates showed the uniformity of infiltration to be the main factor governing the photo-catalytic efficiency. Operating parameters that optimize infiltration do not yield columnar growth mode. A compromise is necessary. Our photo-catalysts are showing high efficiency comparable, if not higher, to those actually commercialized. These promising results are opening real perspectives for the proposed process. (author)
M. Engelhardt (Monika); Domm, A.-S. (Anne-Saskia); Dold, S.M. (Sandra Maria); G. Ihorst (Gabriele); Reinhardt, H. (Heike); Zober, A. (Alexander); Hieke, S. (Stefanie); Baayen, C. (Corine); Müller, S.J. (Stefan Jürgen); H. Einsele (Hermann); P. Sonneveld (Pieter); O. Landgren; M. Schumacher (M.); R. Wäsch (Ralph)
2017-01-01
textabstractWith growing numbers of elderly multiple myeloma patients, reliable tools to assess their vulnerability are required. The objective of the analysis herein was to develop and validate an easy to use myeloma risk score (revised Myeloma Comorbidity Index) that allows for risk prediction of
Echeverría, Guadalupe; McGee, Emma E; Urquiaga, Inés; Jiménez, Paulina; D'Acuña, Sonia; Villarroel, Luis; Velasco, Nicolás; Leighton, Federico; Rigotti, Attilio
2017-08-11
Obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) are key risk factors for chronic disease. Dietary patterns are critical in the incidence and persistence of obesity and MetS, yet there is few data linking diet to obesity and MetS in Chile. Our objective was to use a locally validated diet index to evaluate adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern and its correlations with overweight/obesity (OW/O) and MetS prevalence in Chilean adults. We conducted a nationwide, cross-sectional online survey of Chilean adults with complete self-reported diet and body mass index data ( n = 24,882). A subsample of 4348 users (17.5%) had valid MetS data. An inverse association was observed between adherence to Mediterranean diet and OW/O and MetS prevalence. As diet quality decreased from healthy, to moderately-healthy, to unhealthy, prevalence increased from 44.8, 51.1, to 60.9% for OW/O and from 13.4, 18.5, to 28.9% for MetS ( p -values diet groups in comparison to the healthy diet group. This study represents the first report on the relationship between Mediterranean diet and chronic disease risk in Chile. It suggests that the Mediterranean diet may be applied to manage chronic disease risk beyond the Mediterranean basin.
Validation of the simplified Chinese version of the Oswestry Disability Index.
Liu, Hui; Tao, Huiren; Luo, Zhuojing
2009-05-15
Translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and validation were performed on the Chinese version of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). The objective of this study was to translate and adapt the ODI into simplified Chinese and to then validate its use in Chinese patients with low back pain. A traditional Chinese version of the ODI (TCODI) has been developed and used in Hong Kong. However, there is no simplified Chinese version of the ODI (SCODI). Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the latest version of the ODI (2.1a) were performed following instructions from the published international guidelines. The translation procedure included forward translation, back translation, and a discussion among experts. The prefinal version was tested in 40 outpatients with LBP. Then, 179 patients with LBP, including 140 outpatients and 39 inpatients, participated in the final test. They finished the SCODI, the Short-Form 36, and the Visual Analog Scale. Those 39 inpatients also finished a second ODI questionnaire within 24 hours. Last, the SCODI and TCODI were tested in another 25 inpatients for comparison. All of the patients in the prefinal test understood the simplified Chinese version correctly. In the final test, Cronbach's alpha for internal consistency was 0.93. A very high intraclass correlation coefficient was observed (ICC = 0.99) in the test-retest group. The SCODI showed a significant correlation with the 8 subscales of the Short-Form 36, especially in physical functioning (r = 0.78, P < 0.001). There was a moderate correlation between the ODI scores and the Visual Analog Scale (r = 0.69, P < 0.001). A significant difference in the mean score was demonstrated between the SCODI and the TCODI. Patients who participated in the comparison test all agreed that the SCODI was easier to understand than the TCODI. The results showed that the translation and adaptation were successful. The SCODI has proven to be valid and reliable when used in the simplified Chinese
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Linnet, Poul Martin
2007-01-01
basis. The data are divided into different indicators such as security, polls, drug, social, economic, refugees etc. This represents a practical division and does not indicate that a picture as to for instance security can be obtained by solely looking at the data under security. In order to obtain...... a more valid picture on security this must incorporate an integrated look on all data meaning that for instance the economic data provides an element as to the whole picture of security.......The Afghanistan index is a compilation of quantitative and qualitative data on the reconstruction and security effort in Afghanistan. The index aims at providing data for benchmarking of the international performance and thus provides the reader with a quick possibility to retrieve valid...
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Sabinsky, Marianne S; Toft, Ulla; Andersen, Klaus Kaae
2012-01-01
OBJECTIVE: School lunch programmes are one strategy to promote healthier dietary habits in children, but better evaluation tools for assessing the dietary quality of such programmes are needed. The aim of the present study was to develop and validate a simple index to assess the dietary quality...
Simplification and Validation of Leicester Cough Questionnaire in Mandarin-Chinese
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Rongjia LIN
2017-06-01
Full Text Available Background and objective Patients often have cough after lung surgery, and there is a lack of tools to specifically assess postoperative coughs. LCQ-MC (Leicester Cough Questionnaire in Mandarin-Chinese was revised and validated to explore its value on clinical application. Methods A total of 250 patients undergone the lung operation of single medical team, from September 2015 to December 2016 in the Department ofThoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, were investigated. Among them, 121 patients completed LCQ-MC and 129 patients completed simplified LCQ-MC, we verified the reliability and validity. Results The new questionnaire was not changed in terms of content layout and the scoring method of LCQ-MC, consisting of 12 items and three domains (physical, psychological and social. There was good content validity (S-CVI/UA=0.83. Concurrent validity was high when the simplified LCQ-MC was compared with daytime cough symptom score (r=-0.578, P<0.001. There was a moderate relationship with response to night-time cough symptom score (r=-0.358, P=-0.004 and SF36 total score (r=0.346, P=0.030, and weak relationship with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale total score (r=-0.241, P=0.046. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of simplified LCQ-CM total and three domains varied between 0.79 and 0.89. One week apart test-retest reliability (n=30 was high (r=0.88-0.96. Conclusion Simplified LCQ-MC has good reliability and validity that can be used for clinical applications.
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Ali Mohammadi
2016-12-01
Full Text Available Background: The performance of the HSE units has various dimensions Leading to different performances. Thus, any industry should be capable of evaluating these systems. The aim of this study was to design a standard questionnaire in the field of performance evaluation of HSE management system employing Balanced Score Card model. Methods: In this study we, first determined the criteria to be evaluated in the framework of Balanced Score Card model based on the objectives and strategies of HSE Management System and existing standards, and then designed questions on every criterion. We used content validity and Cronbach's Alpha to determine the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. Results: The primary questionnaire was comprised of 126 questions some of which were omitted regarding the results obtained from the CVR and CVI values. We obtained the CVI average of environmental dimension to be 0.75 and its CVI average 0.71. Conclusion: With respect to the results of the reliability and validity of this questionnaire,and its standardized design we can suggest using it for evaluation of HSE management system performance in organizations and industries with the mentioned system.
Jalil, Rozh; Soukup, Tayana; Akhter, Waseem; Sevdalis, Nick; Green, James S A
2018-03-03
High-quality leadership and chairing skills are vital for good performance in multidisciplinary tumor boards (MTBs), but no instruments currently exist for assessing and improving these skills. To construct and validate a robust instrument for assessment of MTB leading and chairing skills. We developed an observational MTB leadership assessment instrument (ATLAS). ATLAS includes 12 domains that assess the leadership and chairing skills of the MTB chairperson. ATLAS has gone through a rigorous process of refinement and content validation prior to use to assess the MTB lead by two urological surgeons (blinded to each other) in 7 real-live (n = 286 cases) and 10 video-recorded (n = 131 cases) MTBs. ATLAS domains were analyzed via descriptive statistics. Instrument content was evaluated for validity using the content validation index (CVI). Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to assess inter-observer reliability. Instrument refining resulted in ATLAS including the following 12 domains: time management, communication, encouraging contribution, ability to summarize, ensuring all patients have treatment plan, case prioritization, keeping meeting focused, facilitate discussion, conflict management, leadership, creating good working atmosphere, and recruitment for clinical trials. CVI was acceptable and inter-rater agreement adequate to high for all domains. Agreement was somewhat higher in real-time MTBs compared to video ratings. Concurrent validation evidence was derived via positive and significant correlations between ATLAS and an established validated brief MTB leadership assessment scale. ATLAS is an observational assessment instrument that can be reliably used for assessing leadership and chairing skills in cancer MTBs (both live and video-recorded). The ability to assess and feedback on team leader performance provides the ground for promotion of good practice and continuing professional development of tumor board leaders.
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Muhammad Ali
2015-03-01
Full Text Available Leaf Area Index (LAI is an important variable for numerous processes in various disciplines of bio- and geosciences. In situ measurements are the most accurate source of LAI among the LAI measuring methods, but the in situ measurements have the limitation of being labor intensive and site specific. For spatial-explicit applications (from regional to continental scales, satellite remote sensing is a promising source for obtaining LAI with different spatial resolutions. However, satellite-derived LAI measurements using empirical models require calibration and validation with the in situ measurements. In this study, we attempted to validate a direct LAI retrieval method from remotely sensed images (RapidEye with in situ LAI (LAIdestr. Remote sensing LAI (LAIrapideye were derived using different vegetation indices, namely SAVI (Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. Additionally, applicability of the newly available red-edge band (RE was also analyzed through Normalized Difference Red-Edge index (NDRE and Soil Adjusted Red-Edge index (SARE. The LAIrapideye obtained from vegetation indices with red-edge band showed better correlation with LAIdestr (r = 0.88 and Root Mean Square Devation, RMSD = 1.01 & 0.92. This study also investigated the need to apply radiometric/atmospheric correction methods to the time-series of RapidEye Level 3A data prior to LAI estimation. Analysis of the the RapidEye Level 3A data set showed that application of the radiometric/atmospheric correction did not improve correlation of the estimated LAI with in situ LAI.
Adaptation and Validation of the Foot Function Index-Revised Short Form into Polish
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Radosław Rutkowski
2017-01-01
Full Text Available Purpose. The aim of the present study was to adapt the Foot Function Index-Revised Short Form (FFI-RS questionnaire into Polish and verify its reliability and validity in a group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA. Methods. The study included 211 patients suffering from RA. The FFI-RS questionnaire underwent standard linguistic adaptation and its psychometric parameters were investigated. The enrolled participants had been recruited for seven months as a convenient sample from the rheumatological hospital in Śrem (Poland. They represented different sociodemographic characteristics and were characterized as rural and city environments residents. Results. The mean age of the patients was 58.9±10.2 years. The majority of patients (85% were female. The average final FFI-RS score was 62.9±15.3. The internal consistency was achieved at a high level of 0.95 in Cronbach’s alpha test, with an interclass correlation coefficient ranging between 0.78 and 0.84. A strong correlation was observed between the FFI-RS and Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI questionnaires. Conclusion. The Polish version of FFI-RS-PL indicator is an important tool for evaluating the functional condition of patients’ feet and can be applied in the diagnosis and treatment of Polish-speaking patients suffering from RA.
Adaptation and Validation of the Foot Function Index-Revised Short Form into Polish.
Rutkowski, Radosław; Gałczyńska-Rusin, Małgorzata; Gizińska, Małgorzata; Straburzyński-Lupa, Marcin; Zdanowska, Agata; Romanowski, Mateusz Wojciech; Romanowski, Wojciech; Budiman-Mak, Elly; Straburzyńska-Lupa, Anna
2017-01-01
The aim of the present study was to adapt the Foot Function Index-Revised Short Form (FFI-RS) questionnaire into Polish and verify its reliability and validity in a group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The study included 211 patients suffering from RA. The FFI-RS questionnaire underwent standard linguistic adaptation and its psychometric parameters were investigated. The enrolled participants had been recruited for seven months as a convenient sample from the rheumatological hospital in Śrem (Poland). They represented different sociodemographic characteristics and were characterized as rural and city environments residents. The mean age of the patients was 58.9 ± 10.2 years. The majority of patients (85%) were female. The average final FFI-RS score was 62.9 ± 15.3. The internal consistency was achieved at a high level of 0.95 in Cronbach's alpha test, with an interclass correlation coefficient ranging between 0.78 and 0.84. A strong correlation was observed between the FFI-RS and Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI) questionnaires. The Polish version of FFI-RS-PL indicator is an important tool for evaluating the functional condition of patients' feet and can be applied in the diagnosis and treatment of Polish-speaking patients suffering from RA.
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Anna Sofia Delussu
2014-01-01
Full Text Available Physiological Cost Index (PCI has been proposed to assess gait demand. The purpose of the study was to establish whether PCI is a valid indicator in subacute stroke patients of energy cost of walking in different walking conditions, that is, over ground and on the Gait Trainer (GT with body weight support (BWS. The study tested if correlations exist between PCI and ECW, indicating validity of the measure and, by implication, validity of PCI. Six patients (patient group (PG with subacute stroke and 6 healthy age- and size-matched subjects as control group (CG performed, in a random sequence in different days, walking tests overground and on the GT with 0, 30, and 50% BWS. There was a good to excellent correlation between PCI and ECW in the observed walking conditions: in PG Pearson correlation was 0.919 (p<0.001; in CG Pearson correlation was 0.852 (p<0.001. In conclusion, the high significant correlations between PCI and ECW, in all the observed walking conditions, suggest that PCI is a valid outcome measure in subacute stroke patients.
Delussu, Anna Sofia; Morone, Giovanni; Iosa, Marco; Bragoni, Maura; Paolucci, Stefano; Traballesi, Marco
2014-01-01
Physiological Cost Index (PCI) has been proposed to assess gait demand. The purpose of the study was to establish whether PCI is a valid indicator in subacute stroke patients of energy cost of walking in different walking conditions, that is, over ground and on the Gait Trainer (GT) with body weight support (BWS). The study tested if correlations exist between PCI and ECW, indicating validity of the measure and, by implication, validity of PCI. Six patients (patient group (PG)) with subacute stroke and 6 healthy age- and size-matched subjects as control group (CG) performed, in a random sequence in different days, walking tests overground and on the GT with 0, 30, and 50% BWS. There was a good to excellent correlation between PCI and ECW in the observed walking conditions: in PG Pearson correlation was 0.919 (p < 0.001); in CG Pearson correlation was 0.852 (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the high significant correlations between PCI and ECW, in all the observed walking conditions, suggest that PCI is a valid outcome measure in subacute stroke patients.
Validation of the walking index for spinal cord injury in a US and European clinical population
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Ditunno, J.F.; Scivoletto, G.; Patrick, M.
2008-01-01
OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the prospective construct validity of the walking index for spinal cord injury (WISCI) in US/European clinical population. DESIGN: Prospective Cohort in Denmark, Germany, Italy and the USA. PARTICIPANTS/METHOD: Participants with acute complete/incomplete (ASIA Impairment...... Scale (AIS) A, B, C and D) traumatic spinal cord injuries were enrolled from four centers. Lower extremity motor scores (LEMS), WISCI level and Locomotor Functional Independence Measure (LFIM) levels were assessed with change in ambulatory status. WISCI progression was assessed for monotonic direction...
[Construct validity of a Portuguese version of the Female Sexual Function Index].
Pacagnella, Rodolfo de Carvalho; Martinez, Edson Zangiacomi; Vieira, Elisabeth Meloni
2009-11-01
This study aimed to evaluate the construct validity of a version of the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). The version was inserted into a multidimensional questionnaire and applied face-to-face to 235 sterilized women. Non-response rate was 1.7%. The sample proved to be highly homogeneous, with low income and education. Cronbach's alpha of 0.948 indicated high internal consistency. Factor analysis showed that the instrument was measuring four factors: desire/arousal, lubrication, orgasm/satisfaction, and pain. This may reflect characteristics of the instrument itself, female sexual response, or even the sample's cultural peculiarities, which can affect understanding of the questions or concepts with which the instrument deals. This study emphasizes the need for further research in the general population to determine the psychometric properties of the FSFI, such as its factor composition and definition of appropriate cut-off points for the Brazilian population.
Handhika, J.; Cari, C.; Suparmi, A.; Sunarno, W.; Purwandari, P.
2018-03-01
The purpose of this research was to develop a diagnostic test instrument to reveal students' conceptions in kinematics and dynamics. The diagnostic test was developed based on the content indicator the concept of (1) displacement and distance, (2) instantaneous and average velocity, (3) zero and constant acceleration, (4) gravitational acceleration (5) Newton's first Law, (6) and Newton's third Law. The diagnostic test development model includes: Diagnostic test requirement analysis, formulating test-making objectives, developing tests, checking the validity of the content and the performance of reliability, and application of tests. The Content Validation Index (CVI) results in the category are highly relevant, with a value of 0.85. Three questions get negative Content Validation Ratio CVR) (-0.6), after revised distractors and clarify visual presentation; the CVR become 1 (highly relevant). This test was applied, obtained 16 valid test items, with Cronbach Alpha value of 0.80. It can conclude that diagnostic test can be used to reveal the level of students conception in kinematics and dynamics.
Development and Validation of MMPI-2-RF Scales for Indexing Triarchic Psychopathy Constructs.
Sellbom, Martin; Drislane, Laura E; Johnson, Alexandria K; Goodwin, Brandee E; Phillips, Tasha R; Patrick, Christopher J
2016-10-01
The triarchic model characterizes psychopathy in terms of three distinct dispositional constructs of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. The model can be operationalized through scales designed specifically to index these domains or by using items from other inventories that provide coverage of related constructs. The present study sought to develop and validate scales for assessing the triarchic model domains using items from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF). A consensus rating approach was used to identify items relevant to each triarchic domain, and following psychometric refinement, the resulting MMPI-2-RF-based triarchic scales were evaluated for convergent and discriminant validity in relation to multiple psychopathy-relevant criterion variables in offender and nonoffender samples. Expected convergent and discriminant associations were evident very clearly for the Boldness and Disinhibition scales and somewhat less clearly for the Meanness scale. Moreover, hierarchical regression analyses indicated that all MMPI-2-RF triarchic scales incremented standard MMPI-2-RF scale scores in predicting extant triarchic model scale scores. The widespread use of MMPI-2-RF in clinical and forensic settings provides avenues for both clinical and research applications in contexts where traditional psychopathy measures are less likely to be administered. © The Author(s) 2015.
Mazur, Wojciech; Rivera, Jose M; Khoury, Alexander F; Basu, Abhijeet G; Perez-Verdia, Alejandro; Marks, Gary F; Chang, Su Min; Olmos, Leopoldo; Quiñones, Miguel A; Zoghbi, William A
2003-04-01
Exercise (Ex) echocardiography has been shown to have significant prognostic power, independent of other known predictors of risk from an Ex stress test. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a risk index, incorporating echocardiographic and conventional Ex variables, for a more comprehensive risk stratification and identification of a very low-risk group. Two consecutive, mutually exclusive populations referred for treadmill Ex echocardiography with the Bruce protocol were investigated: hypothesis-generating (388 patients; 268 males; age 55 +/- 13 years) and hypothesis-testing (105 patients; 61 males age: 54 +/- 14 years).Cardiac events included cardiac death, myocardial infarction, late revascularization (>90 days), hospital admission for unstable angina, and admission for heart failure. Mean follow-up in the hypothesis-generating population was 3.1 years. There were 38 cardiac events. Independent predictors of events by multivariate analysis were: Ex wall motion score index (odds ratio [OR] = 2.77/Unit; P or = 1 mm (OR = 2.84; P =.002); and treadmill time (OR = 0.87/min; P =.037). A risk index was generated on the basis of the multivariate Cox regression model as: risk index = 1.02 (Ex wall motion score index) + 1.04 (S-T change) - 0.14 (treadmill time). The validity of this index was tested in the hypothesis-testing population. Event rates at 3 years were lowest (0%) in the lower quartile of risk index (-1.22 to -0.47), highest (29.6%) in the upper quartile (+0.66 to +2.02), and intermediate (19.2% to 15.3%) in the intermediate quartiles. The OR of the risk index for predicting cardiac events was 2.94/Unit ([95% confidence interval: 1.4 to 6.2]; P =.0043). Echocardiographic and Ex parameters are independent powerful predictors of cardiac events after treadmill stress testing. A risk index can be derived with these parameters for a more comprehensive risk stratification with Ex echocardiography.
Dueñas, María; Mendonça, Liliane; Sampaio, Rute; Gouvinhas, Cláudia; Oliveira, Daniela; Castro-Lopes, José Manuel; Azevedo, Luís Filipe
2017-03-01
The Bowel Function Index (BFI) is a simple and sound bowel function and opioid-induced constipation (OIC) screening tool. We aimed to develop the translation and cultural adaptation of this measure (BFI-P) and to assess its reliability and validity for the Portuguese language and a chronic pain population. The BFI-P was created after a process including translation, back translation and cultural adaptation. Participants (n = 226) were recruited in a chronic pain clinic and were assessed at baseline and after one week. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, responsiveness, construct (convergent and known groups) and factorial validity were assessed. Test-retest reliability had an intra-class correlation of 0.605 for BFI mean score. Internal consistency of BFI had Cronbach's alpha of 0.865. The construct validity of BFI-P was shown to be excellent and the exploratory factor analysis confirmed its unidimensional structure. The responsiveness of BFI-P was excellent, with a suggested 17-19 point and 8-12 point change in score constituting a clinically relevant change in constipation for patients with and without previous constipation, respectively. This study had some limitations, namely, the criterion validity of BFI-P was not directly assessed; and the absence of a direct criterion for OIC precluded the assessment of the criterion based responsiveness of BFI-P. Nevertheless, BFI may importantly contribute to better OIC screening and its Portuguese version (BFI-P) has been shown to have excellent reliability, internal consistency, validity and responsiveness. Further suggestions regarding statistically and clinically important change cut-offs for this instrument are presented.
Green, Nicole A; Durani, Yamini; Brecher, Deena; DePiero, Andrew; Loiselle, John; Attia, Magdy
2012-08-01
The Emergency Severity Index version 4 (ESI v.4) is the most recently implemented 5-level triage system. The validity and reliability of this triage tool in the pediatric population have not been extensively established. The goals of this study were to assess the validity of ESI v.4 in predicting hospital admission, emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS), and number of resources utilized, as well as its reliability in a prospective cohort of pediatric patients. The first arm of the study was a retrospective chart review of 780 pediatric patients presenting to a pediatric ED to determine the validity of ESI v.4. Abstracted data included acuity level assigned by the triage nurse using ESI v.4 algorithm, disposition (admission vs discharge), LOS, and number of resources utilized in the ED. To analyze the validity of ESI v.4, patients were divided into 2 groups for comparison: higher-acuity patients (ESI levels 1, 2, and 3) and lower-acuity patients (ESI levels 4 and 5). Pearson χ analysis was performed for categorical variables. For continuous variables, we conducted a comparison of means based on parametric distribution of variables. The second arm was a prospective cohort study to determine the interrater reliability of ESI v.4 among and between pediatric triage (PT) nurses and pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) physicians. Three raters (2 PT nurses and 1 PEM physician) independently assigned triage scores to 100 patients; k and interclass correlation coefficient were calculated among PT nurses and between the primary PT nurses and physicians. In the validity arm, the distribution of ESI score levels among the 780 cases are as follows: ESI 1: 2 (0.25%); ESI 2: 73 (9.4%); ESI 3: 289 (37%); ESI 4: 251 (32%); and ESI 5: 165 (21%). Hospital admission rates by ESI level were 1: 100%, 2: 42%, 3: 14.9%, 4: 1.2%, and 5: 0.6%. The admission rate of the higher-acuity group (76/364, 21%) was significantly greater than the lower-acuity group (4/415, 0.96%), P group was
Ferreira, Maria Regina Sardinheiro do Céu Furtado; Martins, José Joaquim Penedos Amendoeira
2014-08-01
Testing the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index. A descriptive, analytical and cross-sectional study, for the cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the psychometric properties of the scale. The study participants were 236 nurses from two hospitals in the regions of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo. The 0.92 Cronbach's alpha was obtained for overall reliability and support of a five-dimension structure. The excellent quality of adjustment of analysis confirms the validity of the adapted version to hospital care settings, although there was no total coincidence of items in the five dimensions
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Ida, K.; Hidekuma, S.
1988-08-01
An ion temperature profile has been obtained with the CVI 5292 A (n = 8 - 7) charge exchange recombination (CXR) line using a space and wave-length resolving visible spectrometer installed on the JIPP TII-U tokamak. Two sets of 50 channels optical fiber arrays: one viewing a fast neutral hydrogen beam (CXR channels) and the other viewing off the neutral beam line (background channels), is arranged on the entrance slit of the spectrometer. This spectrometer is coupled to an image intensifier and CCD detector at the focal plane and provides temperature profile every 1/60 second. An ion temperature is derived from the Doppler broadened line profile after subtracting the simultaneously measured cold component (background channels), which is due to electron-excitation and/or charge exchange recombination in the plasma periphery. Alternative approach to obtain the ion temperature profile without CXR is also demonstrated. This method is based on an Abel inversion technique for each wavelength separately. (author)
Eadeh, Hana-May; Langberg, Joshua M; Molitor, Stephen J; Behrhorst, Katie; Smith, Zoe R; Evans, Steven W
2018-02-01
Parenting stress is common in families with an adolescent with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents (SIPA) was developed to assess parenting stress but has not been validated outside of the original development work. This study examined the factor structure and sources of convergent validity of the SIPA in a sample of adolescents diagnosed with ADHD ( M age = 12.3, N = 327) and their caregivers. Three first-order models, two bifactor models, and one higher order model were evaluated; none met overall model fit criteria but the first-order nine-factor model displayed the best fit. Convergent validity was also assessed and the SIPA adolescent domain was moderately correlated with measures of family impairment and conflict after accounting for ADHD symptom severity. Implications of these findings for use of the SIPA in ADHD samples are discussed along with directions for future research focused on parent stress and ADHD.
Developing and Validating a Santa Ana Wildfire Threat Index
Capps, S. B.; Rolinski, T.; DAgostino, B.; Vanderburg, S.; Fovell, R. G.; Cao, Y.
2014-12-01
Santa Ana winds, common to southern California during the fall through spring, are a type of katabatic wind that originates from a direction generally ranging from 360°/0° to 100° and is usually accompanied by very low humidity. Since fuel conditions tend to be driest from late September through the middle of November, Santa Ana winds occurring during this period have the greatest potential to produce large, devastating fires when an ignition occurs. Such catastrophic fires occurred in 1993, 2003, 2007, and 2008. Because of the destructive nature of these fires, there has been a growing desire to categorize Santa Ana wind events in much the same way that tropical cyclones have been categorized. The Santa Ana Wildfire Threat index (SAWT) is an attempt to categorize such events with respect to fire activity, based on surface wind velocity, dew point depression, and forecasted fuel conditions. The index, a USDA Forest Service product, was developed by the Forest Service in collaboration with San Diego Gas and Electric Utility (SDG&E), the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at UCLA, The Desert Research Institute (DRI), and Vertum Partners. The methodology behind the SAWT index, along with the index itself will be presented in detail. Also, there will be a discussion on the construction of a 30-year climatology of the index, which includes various meteorological and fuel parameters. We will demonstrate the usefulness of the index as another decision support tool for fire agencies and first responders, and how it could assist the general public and private industry in the preparation of critical Santa Ana wind events.
P.T.P.W. Burgers (Paul); R.W. Poolman (Rudolf); T.M. van Bakel (Theodorus); W.E. Tuinebreijer (Wim); S.M. Zielinski (Stephanie); M. Bhandari (Mohit); P. Patka (Peter); E.M.M. van Lieshout (Esther)
2015-01-01
markdownabstractBackground: The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) has been extensively evaluated in groups of patients with osteoarthritis, yet not in patients with a femoral neck fracture. This study aimed to determine the reliability, construct validity, and
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ana Carolina Melchiors
2007-10-01
Full Text Available FUNDAMENTO: A complexidade da farmacoterapia consiste de múltiplas características do regime prescrito, incluindo o número de diferentes medicações no esquema, o número de unidades de dosagem por dose, o número total de doses por dia e os cuidados na administração dos medicamentos. O Medication Regimen Complexity Index (MRCI é um instrumento específico, validado e utilizado para medir a complexidade da farmacoterapia, desenvolvido originalmente em língua inglesa. OBJETIVO: Tradução transcultural e validação desse instrumento para o português do Brasil. MÉTODOS: Foi desenvolvido um estudo transversal envolvendo 95 pacientes com diabete do tipo 2 utilizando múltiplas medicações. O processo de validação teve início pela tradução, retrotradução e pré-teste do instrumento, gerando uma versão adaptada chamada Índice de Complexidade da Farmacoterapia (ICFT. Em seguida foram analisados parâmetros psicométricos, incluindo validade convergente, validade divergente, confiabilidade entre avaliadores e teste-reteste. RESULTADOS: A complexidade da farmacoterapia medida pelo ICFT obteve média de 15,7 pontos (desvio padrão = 8,36. O ICFT mostrou correlação significativa com o número de medicamentos em uso (r = 0,86; p BACKGROUND: The complexity of pharmacotherapy is a result of a multiplicity of prescribed regimen factors, including the number of different drugs in the regimen, the number of dosage units per dose, the total number of prescribed doses per day and administration instructions. The Medication Regimen Complexity Index (MRCI is a specific, reliable and valid tool used to measure the complexity of pharmacotherapy, originally developed in English language. OBJECTIVE: Transcultural translation and validation of this tool into Brazilian Portuguese. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was developed with 95 type-2 diabetes patients, receiving multiple medications. The validation process included translation into
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Pedro Lopes-Pimentel
2017-01-01
Conclusions: Our results indicate that the large interindividual variability of BIS and CVI limits their usefulness. We found differences between the left and right measurements in a right-handed series of patients during surgical stimuli though they were not clinically relevant.
Wasson, John H; Ho, Lynn; Soloway, Laura; Moore, L Gordon
2018-01-01
Current health care delivery relies on complex, computer-generated risk models constructed from insurance claims and medical record data. However, these models produce inaccurate predictions of risk levels for individual patients, do not explicitly guide care, and undermine health management investments in many patients at lesser risk. Therefore, this study prospectively validates a concise patient-reported risk assessment that addresses these inadequacies of computer-generated risk models. Five measures with well-documented impacts on the use of health services are summed to create a "What Matters Index." These measures are: 1) insufficient confidence to self-manage health problems, 2) pain, 3) bothersome emotions, 4) polypharmacy, and 5) adverse medication effects. We compare the sensitivity and predictive values of this index with two representative risk models in a population of 8619 Medicaid recipients. The patient-reported "What Matters Index" and the conventional risk models are found to exhibit similar sensitivities and predictive values for subsequent hospital or emergency room use. The "What Matters Index" is also reliable: akin to its performance during development, for patients with index scores of 1, 2, and ≥3, the odds ratios (with 95% confidence intervals) for subsequent hospitalization within 1 year, relative to patients with a score of 0, are 1.3 (1.1-1.6), 2.0 (1.6-2.4), and 3.4 (2.9-4.0), respectively; for emergency room use, the corresponding odds ratios are 1.3 (1.1-1.4), 1.9 (1.6-2.1), and 2.9 (2.6-3.3). Similar findings were replicated among smaller populations of 1061 mostly older patients from nine private practices and 4428 Medicaid patients without chronic conditions. In contrast to complex computer-generated risk models, the brief patient-reported "What Matters Index" immediately and unambiguously identifies fundamental, remediable needs for each patient and more sensibly directs the delivery of services to patient categories based on
Rastogi, Sanjeev
2017-11-06
Prescription quality can be a direct predictor of the net outcome of a health care delivery effort. Quality of prescription may be considered as a cumulative matrix of multiple components of a prescription on the basis of their relative importance. Prescription quality index is a recognized tool in clinical medicine for multiple purposes including the prediction of health care intervention outcome. Considering the importance of prescription quality among every system of medicine, an attempt was made to design a prescription quality index for Ayurveda. The Prescription Quality Index for Ayurveda was designed through item selection following a thorough literature search and was validated through multiple peer group discussions. Final draft of index containing 38 individual items carrying different scores as per their importance in the prescription was subjected to a pilot test upon 1576 indoor prescriptions generated in 2015 at State Ayurvedic College Hospital, Lucknow. The study revealed large information gaps in the components of the prescription where it was supposed to be noted by the prescribers. These gaps in the Ayurvedic prescriptions were most significant in the areas pertaining to Ayurvedic fundamentals of clinical examination, disease diagnosis and Ayurvedic drug intake methods. Prescription Quality Index for Ayurveda was found useful in underlining the gaps between the ideal and generated prescriptions. This can be utilized as a useful tool to evaluate the quality of Ayurvedic prescriptions by seeing their adherence to the standard prescription template. Copyright © 2017 Transdisciplinary University, Bangalore and World Ayurveda Foundation. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Internal Cluster Validation on Earthquake Data in the Province of Bengkulu
Rini, D. S.; Novianti, P.; Fransiska, H.
2018-04-01
K-means method is an algorithm for cluster n object based on attribute to k partition, where k < n. There is a deficiency of algorithms that is before the algorithm is executed, k points are initialized randomly so that the resulting data clustering can be different. If the random value for initialization is not good, the clustering becomes less optimum. Cluster validation is a technique to determine the optimum cluster without knowing prior information from data. There are two types of cluster validation, which are internal cluster validation and external cluster validation. This study aims to examine and apply some internal cluster validation, including the Calinski-Harabasz (CH) Index, Sillhouette (S) Index, Davies-Bouldin (DB) Index, Dunn Index (D), and S-Dbw Index on earthquake data in the Bengkulu Province. The calculation result of optimum cluster based on internal cluster validation is CH index, S index, and S-Dbw index yield k = 2, DB Index with k = 6 and Index D with k = 15. Optimum cluster (k = 6) based on DB Index gives good results for clustering earthquake in the Bengkulu Province.
Vujanovic, Anka A.; Arrindell, Willem A.; Bernstein, Amit; Norton, Peter J.; Zvolensky, Michael J.
The present investigation examined the factor structure, internal consistency, and construct validity of the 16-item Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI; Reiss Peterson, Gursky, & McNally 1986) in a young adult sample (n = 420)from the Netherlands. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to comparatively
Burgers, P.T.; Poolman, R.W.; Bakel, T.M. Van; Tuinebreijer, W.E.; Zielinski, S.M.; Bhandari, M.; Patka, P.; Lieshout, E.M. van; Kampen, A. van; Biert, J.; Vugt, A.B. van; Edwards, M.J.R.; Blokhuis, T.J.; Frolke, J.P.; Geeraedts, L.M.G.; Gardeniers, J.W.M.; Tan, E.C.T.H.; Poelhekke, L.M.S.J.; Waal Malefijt, M.C. de; Schreurs, B.W.; et al.,
2015-01-01
BACKGROUND: The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) has been extensively evaluated in groups of patients with osteoarthritis, yet not in patients with a femoral neck fracture. This study aimed to determine the reliability, construct validity, and responsiveness of
Burgers, Paul T. P. W.; Poolman, Rudolf W.; van Bakel, Theodorus M. J.; Tuinebreijer, Wim E.; Zielinski, Stephanie M.; Bhandari, Mohit; Patka, Peter; van Lieshout, Esther M. M.; Devereaux, P. J.; Guyatt, Gordon H.; Einhorn, Thomas A.; Thabane, Lehana; Schemitsch, Emil H.; Koval, Kenneth J.; Frihagen, Frede; Tetsworth, Kevin; Guerra-Farfan, Ernesto; Walter, Stephen D.; Sprague, Sheila; Swinton, Marilyn; Scott, Taryn; McKay, Paula; Madden, Kim; Heels-Ansdell, Diane; Buckingham, Lisa; Duraikannan, Aravin; Silva, Heather; Heetveld, Martin J.; Burgers, T. P. W.; Zura, Robert D.; Avram, Victoria; Eygendaal, Denise; Krips, Rover; Raven, Eric E. J.; Haverlag, Robert; Mutsaerts, Eduard L. A. R.; Haverkamp, Daniel; van den Bekerom, Michel P. J.; Beimers, Lijkele; de Vries, Jasper; Zurcher, Arthur W.; Bulstra, Gythe H.; Campo, Martin M.; Somford, Mathijs P.; Schep, Niels W. L.; Festen, Sebastiaan; Geeraedts, Leo M. G.; Peters, Rolf; Goslings, J. Carel; Ponsen, Kees Jan
2015-01-01
Background: The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) has been extensively evaluated in groups of patients with osteoarthritis, yet not in patients with a femoral neck fracture. This study aimed to determine the reliability, construct validity, and responsiveness of
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Maria Regina Sardinheiro do Céu Furtado Ferreira
2014-08-01
Full Text Available Objective: Testing the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index. Method: A descriptive, analytical and cross-sectional study, for the cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the psychometric properties of the scale. The study participants were 236 nurses from two hospitals in the regions of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo. Results: The 0.92 Cronbach’s alpha was obtained for overall reliability and support of a five-dimension structure. Conclusion: The excellent quality of adjustment of analysis confirms the validity of the adapted version to hospital care settings, although there was no total coincidence of items in the five dimensions
Ganguly, Sangram; Samanta, Arindam; Schull, Mitchell A.; Shabanov, Nikolay V.; Milesi, Cristina; Nemani, Ramajrushna R,; Knyazikhin, Yuri; Myneni, Ranga B.
2008-01-01
The evaluation of a new global monthly leaf area index (LAI) data set for the period July 1981 to December 2006 derived from AVHRR Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data is described. The physically based algorithm is detailed in the first of the two part series. Here, the implementation, production and evaluation of the data set are described. The data set is evaluated both by direct comparisons to ground data and indirectly through inter-comparisons with similar data sets. This indirect validation showed satisfactory agreement with existing LAI products, importantly MODIS, at a range of spatial scales, and significant correlations with key climate variables in areas where temperature and precipitation limit plant growth. The data set successfully reproduced well-documented spatio-temporal trends and inter-annual variations in vegetation activity in the northern latitudes and semi-arid tropics. Comparison with plot scale field measurements over homogeneous vegetation patches indicated a 7% underestimation when all major vegetation types are taken into account. The error in mean values obtained from distributions of AVHRR LAI and high-resolution field LAI maps for different biomes is within 0.5 LAI for six out of the ten selected sites. These validation exercises though limited by the amount of field data, and thus less than comprehensive, indicated satisfactory agreement between the LAI product and field measurements. Overall, the intercomparison with short-term LAI data sets, evaluation of long term trends with known variations in climate variables, and validation with field measurements together build confidence in the utility of this new 26 year LAI record for long term vegetation monitoring and modeling studies.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Mohamad Akbar
2017-04-01
Full Text Available This research was conducted in small islands area to Togean District, TojoUna-Una Regency Central Celebes by ecological and sosio-economic approach. Methods those used in this research were vulnerability index, MCDM (multi criteria dimension making and Geographycal information system (SIG approach. Data was collected bt participative and explorative approach. Data analysed parameters using vulnerability, assessment method involved vulnerability variable parameters i.e. area characteristic, area degradation, sea level rise, human impact, economic exposure, economic remoteness. The results shows the range ofcomposit vulnerability index for ecological (CVI-Ek is 0.00-0.77, economic (CVI-En is 0.00-0.75, and composite vulnerability ecological-economic (CVI-EE is 0.00-0.76. Enam island (0.76and tongkabo island (0.66 is rated to high vulnerable (0.67, Mogo Island (0.14, Kukumbi Island (0.12, Pagempa Island (0.09 and Kadidiri Island (0.07, is considerednon vulnerable. MCDM analysis result that is used to determine small island management model in Togean District, shows ecological criteria is most important compared with economy criteria and social criteria. Analysis of SMART technique shows the type small islands sustainability management scenario in Togean District, those are scenario A (adaptation, 0.94 and scenario B ( without adaptation, 0.55. Keywords : small island, composite vulnerability index, sustainability, togean district.
The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI): linguistic validation of the Italian version.
Filocamo, Maria Teresa; Serati, Maurizio; Li Marzi, Vincenzo; Costantini, Elisabetta; Milanesi, Martina; Pietropaolo, Amelia; Polledro, Patrizio; Gentile, Barbara; Maruccia, Serena; Fornia, Samanta; Lauri, Irene; Alei, Rosanna; Arcangeli, Paola; Sighinolfi, Maria Chiara; Manassero, Francesca; Andretta, Elena; Palazzetti, Anna; Bertelli, Elena; Del Popolo, Giulio; Villari, Donata
2014-02-01
Although several new measurements for female sexual dysfunction (FSD) have recently been developed, the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) remains the gold standard for screening and one of the most widely used questionnaires. The Italian translation of the FSFI has been used in several studies conducted in Italy, but a linguistic validation of the Italian version does not exist. The aim of this study was to perform a linguistic validation of the Italian version of the FSFI. A multicenter cross-sectional study conducted in 14 urological and gynecological clinics, uniformly distributed over Italian territory. We performed all steps necessary to determine the reliability and the test-retest reliability of the Italian version of the FSFI. The study population was a convenience sample of 409 Italian women. The reliability of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach's alpha, which was considered weak, moderate, or high if its value was found less than 0.6, between 0.6 and 0.8, or equal to or greater than 0.8, respectively. The test-retest reliability was assessed for all women in the sample by calculating Pearson's concordance correlation coefficient for each domain and for the total score, both at baseline and after 15 days (r range between -1.00 to +1.00, where +1.00 indicates the strongest positive association). Cronbach's alpha coefficients for total and domain score were sufficiently high, ranging from 0.92 to 0.97 for the total sample. The test-retest procedure revealed that the concordance correlation coefficient was very high both for FSFI-I total score (Pearson's P = 0.93) and for each domain (Pearson's P always >0.92). For the first time in the literature, our study has produced a validated and reliable Italian version of the FSFI questionnaire. Consequently, the Italian FSFI can be used as a reliable tool for preliminary screening for female sexual dysfunction for Italian women. © 2013 International Society for Sexual Medicine.
Validity and Reliability of the Persian Version of the Dysphagia Handicap Index (DHI).
Asadollahpour, Faezeh; Baghban, Kowsar; Asadi, Mozhgan
2015-05-01
The Dysphagia Handicap Index (DHI) is one of the instruments used for measuring a dysphagic patient's self-assessment. In some ways, it reflects the patient's quality of life. Although it has been recognized and widely applied in English speaking populations, it has not been used in its present forms in Persian speaking countries. The purpose of this study was to adapt a Persian version of the DHI and to evaluate its validity, consistency, and reliability in the Persian population with oropharyngeal dysphagia. Some stages for cross-cultural adaptation were performed, which consisted in translation, synthesis, back translation, review by an expert committee, and final proof reading. The generated Persian DHI was administered to 85 patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia and 89 control subjects at Zahedan city between May 2013 and August 2013. The patients and control subjects answered the same questionnaire 2 weeks later to verify the test-retest reliability. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were evaluated. The results of the patients and the control group were compared. The Persian DHI showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficients range from 0.82 to 0.94). Also, good test-retest reliability was found for the total scores of the Persian DHI (r=0.89). There was a significant difference between the DHI scores of the control group and those of the oropharyngeal dysphagia group (P‹0.001). The Persian version of the DHI achieved Face and translation validity. This study demonstrated that the Persian DHI is a valid tool for self-assessment of the handicapping effects of dysphagia on the physical, functional, and emotional aspects of patient life and can be a useful tool for screening and treatment planning for the Persian-speaking dysphagic patients, regardless of the cause or the severity of the dysphagia.
Validity and Reliability of the Persian Version of the Dysphagia Handicap Index (DHI
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faezeh asadollahpour
2015-05-01
Full Text Available Introduction: The Dysphagia Handicap Index (DHI is one of the instruments used for measuring a dysphagic patient’s self-assessment. In some ways, it reflects the patient’s quality of life. Although it has been recognized and widely applied in English speaking populations, it has not been used in its present forms in Persian speaking countries. The purpose of this study was to adapt a Persian version of the DHI and to evaluate its validity, consistency, and reliability in the Persian population with oropharyngeal dysphagia. Materials and Methods: Some stages for cross-cultural adaptation were performed, which consisted in translation, synthesis, back translation, review by an expert committee, and final proof reading. The generated Persian DHI was administered to 85 patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia and 89 control subjects at Zahedan city between May 2013 and August 2013. The patients and control subjects answered the same questionnaire 2 weeks later to verify the test-retest reliability. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were evaluated. The results of the patients and the control group were compared. Results: The Persian DHI showed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha coefficients range from 0.82 to 0.94. Also, good test-retest reliability was found for the total scores of the Persian DHI (r=0.89. There was a significant difference between the DHI scores of the control group and those of the oropharyngeal dysphagia group (P‹0.001. Conclusion: The Persian version of the DHI achieved Face and translation validity. This study demonstrated that the Persian DHI is a valid tool for self-assessment of the handicapping effects of dysphagia on the physical, functional, and emotional aspects of patient life and can be a useful tool for screening and treatment planning for the Persian-speaking dysphagic patients, regardless of the cause or the severity of the dysphagia.
Gijon-Nogueron, Gabriel; Ndosi, Mwidimi; Luque-Suarez, Alejandro; Alcacer-Pitarch, Begonya; Munuera, Pedro Vicente; Garrow, Adam; Redmond, Anthony C
2014-03-01
The Manchester Foot Pain and Disability Index (MFPDI) is a self-assessment 19-item questionnaire developed in the UK to measure foot pain and disability. This study aimed at conducting cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the MFPDI for use in Spain. Principles of good practice for the translation and cultural adaptation process for patient-reported outcomes measures were followed in the MFPDI adaptation into Spanish. The cross-cultural validation involved Rasch analysis of pooled data sets from Spain and the UK. Spanish data set comprised 338 patients, five used in the adaptation phase and 333 in the cross-cultural validation phase, mean age (SD) = 55.2 (16.7) and 248 (74.5 %) were female. A UK data set (n = 682) added in the cross-cultural validation phase; mean age (SD) = 51.6 (15.2 %) and 416 (61.0 %) were female. A preliminary analysis of the 17-item MFPDI revealed significant local dependency of items causing significant deviation from the Rasch model. Grouping all items into testlets and re-analysing the MFPDI as a 3-testlet scale resulted in an adequate fit to the Rasch model, χ (2) (df) = 15.945 (12), p = 0.194, excellent reliability and unidimensionality. Lack of cross-cultural invariance was evident on the functional and personal appearance testlets. Splitting the affected testlets discounted the cross-cultural bias and satisfied requirements of the Rasch model. Subsequently, the MFPDI was calibrated into interval-level scales, fully adjusted to allow parametric analyses and cross-cultural data comparisons when required. Rasch analysis has confirmed that the MFPDI is a robust 3-subscale measure of foot pain, function and appearance in both its English and Spanish versions.
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Hamisu M. Salihu
2015-07-01
Full Text Available Background. Providing practitioners with an intuitive measure for priority setting that can be combined with diverse data collection methods is a necessary step to foster accountability of the decision-making process in community settings. Yet, there is a lack of easy-to-use, but methodologically robust measures, that can be feasibly implemented for reliable decision-making in community settings. To address this important gap in community based participatory research (CBPR, the purpose of this study was to demonstrate the utility, applicability, and validation of a community priority index in a community-based participatory research setting. Design and Methods. Mixed-method study that combined focus groups findings, nominal group technique with six key informants, and the generation of a Community Priority Index (CPI that integrated community importance, changeability, and target populations. Bootstrapping and simulation were performed for validation. Results. For pregnant mothers, the top three highly important and highly changeable priorities were: stress (CPI=0.85; 95%CI: 0.70, 1.00, lack of affection (CPI=0.87; 95%CI: 0.69, 1.00, and nutritional issues (CPI=0.78; 95%CI: 0.48, 1.00. For non-pregnant women, top priorities were: low health literacy (CPI=0.87; 95%CI: 0.69, 1.00, low educational attainment (CPI=0.78; 95%CI: 0.48, 1.00, and lack of self-esteem (CPI=0.72; 95%CI: 0.44, 1.00. For children and adolescents, the top three priorities were: obesity (CPI=0.88; 95%CI: 0.69, 1.00, low self-esteem (CPI=0.81; 95%CI: 0.69, 0.94, and negative attitudes toward education (CPI=0.75; 95%CI: 0.50, 0.94. Conclusions. This study demonstrates the applicability of the CPI as a simple and intuitive measure for priority setting in CBPR.
Guermazi, Mohammad; Poiraudeau, Serge; Yahia, Monem; Mezganni, Monia; Fermanian, Jacques; Habib Elleuch, M; Revel, Michel
2004-06-01
To translate into Arabic and validate the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) index. Arabic translation was obtained with use of the forward and backward translation method. Adaptations were made after a pilot study. Patients with symptomatic knee OA fulfilling the revised criteria of the American College of Rheumatology were included. Impairment outcome measures (pain as measured on a visual analog scale, the maximum distance walked, Kellgren's radiological score), Lequesne index score and Beck depression scale score were recorded. Each item was analyzed. Test-retest reliability was assessed with use of the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and the Bland and Altman method. Construct validity was investigated with use of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, and a factor analysis was performed. One hundred and three patients were included in the study. Eight questions of the WOMAC physical function subscale (PF) had insufficient psychometric properties and were excluded. Although test-retest reliability of the questionnaire was good (0.84, 0.84, and 0.92 for pain, stiffness, and modified PF subscales respectively), construct validity could not be demonstrated. Factor analysis of the modified form of the WOMAC extracted four factors, which differed from the a priori triple stratification. However, factor analysis of the modified PF subscales extracted two factors, which accounted for 68.4% of the total variance and could be clinically characterized (disability during activities requiring knee flexion within the first 90 degrees and activities requiring knee flexion over more than 90 degrees ). We translated and adapted the WOMAC index into Arabic to suit Tunisian people. The translated questionnaire is reliable but not valid in its original form. We propose the use of a modified version of PF subscale of the WOMAC, although the psychometric properties of this instrument must be examined in a larger population.
Chan, Wallace Chi Ho; Chan, Christopher L F; Suen, Margaret
2013-11-01
Family caregivers may often experience caregiving stress and burden. To systematically assess this issue, medical social workers may need to use a brief and valid measurement in their practice. In the Hong Kong Chinese context, one additional challenge is to examine whether a measurement developed in the West is valid for Hong Kong Chinese caregivers. Thus, medical social workers in Hong Kong initiated this research study to validate the Chinese version of the Modified Caregiver Strain Index (C-M-CSI). A total of 223 Chinese caregivers of patients with various chronic illnesses were recruited for this validation study. C-M-CSI demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = .91), concurrent validity with the Chinese version of the Caregiver Burden Inventory, and discriminant validity with the Chinese version of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire. Factor analysis yielded a single factor as the original M-CSI, which explained 49 percent of variance. Construct validity was shown by differentiating spousal and nonspousal caregivers, as well as caregivers of patients with and without behavioral problems. C-M-CSI is recommended as a brief and valid measurement that can be used by medical social workers in assessing the caregiving strain of Chinese caregivers of patients in Hong Kong.
Validity of the standard shiftwork index for South African shiftworkers in the transport industry
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D. Visser
1999-06-01
Full Text Available A major problem in shiftwork research has been the lack of uniform measuring procedures across studies. The Standard Shiftwork Index (SSI contains a battery of self-report questionnaires which was developed to address this need. The objectives of this study included examining the cross- cultural applicability, internal consistency, and construct validity of the SSI scales for a predominantly Afrikaans-speaking sample of 728 train drivers and to provide normative distribution statistics for this sample. Factor analytic results and the correlations between the various scales supported the constnuct validity of the SSI scales. Means obtained on the scales were compared with means obtained for British shiftworkers and non-shiftworkers. The inclusion of job satisfaction and involvement scales, and scales to assess sleep variables appeared to augment an outcome- based theoretical model proposed by the compilers of the SSI. It was concluded that the SSI is a useful research tool for use with shiftworkers, but that further development of some of the scales is advisable. Opsomming 'n Belangrike leemte in navorsing oor skofwerk is die gebrek aan eenvormige metingsprosedures. Die Standard Shiftwork Index (SSI behels verskeie selfbeoordelingvraelyste wat in Engeland ontwikkel is om hierdie behoefte aan te spreek. Die doelwitte van hierdie studie was om die tussenkulturele toepaslikheid, interne konsekwentheid en konstrukgeldigheid van die SSI-skale vir 'n hoofsaaklik Afrikaanssprekende steekproef van 728 treindrywers te bepaal en om normatiewe statistiek vir hierdie steekproef te verskaf. Faktoranalitiese resultate en die korrelasies tussen die onderskeie skale het hul konstrukgeldigheid ondersteun. Gemiddeldes wat op die onderskeie vraelyste behaal is, is vergelyk met gemiddeldes wat vir Britse skofwerkers en nieskofwerkers verkry is. Die insluiting van werktevredenheid- en werkbetrokkenheidskale, asook skale oor slaap, het die uitkomsgebaseerde teoretiese
Hahn, U; Hechler, T; Witt, U; Krummenauer, F
2015-12-01
A questionnaire was drafted to identify the needs of visually impaired persons and to optimize their access to non-medical support and services. Subjects had to rate a list of 15 everyday activities that are typically affected by visual impairment (for example, being able to orient themselves in the home environment), by indicating the degree to which they perceive each activity to be affected, using a four-stage scale. They had to evaluate these aspects by means of a relevance assessment. The needs profile derived from this is then correlated with individualized information for assistance and support. The questionnaire shall be made available for use by subjects through advisers in some ophthalmic practices and via the internet. The validity of the content of the proposed tool was evaluated on the basis of a survey of 59 experts in the fields of medical, optical and psychological care and of persons involved in training initiatives. The experts were asked to rate the activities by relevance and clarity of the wording and to propose methods to further develop and optimize the content. The validity of the content was quantified according to a process adopted in the literature, based on the parameters Interrater Agreement (IRA) and Content Validity Index (CVI). The results of all responses (n = 19) and the sub-group analysis suggest that the questionnaire adequately reflects the potential needs profile of visually impaired persons. Overall, there was at least 80% agreement among the 19 experts for 93% of the proposed parameterisation of the activities relating to the relevance and clarity of the wording. Individual proposals for optimization of the design of the questionnaire were adopted. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.
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Peymaneh Habibi
2016-09-01
Full Text Available Background The exposure of individuals to heat at different jobs warrants the use of heat stress evaluation indices. Objectives The aim of this study was to validate environmental stress index using an infrared radiation (IR measurement instrument as a substitute for pyranometer in indoor workplaces. Methods This study was conducted on 2303 indoor workstations in different industries in Isfahan, Iran, during July, August, and September in 2012. The intensity of the Infrared Radiation (IR (w/m2 was measured at five-centimeter distances in six different directions, above, opposite, right, left, behind and below the globe thermometer. Then, the dry globe temperature (Ta, wet globe temperature (Tnw, globe temperature (Tg and relative humidity (RH were also simultaneously measured. The data were analyzed using correlation and regression by the SPSS18 software. Results The study results indicate that a high correlation (r = 0.96 exists between the environmental stress index (ESI and the values of wet bulb globe temperature (P < 0.01. According to the following equation, WBGT = 1.086 × ESI - 1.846, the environmental stress index is able to explain 91% (R2 = 0.91 of the WBGT index variations (P < 0.01. Conclusions Based on the results, to study heat stress in indoor workplaces when the WBGT measurement instrument is not available and also in short-term exposures (shorter than 30 minutes when measuring the wet bulb globe temperature shows a considerable error, it is possible to calculate the environmental stress index and accordingly to the WBGT index, by measuring the parameters of dry bulb temperature (Ta, relative humidity (RH, and infrared radiation intensity that can be easily measured in a short time.
Fang, Kuan-Chieh; Wang, Yuan-Chen; Huo, Teh-Ia; Huang, Yi-Hsiang; Yang, Hwai-I; Su, Chien-Wei; Lin, Han-Chieh; Lee, Fa-Yauh; Wu, Jaw-Ching; Lee, Shou-Dong
2015-01-01
Background and Aims The fatty liver index (FLI) is an algorithm involving the waist circumference, body mass index, and serum levels of triglyceride and gamma-glutamyl transferase to identify fatty liver. Although some studies have attempted to validate the FLI, few studies have been conducted for external validation among Asians. We attempted to validate FLI to predict ultrasonographic fatty liver in Taiwanese subjects. Methods We enrolled consecutive subjects who received health check-up services at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital from 2002 to 2009. Ultrasonography was applied to diagnose fatty liver. The ability of the FLI to detect ultrasonographic fatty liver was assessed by analyzing the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve. Results Among the 29,797 subjects enrolled in this study, fatty liver was diagnosed in 44.5% of the population. Subjects with ultrasonographic fatty liver had a significantly higher FLI than those without fatty liver by multivariate analysis (odds ratio 1.045; 95% confidence interval, CI 1.044–1.047, pfatty liver (AUROC: 0.827, 95% confidence interval, 0.822–0.831). An FLI fatty liver. Moreover, an FLI ≥ 35 (positive likelihood ratio (LR+) 3.12) for males and ≥ 20 (LR+ 4.43) for females rule in ultrasonographic fatty liver. Conclusions FLI could accurately identify ultrasonographic fatty liver in a large-scale population in Taiwan but with lower cut-off value than the Western population. Meanwhile the cut-off value was lower in females than in males. PMID:25781622
Haynes, Tom; Bishop, Chris; Antrobus, Mark; Brazier, Jon
2018-03-27
This is the first study to independently assess the concurrent validity and reliability of the My Jump 2 app for measuring drop jump performance. It is also the first to evaluate the app's ability to measure the reactive strength index (RSI). Fourteen male sport science students (age: 29.5 ± 9.9 years) performed three drop jumps from 20 cm and 40 cm (totalling 84 jumps), assessed via a force platform and the My Jump 2 app. Reported metrics included reactive strength index, jump height, ground contact time, and mean power. Measurements from both devices were compared using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r), Cronbach's alpha (α), coefficient of variation (CV) and BlandAltman plots. Near perfect agreement was seen between devices at 20 cm for RSI (ICC = 0.95) and contact time (ICC = 0.99) and at 40 cm for RSI (ICC = 0.98), jump height (ICC = 0.96) and contact time (ICC = 0.92); with very strong agreement seen at 20 cm for jump height (ICC = 0.80). In comparison with the force plate the app showed good validity for RSI (20 cm: r = 0.94; 40 cm; r = 0.97), jump height (20 cm: r = 0.80; 40 cm; r = 0.96) and contact time (20 cm = 0.96; 40 cm; r = 0.98). The results of the present study show that the My Jump 2 app is a valid and reliable tool for assessing drop jump performance.
An International, Multi-Specialty Validation Study of the IgG4-Related Disease Responder Index.
Wallace, Zachary S; Khosroshahi, Arezou; Carruthers, Mollie D; Perugino, Cory A; Choi, Hyon; Campochiaro, Corrado; Culver, Emma L; Cortazar, Frank; Della-Torre, Emanuel; Ebbo, Mikael; Fernandes, Ana; Frulloni, Luca; Hart, Philip; Karadag, Omer; Kawa, Shigeyuki; Kawano, Mitsuhiro; Kim, Myung-Hwan; Lanzillotta, Marco; Matsui, Shoko; Okazaki, Kazuichi; Ryu, Jay H; Saeki, Takako; Schleinitz, Nicolas; Tanasa, Paula; Umehara, Hisanori; Webster, George; Zhang, Wen; Stone, John H
2018-02-18
IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) can cause fibro-inflammatory lesions in nearly any organ, leading to organ dysfunction and failure. The IgG4-RD Responder Index (RI) was developed to help investigators assess the efficacy of treatment in a structured manner. We sought to validate the RI in a multi-national investigation. The RI guides investigators through assessments of disease activity and damage in 25 domains, incorporating higher weights for disease manifestations that require treatment urgently or that worsen despite treatment. After a training exercise, investigators reviewed 12 written IgG4-RD vignettes (mean length: 279 words, range: 76-511 words) based upon real patients. Investigators calculated both an RI score as well as a physician global assessment (PGA) for each vignette. Three investigators used the RI on fifteen patients followed over serial visits after treatment. We assessed inter- and intra-rater reliability, precision, validity, and responsiveness. Twenty-six physician-investigators included representatives from 6 specialties and 9 countries. The inter-rater and intra-rater reliabilities of the RI were strong (0.88 and 0.69, respectively) and superior to those of the PGA. Correlations (construct validity) between the RI and PGA were high (Spearman's r=0.9, Preliable disease activity assessment tool that can be used to measure response to therapy. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Dimensions of Safety Climate among Iranian Nurses.
Konjin, Z Naghavi; Shokoohi, Y; Zarei, F; Rahimzadeh, M; Sarsangi, V
2015-10-01
Workplace safety has been a concern of workers and managers for decades. Measuring safety climate is crucial in improving safety performance. It is also a method of benchmarking safety perception. To develop and validate a psychometrics scale for measuring nurses' safety climate. Literature review, subject matter experts and nurse's judgment were used in items developing. Content validity and reliability for new tool were tested by content validity index (CVI) and test-retest analysis, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with varimax rotation was used to improve the interpretation of latent factors. A 40-item scale in 6 factors was developed, which could explain 55% of the observed variance. The 6 factors included employees' involvement in safety and management support, compliance with safety rules, safety training and accessibility to personal protective equipment, hindrance to safe work, safety communication and job pressure, and individual risk perception. The proposed scale can be used in identifying the needed areas to implement interventions in safety climate of nurses.
Hoving, Jan Lucas; O'Leary, Elizabeth F.; Niere, Ken R.; Green, Sally; Buchbinder, Rachelle
2003-01-01
The Neck Disability Index (NDI) and Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire (NPQ) were developed to measure self-perceived disability from neck pain, including that which may arise from whiplash injury. However, there is little data specifically concerning their validity for whiplash-associated
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Kim De Corte
2007-10-01
Full Text Available The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980 is a commonly used self-report instrument designed to assess empathic tendencies. The IRI consists of four separate subscales: Perspective Taking (PT, Fantasy (FS, Empathic Concern (EC, and Personal Distress (PD. The objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of a Dutch version of the IRI. The IRI was administered to a Dutch sample of 651 normal functioning adults. The factor structure of the IRI was examined by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA. The results of the CFA revealed that there is room for improvement and modification of the original theoretical model. The validity of the IRI was tested using internal criteria (i. e., scale intercorrelations and external criteria (i. e., correlations with subscales of the EQ-i (Bar-On, 1997, the NEO-FFI (Hoekstra, Ormel, & De Fruyt, 1996, Mach-IV (Van Kenhove, Vermeir, & Verniers, 2001, Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965, and the WAIS-III (Wechsler, 2000. Overall, the internal consistency, construct validity, and factor structure of scores from the Dutch version of the IRI suggest that it is a useful instrument to measure people's self-reported empathic tendencies.
Dose comparison using deformed image registration method on breast cancer radiotherapy
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Kim, Jong Won; Kim, Jung Hoon [Dept. of Radiation Oncology, KonYang University Hospital, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Won, Young Jin [Dept. of Radiation Oncology, InJe University Ilsan Paik Hospital, Goyang (Korea, Republic of)
2017-03-15
The purpose of this study is to reconstruct the treatment plan by applying CBCT and DIR to dose changes according to the change of the patient's motion and breast shape in the large breast cancer patients and to compare the doses using TWF, FIF and IMRT. CT and CBCT were performed with MIM6 to create DIRCT and each treatment plan was made. The patient underwent computed tomography simulation in both prone and supine position. The homogeneity index (HI), conformity index (CI), coverage index (CVI) to the left breast as planning target volume (PTV) were determined and the doses to the lung, heart, and right breast as organ at risk (OAR) were compared by using dose-volume histogram and the unique property of each organ. The value of HI of the PTV breast increased in all treatment planning methods using DIRCT, and CVI and CI were decreased in the treatment planning methods using DIRCT.
Reliability and validity study of the Finnish version 2.0 of the oswestry disability index.
Pekkanen, Liisa; Kautiainen, Hannu; Ylinen, Jari; Salo, Petri; Häkkinen, Arja
2011-02-15
Prospective clinical validation study. The aims of this study were to translate into Finnish and culturally adapt and study the psycho-metric properties of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) version 2.0. The ODI is one of the most commonly reported back-specific disability questionnaires. It is widely used both in clinical work and in medical studies. To date, no validated Finnish version of the ODI version 2.0 has been reported. The ODI version 2.0 was translated into the Finnish language. A total of 115 patients with back pain, referred by the primary care physician to the outpatient clinic of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation, were recruited for this study. The patients answered a questionnaire package that included the Finnish ODI 2.0, Back Pain Questionnaire for Visual Analogue Assessment (Million-VAS), Visual Analogue Scales of back and leg pain (VASback, VASleg), the Depressions Scale, and a question on their subjectively perceived health. The package was administered twice; 2 weeks before and at the arrival to the clinic. Reproducibility of the ODI was 0.90 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.85-0.94) and the internal consistency was 0.86 (95% CI = 0.81-0.90). Factor analysis showed that the ODI was loaded on 2 factors, which explained 51% of the total variance. In testing convergent validity ODI correlated with Million-VAS, r = 0.75 (95% CI = 0.64-0.84); VASback, r = 0.48 (95% CI = 0.32-0.62); and VAS leg, r = 0.41 (95% CI = 0.23-0.57). The Finnish ODI version 2.0 proved to be a valid and reliable instrument that showed psychometric properties comparable with the original English version. Therefore, it can be used in assessing the disability among Finnish-speaking patients with back pain for both clinical and scientific purposes.
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Juan Carlos Restrepo-Medrano
2011-12-01
review in major databases of health sciences (MEDLINE, CINAHL, WIDEN, SCIELO, LILACS, COCHRANE, IME from the start of the database until 2009. Search strategy: instrument, tool, ulcer, chronic wound, healing, assessment, validation, reliability, and the same in Spanish, with their corresponding formulations using Booleans AND, OR and truncation term for some of them. The search took place initially in the thesauri and if the word did not exist, in free text. Study design not was taken. GRADE system was used to quality appraisal. Phase 2: modified Delphi study with a group of experts in chronic wounds, to reach consensus on variables that could measure the dimension of "progress towards healing". In the first round started with all variables of the wound and the patient found in the different instruments of the systematic review. In the second round sent the items that had obtained the highest score. Finally sent the final version and experts were asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 4 to obtain the content validity index (CVI. Those variables that had obtained more than 80% CVI were included. Results: the systematic review revealed a number of 8 healing tools as set out in 20 articles (10 articles about PUSH, 3 PSST, 1 DESIGN, 1 PWAT, 1 Sessing Scale, 1 Scale Sussman, 1 WHS, CODED 1, and finally, a literature review to collect 4 of the above. Regardless of the number of items per scale, scale PSST has the best research on validity and reliability. However, most are for pressure ulcers. Only 4 papers studied validity and reliability of scales (PUSH, PSST, DESIGN and CODED. The only scale that has been validated for venous ulcers has also been the PUSH, in English and Portuguese. The only scale found in Spanish is coded, developed in the Basque Country in 2000, but only presents a partial survey. That is why they decided to develop a "de novo" scale for all types of chronic wounds. The scale developed, receives the provisional name of "RESVECH V1.0. Expected results of the
Predictive validity of the tobacco marketing receptivity index among non-smoking youth.
Braun, Sandra; Abad-Vivero, Erika Nayeli; Mejía, Raúl; Barrientos, Inti; Sargent, James D; Thrasher, James F
2018-05-01
In a previous cross-sectional study of early adolescents, we developed a marketing receptivity index (MRI) that integrates point-of-sale (PoS) marketing exposures, brand recall, and ownership of branded merchandise. The MRI had independent, positive associations with smoking susceptibility among never smokers and with current smoking behavior. The current longitudinal study assessed the MRI's predictive validity among adolescents who have never smoked cigarettes METHODS: Data come from a longitudinal, school-based survey of 33 secondary schools in Argentina. Students who had never smoked at baseline were followed up approximately 17months later (n=1700). Questions assessed: PoS marketing exposure by querying frequency of going to stores where tobacco is commonly sold; cued recall of brand names for 3 cigarette packages from dominant brands but with the brand name removed; and ownership of branded merchandise. A four-level MRI was derived: 1.low PoS marketing exposure only; 2. high PoS exposure or recall of 1 brand; 3. recall of 2 or more brands; and 4. ownership of branded merchandise. Logistic regression models regressed smoking initiation by follow up survey on the MRI, each of its components, and students' willingness to try a brand, adjusting for sociodemographics, social network smoking, and sensation seeking. The MRI had an independent positive association with smoking initiation. When analyzed separately, each MRI component was associated with outcomes except branded merchandise ownership. The MRI and its components were associated with smoking initiation, except for branded merchandise ownership, which may better predict smoking progression than initiation. The MRI appears valid and useful for future studies. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Vandana Tripathi
Full Text Available High quality care is crucial in ensuring that women and newborns receive interventions that may prevent and treat birth-related complications. As facility deliveries increase in developing countries, there are concerns about service quality. Observation is the gold standard for clinical quality assessment, but existing observation-based measures of obstetric quality of care are lengthy and difficult to administer. There is a lack of consensus on quality indicators for routine intrapartum and immediate postpartum care, including essential newborn care. This study identified key dimensions of the quality of the process of intrapartum and immediate postpartum care (QoPIIPC in facility deliveries and developed a quality assessment measure representing these dimensions.Global maternal and neonatal care experts identified key dimensions of QoPIIPC through a modified Delphi process. Experts also rated indicators of these dimensions from a comprehensive delivery observation checklist used in quality surveys in sub-Saharan African countries. Potential QoPIIPC indices were developed from combinations of highly-rated indicators. Face, content, and criterion validation of these indices was conducted using data from observations of 1,145 deliveries in Kenya, Madagascar, and Tanzania (including Zanzibar. A best-performing index was selected, composed of 20 indicators of intrapartum/immediate postpartum care, including essential newborn care. This index represented most dimensions of QoPIIPC and effectively discriminated between poorly and well-performed deliveries.As facility deliveries increase and the global community pays greater attention to the role of care quality in achieving further maternal and newborn mortality reduction, the QoPIIPC index may be a valuable measure. This index complements and addresses gaps in currently used quality assessment tools. Further evaluation of index usability and reliability is needed. The availability of a streamlined
Hashemi, Nassim; Ghorbani, Ali; Soleymani, Zahra; Kamali, Mohmmad; Ahmadi, Zohreh Ziatabar; Mahmoudian, Saeid
2018-07-01
Auditory discrimination of speech sounds is an important perceptual ability and a precursor to the acquisition of language. Auditory information is at least partially necessary for the acquisition and organization of phonological rules. There are few standardized behavioral tests to evaluate phonemic distinctive features in children with or without speech and language disorders. The main objective of the present study was the development, validity, and reliability of the Persian version of auditory word discrimination test (P-AWDT) for 4-8-year-old children. A total of 120 typical children and 40 children with speech sound disorder (SSD) participated in the present study. The test comprised of 160 monosyllabic paired-words distributed in the Forms A-1 and the Form A-2 for the initial consonants (80 words) and the Forms B-1 and the Form B-2 for the final consonants (80 words). Moreover, the discrimination of vowels was randomly included in all forms. Content validity was calculated and 50 children repeated the test twice with two weeks of interval (test-retest reliability). Further analysis was also implemented including validity, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), Cronbach's alpha (internal consistency), age groups, and gender. The content validity index (CVI) and the test-retest reliability of the P-AWDT were achieved 63%-86% and 81%-96%, respectively. Moreover, the total Cronbach's alpha for the internal consistency was estimated relatively high (0.93). Comparison of the mean scores of the P-AWDT in the typical children and the children with SSD revealed a significant difference. The results revealed that the group with SSD had greater severity of deficit than the typical group in auditory word discrimination. In addition, the difference between the age groups was statistically significant, especially in 4-4.11-year-old children. The performance of the two gender groups was relatively same. The comparison of the P-AWDT scores between the typical children
New social adaptability index predicts overall mortality.
Goldfarb-Rumyantzev, Alexander; Barenbaum, Anna; Rodrigue, James; Rout, Preeti; Isaacs, Ross; Mukamal, Kenneth
2011-08-01
Definitions of underprivileged status based on race, gender and geographic location are neither sensitive nor specific; instead we proposed and validated a composite index of social adaptability (SAI). Index of social adaptability was calculated based on employment, education, income, marital status, and substance abuse, each factor contributing from 0 to 3 points. Index of social adaptability was validated in NHANES-3 by association with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. Weighted analysis of 19,593 subjects demonstrated mean SAI of 8.29 (95% CI 8.17-8.40). Index of social adaptability was higher in Whites, followed by Mexican-Americans and then the African-American population (ANOVA, p adaptability with a strong association with mortality, which can be used to identify underprivileged populations at risk of death.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Hoyong Sung
2017-06-01
Full Text Available Background : Using BMI as an independent variable is the easiest way to estimate percent body fat. Thus far, few studies have investigated the development and cross-validation of an equation for estimating the percent body fat of Korean adults according to the BMI. The goals of this study were the development and cross-validation of an equation for estimating the percent fat of representative Korean adults using the BMI. Methods : Samples were obtained from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2008 and 2011. The samples from 2008-2009 and 2010-2011 were labeled as the validation group (n=10,624 and the cross-validation group (n=8,291, respectively. The percent fat was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and the body mass index, gender, and age were included as independent variables to estimate the measured percent fat. The coefficient of determination (R², standard error of estimation (SEE, and total error (TE were calculated to examine the accuracy of the developed equation. Results : The cross-validated R² was 0.731 for Model 1 and 0.735 for Model 2. The SEE was 3.978 for Model 1 and 3.951 for Model 2. The equations developed in this study are more accurate for estimating percent fat of the cross-validation group than those previously published by other researchers. Conclusion : The newly developed equations are comparatively accurate for the estimation of the percent fat of Korean adults.
Çetin, Engin; Çelik, Evrim Coşkun; Acaroğlu, Emre; Berk, Haluk
2018-01-01
To produce a cross-culturally adapted and validated Turkish version of The Core Outcome Measure Index (COMI) Back questionnaire. Ninety-six Turkish-speaking patients with non-specific low back pain (LBP) were recruited from orthopedic and physical therapy outpatient clinics in a public hospital. They completed a booklet of questionnaires containing Turkish version of COMI, adjectival pain scale, Roland Morris disability questionnaire, European 5 Dimension Questionnaire and brief version of World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire. Within following 7-14 days, 67 patients, reported no or minimal changes in their back pain status, completed the Turkish COMI again to assess reproducibility. Data quality was good with very few missing answers. COMI summary index score displayed 3% floor effects and no ceiling effects. The correlations between the COMI summary index score and each of the full instrument whole scores were found to be excellent to very good (ρ = - 0.81 to 0.74). Reliability expressed as intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.95 (95% CI 0.91-0.97). Standard error of measurement (SEM agreement ) was acceptable at 0.41 and the minimum detectable change (MDC 95% ) was 1.14. Turkish version of the COMI has acceptable psychometric properties. It is a valid and reliable instrument and cross-culturally adapted, in accordance with established guidelines, for the use by Turkish-speaking patients. It can be recommended for use in evaluation of patients with chronic LBP in daily practice, in international multicenter studies and in spine registry systems.
Driver, Vickie R; Gould, Lisa J; Dotson, Peggy; Gibbons, Gary W; Li, William W; Ennis, William J; Kirsner, Robert S; Eaglstein, William H; Bolton, Laura L; Carter, Marissa J
2017-05-01
Wounds that exhibit delayed healing add extraordinary clinical, economic, and personal burdens to patients, as well as to increasing financial costs to health systems. New interventions designed to ease such burdens for patients with cancer, renal, or ophthalmologic conditions are often cleared for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) using multiple endpoints but the requirement of complete healing as a primary endpoint for wound products impedes FDA clearance of interventions that can provide other clinical or patient-centered benefits for persons with wounds. A multidisciplinary group of wound experts undertook an initiative, in collaboration with the FDA, to identify and content validate supporting FDA criteria for qualifying wound endpoints relevant to clinical practice (CP) and patient-centered outcomes (PCO) as primary outcomes in clinical trials. As part of the initiative, a research study was conducted involving 628 multidisciplinary expert wound clinicians and researchers from 4 different groups: the interdisciplinary core advisory team; attendees of the Spring 2015 Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC); clinicians employed by a national network of specialty clinics focused on comprehensive wound care; and Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC) and Wound Healing Society (WHS) members who had not previously completed the survey. The online survey assessed 28 literature-based wound care endpoints for their relevance and importance to clinical practice and clinical research. Fifteen of the endpoints were evaluated for their relevance to improving quality of life. Twenty-two endpoints had content validity indexes (CVI) ≥ 0.75, and 15 were selected as meriting potential inclusion as additional endpoints for FDA approval of future wound care interventions. This study represents an important first step in identifying and validating new measurable wound care endpoints for clinical research and practice and for regulatory
Grylka-Baeschlin, Susanne; van Teijlingen, Edwin; Stoll, Kathrin; Gross, Mechthild M
2015-01-01
the Mother-Generated Index (MGI) is a validated tool to assess postnatal quality of life. It is usually administered several weeks or months after birth and correlates with indices of post partum mood states and physical complaints. The instrument had not been translated into German before or validated for use among German-speaking women, nor have the results of the tool been assessed specifically for the administration directly after birth. This paper aims to describe the systematic translation process of the MGI into German and to assess the convergent validity of the German version of the instrument directly after birth and seven weeks post partum. prospective two-stage survey. two rural hospitals in the south of Germany and in the north of Switzerland. all women giving birth between 1st October and 15th December 2012 with sufficient knowledge of German and whose babies were not referred to a neonatal care unit; 226 women were eligible to participate. two questionnaires including questions relating to socio-demographic factors and perinatal care, and incorporating the MGI, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Postnatal Morbidity Index (PMI). All instruments were subjected to forward and back translation and pilot-tested; the first questionnaire was then administered in the first two days after birth and the second six weeks post partum. Parametric and non-parametric tests were computed using SPSS. 129 surveys were returned an average of three days after birth and 83 after seven weeks. Higher postnatal quality of life showed a significant correlation with a lower anxiety and depression score (pGerman version of the MGI is a valid indicator of physical and emotional post partum well-being. the German version of the MGI can be used in the post partum period to identify women whose quality of life is impaired during the first days after birth, in order to initiate extended midwifery care and referral if necessary. Copyright © 2014 The Authors
Nagpal, Vinod K.; Tong, Michael; Murthy, P. L. N.; Mital, Subodh
1998-01-01
An integrated probabilistic approach has been developed to assess composites for high temperature applications. This approach was used to determine thermal and mechanical properties and their probabilistic distributions of a 5-harness 0/90 Sylramic fiber/CVI-SiC/Mi-SiC woven Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) at high temperatures. The purpose of developing this approach was to generate quantitative probabilistic information on this CMC to help complete the evaluation for its potential application for HSCT combustor liner. This approach quantified the influences of uncertainties inherent in constituent properties called primitive variables on selected key response variables of the CMC at 2200 F. The quantitative information is presented in the form of Cumulative Density Functions (CDFs). Probability Density Functions (PDFS) and primitive variable sensitivities on response. Results indicate that the scatters in response variables were reduced by 30-50% when the uncertainties in the primitive variables, which showed the most influence, were reduced by 50%.
Validation of Leaf Area Index measurements based on the Wireless Sensor Network platform
Song, Q.; Li, X.; Liu, Q.
2017-12-01
The leaf area index (LAI) is one of the important parameters for estimating plant canopy function, which has significance for agricultural analysis such as crop yield estimation and disease evaluation. The quick and accurate access to acquire crop LAI is particularly vital. In the study, LAI measurement of corn crops is mainly through three kinds of methods: the leaf length and width method (LAILLW), the instruments indirect measurement method (LAII) and the leaf area index sensor method(LAIS). Among them, LAI value obtained from LAILLW can be regarded as approximate true value. LAI-2200,the current widespread LAI canopy analyzer,is used in LAII. LAIS based on wireless sensor network can realize the automatic acquisition of crop images,simplifying the data collection work,while the other two methods need person to carry out field measurements.Through the comparison of LAIS and other two methods, the validity and reliability of LAIS observation system is verified. It is found that LAI trend changes are similar in three methods, and the rate of change of LAI has an increase with time in the first two months of corn growth when LAIS costs less manpower, energy and time. LAI derived from LAIS is more accurate than LAII in the early growth stage,due to the small blade especially under the strong light. Besides, LAI processed from a false color image with near infrared information is much closer to the true value than true color picture after the corn growth period up to one and half months.
Aithala, Janardhana P
2015-06-09
In Indian patients, in view of language plurality and illiteracy, self-reporting of English version of Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) is not practical. Our study aim was to find out to what extent self-reporting of ODI was possible and in cases where self-reporting was not possible, to see validity and reliability of a translator-assisted ODI score. Fifty patients with low backache and who could not use the English version were assessed with ODI with the use of two translators at a gap of 3 h in a test and retest manner. Patients were also asked to report the most important disabling activity in their day-to-day life. A total of 58 questionnaires were filled during the study period out of which eight patients (14%) self-reported English version; while 50 patients needed a translator. The Cronbach's alpha between two translators for the ODI scores of 50 patients was 0.866, but aggregate of difference between two scores for each ODI component shows high difference between two translators for question nos. 3, 9, and 10. Cronbach's alpha was best when item no. 3 was deleted (0.875, translator 1; 0.777, translator 2). Thirty-seven people did not answer the question related to sexual activity. Agreement between two values was assessed using Kendall's tau and was found good (0.585, Spearman's coefficient 0.741). Kendall's tau values correlating total ODI score and individual components show that all the items move together, but correlation was poor for question no. 3 (P value 0.16 for translator 2). Translator-assisted ODI is a good outcome assessment tool in backache assessment in places where validated local language versions are not available, but in Indian patients, inclusion of question nos. 3 and 8 related to weight lifting and sexual function needs to be reviewed.
Long-term monitoring of endangered Laysan ducks: Index validation and population estimates 1998–2012
Reynolds, Michelle H.; Courtot, Karen; Brinck, Kevin W.; Rehkemper, Cynthia; Hatfield, Jeffrey
2015-01-01
Monitoring endangered wildlife is essential to assessing management or recovery objectives and learning about population status. We tested assumptions of a population index for endangered Laysan duck (or teal; Anas laysanensis) monitored using mark–resight methods on Laysan Island, Hawai’i. We marked 723 Laysan ducks between 1998 and 2009 and identified seasonal surveys through 2012 that met accuracy and precision criteria for estimating population abundance. Our results provide a 15-y time series of seasonal population estimates at Laysan Island. We found differences in detection among seasons and how observed counts related to population estimates. The highest counts and the strongest relationship between count and population estimates occurred in autumn (September–November). The best autumn surveys yielded population abundance estimates that ranged from 674 (95% CI = 619–730) in 2003 to 339 (95% CI = 265–413) in 2012. A population decline of 42% was observed between 2010 and 2012 after consecutive storms and Japan’s To¯hoku earthquake-generated tsunami in 2011. Our results show positive correlations between the seasonal maximum counts and population estimates from the same date, and support the use of standardized bimonthly counts of unmarked birds as a valid index to monitor trends among years within a season at Laysan Island.
Jans, Marielle P; Slootweg, Vera C; Boot, Cecile R; de Morton, Natalie A; van der Sluis, Geert; van Meeteren, Nico L
2011-11-01
To examine the reproducibility, construct validity, and unidimensionality of the Dutch translation of the de Morton Mobility Index (DEMMI), a performance-based measure of mobility for older patients. Cross-sectional study. Rehabilitation center (reproducibility study) and hospital (validity study). Patients (N=28; age >65y) after orthopedic surgery (reproducibility study) and patients (N=219; age >65y) waiting for total hip or total knee arthroplasty (validity study). Not applicable. Not applicable. The intraclass correlation coefficient for interrater reliability was high (.85; 95% confidence interval, 71-.93), and minimal detectable change with 90% confidence was 7 on the 100-point DEMMI scale. Rasch analysis identified that the Dutch translation of the DEMMI is a unidimensional measure of mobility in this population. DEMMI scores showed high correlations with scores on other performance-based measures of mobility (Timed Up and Go test, Spearman r=-.73; Chair Rise Time, r=-.69; walking test, r=.74). A lower correlation of .44 was identified with the self-report measure Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index. The Dutch translation of the DEMMI is a reproducible and valid performance-based measure for assessing mobility in older patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis. Copyright © 2011 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Gerber, Markus; Lang, Christin; Lemola, Sakari; Colledge, Flora; Kalak, Nadeem; Holsboer-Trachsler, Edith; Pühse, Uwe; Brand, Serge
2016-05-31
A variety of objective and subjective methods exist to assess insomnia. The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) was developed to provide a brief self-report instrument useful to assess people's perception of sleep complaints. The ISI was developed in English, and has been translated into several languages including German. Surprisingly, the psychometric properties of the German version have not been evaluated, although the ISI is often used with German-speaking populations. The psychometric properties of the ISI are tested in three independent samples: 1475 adolescents, 862 university students, and 533 police and emergency response service officers. In all three studies, participants provide information about insomnia (ISI), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), and psychological functioning (diverse instruments). Descriptive statistics, gender differences, homogeneity and internal consistency, convergent validity, and factorial validity (including measurement invariance across genders) are examined in each sample. The findings show that the German version of the ISI has generally acceptable psychometric properties and sufficient concurrent validity. Confirmatory factor analyses show that a 1-factor solution achieves good model fit. Furthermore, measurement invariance across gender is supported in all three samples. While the ISI has been widely used in German-speaking countries, this study is the first to provide empirical evidence that the German version of this instrument has good psychometric properties and satisfactory convergent and factorial validity across various age groups and both men and women. Thus, the German version of the ISI can be recommended as a brief screening measure in German-speaking populations.
Extensive validation of the pain disability index in 3 groups of patients with musculoskeletal pain.
Soer, Remko; Köke, Albère J A; Vroomen, Patrick C A J; Stegeman, Patrick; Smeets, Rob J E M; Coppes, Maarten H; Reneman, Michiel F
2013-04-20
A cross-sectional study design was performed. To validate the pain disability index (PDI) extensively in 3 groups of patients with musculoskeletal pain. The PDI is a widely used and studied instrument for disability related to various pain syndromes, although there is conflicting evidence concerning factor structure, test-retest reliability, and missing items. Additionally, an official translation of the Dutch language version has never been performed. For reliability, internal consistency, factor structure, test-retest reliability and measurement error were calculated. Validity was tested with hypothesized correlations with pain intensity, kinesiophobia, Rand-36 subscales, Depression, Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire, Quality of Life, and Work Status. Structural validity was tested with independent backward translation and approval from the original authors. One hundred seventy-eight patients with acute back pain, 425 patients with chronic low back pain and 365 with widespread pain were included. Internal consistency of the PDI was good. One factor was identified with factor analyses. Test-retest reliability was good for the PDI (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.76). Standard error of measurement was 6.5 points and smallest detectable change was 17.9 points. Little correlations between the PDI were observed with kinesiophobia and depression, fair correlations with pain intensity, work status, and vitality and moderate correlations with the Rand-36 subscales and the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire. The PDI-Dutch language version is internally consistent as a 1-factor structure, and test-retest reliable. Missing items seem high in sexual and professional items. Using the PDI as a 2-factor questionnaire has no additional value and is unreliable.
African Journals Online (AJOL)
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Julia, Chantal; Méjean, Caroline; Touvier, Mathilde; Péneau, Sandrine; Lassale, Camille; Ducrot, Pauline; Hercberg, Serge; Kesse-Guyot, Emmanuelle
2016-08-01
Population-wide nutritional recommendations give guidance on food groups' consumption, though a wide variability in nutritional quality within groups may subsist. Nutrient profiling systems may help capturing such variability. We aimed to apply and validate a dietary index based on the British Food Standards Agency nutrient profiling system (FSA-NPS DI) in French middle-aged adults. Dietary data were collected through repeated 24-h dietary records in participants of the Supplémentation en Vitamines et Minéraux Antioxydants study (N = 5882). An aggregated dietary index at the individual level was computed using the FSA-NPS for each food consumed as well as compliance to the French nutritional guidelines using the Programme National Nutrition Santé-Guideline Score (PNNS-GS). Cross-sectional associations between FSA-NPS DI and nutrient intake, PNNS-GS, socio-demographic factors, lifestyle and nutritional biomarkers were computed using ANOVAs. The FSA-NPS DI was able to characterize the quality of the diets at the individual level in terms of nutrient intake and of adherence to nutritional recommendations: +37.6 % in beta-carotene intakes between subjects with a healthier diet versus subjects with a poorer diet, +42.8 % in vitamin C intakes; +17 % in PNNS-GS, all P < 0.001. FSA-NPS-DI was also associated with nutritional status at the biological level: +21.4 % in beta-carotene levels between subjects with a healthier diet versus subjects with a poorer diet, +12.8 % in vitamin C levels, all P < 0.001. The FSA-NPS DI is a useful and validated tool to discriminate individuals according to the quality of the diet, accounting for nutritional quality within food groups. Taking into account nutritional quality of individual foods allows monitoring change in dietary patterns beyond food groups.
Development and psychometric testing of the Mariani Nursing Career Satisfaction Scale.
Mariani, Bette; Allen, Lois Ryan
2014-01-01
The Mariani Nursing Career Satisfaction Scale (MNCSS) was developed to explore the influence of mentoring on career satisfaction of registered nurses (RNs). A review of the literature revealed no contemporary valid and reliable measure of career satisfaction. The MNCSS is a semantic differential of 16 opposite adjective pairs on which participants rate feelings about their nursing career. The MNCSS was used in a pilot study and three major studies exploring career satisfaction of RNs. Validity, reliability, and exploratory factor analysis (FA) were computed to explore the internal structure of the instrument. The newly developed instrument had a content validity index (CVI) of .84 and Cronbach's alpha internal consistency reliabilities of .93-.96 across three major studies. Exploratory FA (N = 496) revealed a univocal instrument with one factor that explains 57.8% of the variance in career satisfaction scores. The MNCSS is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring career satisfaction. FA of the combined data from three studies yielded one factor that measures the concept of career satisfaction.
The Oswestry Disability Index (version 2.1a): validation of a Dutch language version.
van Hooff, Miranda L; Spruit, Maarten; Fairbank, Jeremy C T; van Limbeek, Jacques; Jacobs, Wilco C H
2015-01-15
A cross-sectional study on baseline data. To translate the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) version 2.1a into the Dutch language and to validate its use in a cohort of patients with chronic low back pain in secondary spine care. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are commonly accepted to evaluate the outcome of spine interventions. Functional status is an important outcome in spine research. The ODI is a recommended condition-specific patient-reported outcome measure used to evaluate functional status in patients with back pain. As yet, no formal translated Dutch version exists. The ODI was translated according to established guidelines. The final version was built into the electronic web-based system in addition with the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire, the numeric rating scale for pain severity, 36-Item Short Form Health Survey Questionnaire for quality of life, and the hospital anxiety and depression scale. Baseline data were used of 244 patients with chronic low back pain who participated in a combined physical and psychological program. Floor and ceiling effects, internal consistency, and the construct validity were evaluated using quality criteria. The mean ODI (standard deviation) was 39.6 (12.3); minimum 6, maximum 70. Most of the participants (88%) were moderately to severely disabled. Factor analysis determined a 1-factor structure (36% explained variance) and the homogeneity of ODI items is shown (Cronbach α = 0.79). The construct validity is supported as all (6:6) the a priori hypotheses were confirmed. Moreover, the ODI and Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire, showed a strong significant correlation (r = 0.68, P disability among Dutch patients with chronic low back pain. This translated condition-specific patient-reported outcome measure version is recommended for use in future back pain research and to evaluate outcome of back care in the Netherlands.
Validation of adipose lipid content as a body condition index for polar bears
McKinney, Melissa A.; Atwood, Todd C.; Dietz, Rune; Sonne, Christian; Iverson, Sara J.; Peacock, Elizabeth
2014-01-01
Body condition is a key indicator of individual and population health. Yet, there is little consensus as to the most appropriate condition index (CI), and most of the currently used CIs have not been thoroughly validated and are logistically challenging. Adipose samples from large datasets of capture biopsied, remote biopsied, and harvested polar bears were used to validate adipose lipid content as a CI via tests of accuracy, precision, sensitivity, biopsy depth, and storage conditions and comparisons to established CIs, to measures of health and to demographic and ecological parameters. The lipid content analyses of even very small biopsy samples were highly accurate and precise, but results were influenced by tissue depth at which the sample was taken. Lipid content of capture biopsies and samples from harvested adult females was correlated with established CIs and/or conformed to expected biological variation and ecological changes. However, lipid content of remote biopsies was lower than capture biopsies and harvested samples, possibly due to lipid loss during dart retrieval. Lipid content CI is a biologically relevant, relatively inexpensive and rapidly assessed CI and can be determined routinely for individuals and populations in order to infer large-scale spatial and long-term temporal trends. As it is possible to collect samples during routine harvesting or remotely using biopsy darts, monitoring and assessment of body condition can be accomplished without capture and handling procedures or noninvasively, which are methods that are preferred by local communities. However, further work is needed to apply the method to remote biopsies.
Amigo, M-C; Goycochea-Robles, M V; Espinosa-Cuervo, G; Medina, G; Barragán-Garfias, J A; Vargas, A; Jara, L Javier
2015-08-01
In antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), certain principal manifestations are associated with a worse prognosis and organ damage. The objective of this paper is to describe the development and initial content, criterion and construct validity of a disease-specific cumulative damage index in patients with thrombotic APS (DIAPS). Through expert panel agreement, 47 items were considered to reflect damage in APS. This preliminary version of the DIAPS was submitted to four local and international clinical and research experts in APS who ranked each item according to severity. A Delphi exercise resulted in a final 37 item instrument. In the second phase, a cross-sectional study was conducted applying the DIAPS in patients included in a multicenter electronic registry of patients with APS. Quality of life related to health status was evaluated with the EuroQol for construct validation. An α Cronbach and correlation with the EuroQol scale were calculated with SPSS 20.0 (p APS. Common comorbidities included obesity, depression and dyslipidemia. The most frequent manifestations resulting in sequelae were deep venous thrombosis and ischemic stroke. Blindness, retinal occlusive vessel disease, myocardial infarction, cardiac valve requiring replacement, mesenteric thrombosis, and renal insufficiency also occurred. Homogeneity: α Cronbach 0.619. DIAPS items correlated with EuroQol domains with the exception of pulmonary, renal, gastrointestinal, and endocrine systems. This study demonstrates content, criterion and construct validity of a new physician-reported instrument to assess the DIAPS. In addition, the DIAPS correlated with the EuroQol. © The Author(s) 2015.
Jans, M.P.; Slootweg, V.C.; Boot, C.R.; Morton, N.A. de; Sluis, G. van der; Meeteren, N.L. van
2011-01-01
Objective: To examine the reproducibility, construct validity, and unidimensionality of the Dutch translation of the de Morton Mobility Index (DEMMI), a performance-based measure of mobility for older patients. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Rehabilitation center (reproducibility study) and
Paiva, Bianca Sakamoto Ribeiro; de Camargos, Mayara Goulart; Demarzo, Marcelo Marcos Piva; Hervás, Gonzalo; Vázquez, Carmelo; Paiva, Carlos Eduardo
2016-09-01
The Pemberton Happiness Index (PHI) is a recently developed integrative measure of well-being that includes components of hedonic, eudaimonic, social, and experienced well-being. The PHI has been validated in several languages, but not in Portuguese. Our aim was to cross-culturally adapt the Universal Portuguese version of the PHI and to assess its psychometric properties in a sample of the Brazilian population using online surveys.An expert committee evaluated 2 versions of the PHI previously translated into Portuguese by the original authors using a standardized form for assessment of semantic/idiomatic, cultural, and conceptual equivalence. A pretesting was conducted employing cognitive debriefing methods. In sequence, the expert committee evaluated all the documents and reached a final Universal Portuguese PHI version. For the evaluation of the psychometric properties, the data were collected using online surveys in a cross-sectional study. The study population included healthcare professionals and users of the social network site Facebook from several Brazilian geographic areas. In addition to the PHI, participants completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Diener and Emmons' Positive and Negative Experience Scale (PNES), Psychological Well-being Scale (PWS), and the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS). Internal consistency, convergent validity, known-group validity, and test-retest reliability were evaluated. Satisfaction with the previous day was correlated with the 10 items assessing experienced well-being using the Cramer V test. Additionally, a cut-off value of PHI to identify a "happy individual" was defined using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve methodology.Data from 1035 Brazilian participants were analyzed (health professionals = 180; Facebook users = 855). Regarding reliability results, the internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = 0.890 and 0.914) and test-retest (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.814) were both considered
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Nyuk Jet Chong
2013-01-01
Full Text Available We aimed to assess the efficacy of Centella asiatica for improvement of the signs and symptoms of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI. We searched 13 electronic databases including the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials for randomised controlled trials assessing the efficacy of Centella asiatica for CVI. Two review authors independently selected studies, assessed the risks of bias of included studies and extracted data. The treatment effects of similar studies were pooled whenever appropriate. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. The pooling of data of similar studies showed that Centella asiatica significantly improved microcirculatory parameters such as transcutaneous partial pressure of CO2 and O2, rate of ankle swelling and venoarteriolar response. Three out of the eight studies did not provide quantitative data. However, these studies reported that patients treated with Centella asiatica showed significant improvement in CVI signs such as leg heaviness, pain and oedema. Our results show that Centella asiatica may be beneficial for improving signs and symptoms of CVI but this conclusion needs to be interpreted with caution as most of the studies were characterised by inadequate reporting and thus had unclear risks of bias, which may threaten the validity of the conclusions.
[Construction of a psychological aging scale for healthy people].
Lin, Fei; Long, Yao; Zeng, Ni; Wu, Lei; Huang, Helang
2017-04-28
To construct a psychological aging scale, and to provide a tool and indexes for scientific evaluation on aging. Methods: The age-related psychological items were collected through literature screening and expert interview. The importance, feasibilityand the degree of authority for the psychological index system were graded by two rounds of Delphi method. Using analytic hierarchy process, the weight of dimensions and items were determined. The analysis for internal consistency reliability, correlation and exploratory factor was performed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the scales. Results: By two rounds of Delphi method, 17 experts offered the results as follows: the coefficient of expert authorities was 0.88±0.06, the coordination coefficients for the importance and feasibility in second round were 0.456 (Pemotion, personality and motivation. The weight coefficients for the 4 dimensions were 0.338, 0.250, 0.166 and 0.258, respectively. The Cronbach's α coefficient for the scale was 0.822, the reliability was 0.817, the content validity index (CVI) was 0.847, and the cumulative contribution rate for the 5 factors was51.42%. Conclusion: The psychological aging scale is satisfied, which can provide reference for the evaluation for aging. The indicators were representative and well-recognized.
Salaffi, F; Leardini, G; Canesi, B; Mannoni, A; Fioravanti, A; Caporali, R; Lapadula, G; Punzi, L
2003-08-01
The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) Osteoarthritis (OA) Index is a tested questionnaire to assess symptoms and physical functional disability in patients with OA of the knee and the hip. We adapted the WOMAC for the Italian language and tested its metric properties in 304 patients with symptomatic OA of the knee. Three hundred and four consecutive patients, attending 29 rheumatologic outpatient clinic in northern, central, and southern Italy, were asked to answer two disease-specific questionnaires (WOMAC and Lequesne algofunctional index) and one generic instrument (Medical Outcomes Study SF-36 Health Survey-MOS SF-36). A sample of 258 patients was readministered the WOMAC 7-10 days after the first visit and the structured interview, which also assessed demographic and other characteristics. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, reliability using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), and construct and discriminant validity using Spearman's correlations, Wilcoxon rank sum test, and Kruskal-Wallis test. All WOMAC subscales (pain, stiffness, and physical function) were internally consistent with Cronbach's coefficient alpha of 0.91, 0.81, and 0.84, respectively. Test-retest reliability was satisfactory with ICCs of 0.86, 0.68, and 0.89, respectively. In comparison with the SF-36, the expected correlations were found when comparing items measuring similar constructs, supporting the concepts of convergent construct validity. Very high correlations were also obtained between WOMAC scores and Lequesne OA algofunctional index. WOMAC physical function, but not WOMAC stiffness and pain subscales, was weakly associated with radiological OA severity (P=0.03). Also, WOMAC pain score was inversely correlated (P=0.01) with years of formal education. Examination of discriminant validity showed that the scores on the WOMAC and SF-36 followed hypothesized patterns: the WOMAC discriminated better among subjects with varying severity of
Denis, Isabelle; Fortin, Luc
2012-04-01
Cross-cultural translation and psychometric testing. To translate, culturally adapt, and validate the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) version 2.0 for the French-Canadian population. Many authors have recommended the administration of standardized instruments, rather than the creation of new scales, and advocate the adaptation of validated questionnaires in other languages. The application of these scales in different countries and by cultural groups necessitates cross-cultural adaptation. Many scales evaluate the functional incapacity resulting from low back pain. The ODI is among the most commonly used for this purpose. The French-Canadian ODI (ODI-FC) was developed by cross-cultural adaptation following internationally recommended methodology: forward translation, back translation, expert committee revision, and clinical evaluation of the prefinal version. Psychometric testing was performed on 72 patients with chronic low back pain. The subjects were recruited from a physiatry department in a university hospital and from a private practice physiatry clinic. They came from the Montreal area. The psychometric testing included internal consistency (Cronbach α), test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient) with a time interval set at 48 hours, and construct validity, comparing the ODI-FC with the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire and the Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale (Pearson correlation coefficient). In 44.4% of the subjects, the average duration of low-back pain varied between 1 and 5 years. Average score for the ODI-FC was 29.2. Good internal consistency was found (Cronbach α = 0.88). Reliability was excellent, with intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.92 (95% confidence interval, 0.87-0.95). Construct validity results revealed excellent correlations between the ODI and the Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale (r = 0.90) and between the ODI and the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (r = 0.84). Cross-cultural translation and
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Bi-Ling Yang
Full Text Available The fatty liver index (FLI is an algorithm involving the waist circumference, body mass index, and serum levels of triglyceride and gamma-glutamyl transferase to identify fatty liver. Although some studies have attempted to validate the FLI, few studies have been conducted for external validation among Asians. We attempted to validate FLI to predict ultrasonographic fatty liver in Taiwanese subjects.We enrolled consecutive subjects who received health check-up services at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital from 2002 to 2009. Ultrasonography was applied to diagnose fatty liver. The ability of the FLI to detect ultrasonographic fatty liver was assessed by analyzing the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC curve.Among the 29,797 subjects enrolled in this study, fatty liver was diagnosed in 44.5% of the population. Subjects with ultrasonographic fatty liver had a significantly higher FLI than those without fatty liver by multivariate analysis (odds ratio 1.045; 95% confidence interval, CI 1.044-1.047, p< 0.001. Moreover, FLI had the best discriminative ability to identify patients with ultrasonographic fatty liver (AUROC: 0.827, 95% confidence interval, 0.822-0.831. An FLI < 25 (negative likelihood ratio (LR- 0.32 for males and <10 (LR- 0.26 for females rule out ultrasonographic fatty liver. Moreover, an FLI ≥ 35 (positive likelihood ratio (LR+ 3.12 for males and ≥ 20 (LR+ 4.43 for females rule in ultrasonographic fatty liver.FLI could accurately identify ultrasonographic fatty liver in a large-scale population in Taiwan but with lower cut-off value than the Western population. Meanwhile the cut-off value was lower in females than in males.
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Valdecir Antonio Simon
Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective To validate the Life Satisfaction Index for Adolescents (LSI-A scale, parent version and patient version, for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA and limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD. Methods The parent version of the instrument was divided into Groups A, B, C and D; and the patient version, divided into B, C and D. For the statistical calculation, the following tests were used: Cronbach’s α, ICC, Pearson and the ROC Curve. Results The parent and patient versions of the instrument are presented, with the following results in the overall score, respectively: Cronbach’s α, 0.87 and 0.89; reliability, r 0.98 and 0.97; reproducibility, ICC 0.69 and 0.80; sensitivity, 0.78 and 0.72; specificity, 0.5 and 0.69; and accuracy, 64% and 70.4%. Conclusion According to the validity and reproducibility values, the LSI-A Brazil parent and patient versions, are clinically useful to assess quality of life in DMD, SMA or LGMD and may also be useful for other neuromuscular disorders.
Simon, Valdecir Antonio; Zanoteli, Edmar; Simon, Margarete Andreozzi Vaz Pereira; Resende, Maria Bernadete Dutra de; Reed, Umbertina Conti
2017-08-01
To validate the Life Satisfaction Index for Adolescents (LSI-A) scale, parent version and patient version, for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD). The parent version of the instrument was divided into Groups A, B, C and D; and the patient version, divided into B, C and D. For the statistical calculation, the following tests were used: Cronbach's α, ICC, Pearson and the ROC Curve. The parent and patient versions of the instrument are presented, with the following results in the overall score, respectively: Cronbach's α, 0.87 and 0.89; reliability, r 0.98 and 0.97; reproducibility, ICC 0.69 and 0.80; sensitivity, 0.78 and 0.72; specificity, 0.5 and 0.69; and accuracy, 64% and 70.4%. According to the validity and reproducibility values, the LSI-A Brazil parent and patient versions, are clinically useful to assess quality of life in DMD, SMA or LGMD and may also be useful for other neuromuscular disorders.
Díez-Manglano, Jesús; Cabrerizo García, José Luis; García-Arilla Calvo, Ernesto; Jimeno Saínz, Araceli; Calvo Beguería, Eva; Martínez-Álvarez, Rosa M; Bejarano Tello, Esperanza; Caudevilla Martínez, Aránzazu
2015-12-01
The objective of the study was to validate externally and prospectively the PROFUND index to predict survival of polypathological patients after a year. An observational, prospective and multicenter study was performed. Polypathological patients admitted to an internal medicine or geriatrics department and attended by investigators consecutively between March 1 and June 30, 2011 were included. Data concerning age, gender, comorbidity, Barthel and Lawton-Brody indexes, Pfeiffer questionnaire, socio-familial Gijon scale, delirium, number of drugs and number of admissions during the previous year were gathered for each patient. The PROFUND index was calculated. The follow-up lasted 1 year. A Cox proportional regression model was calculated, and was used to analyze the association of the variables to mortality and C-statistic. 465 polypathological patients, 333 from internal medicine and 132 from geriatrics, were included. One-year mortality is associated with age [hazard ratio (HR) 1.52 95 % CI 1.04-2.12; p = 0.01], presence of neoplasia [HR 2.68 95 % CI 1.71-4.18; p = 0.0001] and dependence for basic activities of daily living [HR 2.34 95 % CI 1.61-3.40; p = 0.0009]. In predicting mortality, the PROFUND index shows good discrimination in patients from internal medicine (C-statistics 0.725 95 % CI 0.670-0.781), but a poor one in those from geriatrics (0.546 95 % CI 0.448-0.644). The PROFUND index is a reliable tool for predicting mortality in internal medicine PP patients.
Van Lerbeirghe, J; Van Lerbeirghe, J; Van Schaeybroeck, P; Robijn, H; Rasschaert, R; Sys, J; Parlevliet, T; Hallaert, G; Van Wambeke, P; Depreitere, B
2018-01-01
The core outcome measures index (COMI) is a validated multidimensional instrument for assessing patient-reported outcome in patients with back problems. The aim of the present study is to translate the COMI into Dutch and validate it for use in native Dutch speakers with low back pain. The COMI was translated into Dutch following established guidelines and avoiding region-specific terminology. A total of 89 Dutch-speaking patients with low back pain were recruited from 8 centers, located in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. Patients completed a questionnaire booklet including the validated Dutch version of the Roland Morris disability questionnaire, EQ-5D, the WHOQoL-Bref, the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) for pain, and the Dutch translation of the COMI. Two weeks later, patients completed the Dutch COMI translation again, with a transition scale assessing changes in their condition. The patterns of correlations between the individual COMI items and the validated reference questionnaires were comparable to those reported for other validated language versions of the COMI. The intraclass correlation for the COMI summary score was 0.90 (95% CI 0.84-0.94). It was 0.75 and 0.70 for the back and leg pain score, respectively. The minimum detectable change for the COMI summary score was 1.74. No significant differences were observed between repeated scores of individual COMI items or for the summary score. The reproducibility of the Dutch translation of the COMI is comparable to that of other validated spine outcome measures. The COMI items correlate well with the established item-specific scores. The Dutch translation of the COMI, validated by this work, is a reliable and valuable tool for spine centers treating Dutch-speaking patients and can be used in registries and outcome studies.
Mahadeva, Sanjiv; Wee, Hwee-Lin; Goh, Khean-Lee; Thumboo, Julian
2009-01-01
Abstract Background Treatment objectives for dyspepsia include improvements in both symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). There is a lack of disease-specific instruments measuring HRQoL in South East Asian dyspeptics. Objectives To validate English and locally translated version of the Short-Form Nepean Dyspepsia Index (SF-NDI) in Malaysian patients who consult for dyspepsia. Methods The English version of the SF-NDI was culturally adapted locally and a Malay translation was de...
Maitreya, Amit; Rawat, Darshika; Pandey, Shubham
2018-02-01
A pilot study was done to evaluate knowledge regarding "cortical visual impairment (CVI) in children" among ophthalmologists. This study was conducted during the annual conference of a zonal ophthalmological society. All ophthalmologists who attended the conference were requested to participate in this study. Those who agreed were given a validated questionnaire to assess knowledge regarding CVI. Cronbach's alpha of the questionnaire was 0.6. Participants were asked to respond to multiple choice questions by choosing the single best option. The responses obtained were then evaluated. The total number of registered delegates in the conference was 448. A total of 103 ophthalmologists showed interest to participate in the study with a response rate of 22.9%. Only 89/103 interested delegates were included in the study as remaining were unaware of CVI. No participant gave correct answers to all questions. Although more than 80% of them knew the most common association (87%) and site of pathology (84%), only 52% were sure about clinical features and even lesser respondents (39%) knew that magnetic resonance imaging is the correct investigation of choice. The majority responded correctly that these children need eye examination (89%) and can be managed by rehabilitation through multidisciplinary approach (82%), but only 58% could recognize differential diagnoses and had a correct idea regarding the prognosis of CVI. There was no correlation between the number of patients diagnosed per month by the respondent with knowledge of the disease. In this pilot study, ophthalmologists were found to have limited knowledge regarding clinical features, investigation, differential diagnosis, and visual prognosis of CVI in children. There is a need to improve awareness regarding CVI among ophthalmologists.
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Khalafbeigi
2016-12-01
Full Text Available Background Independent living skills are major targets for rehabilitation in patients with schizophrenia. So, assessment of their performance is required to obtain valuable information for planning intervention. The independent living scale (ILS is a useful assessment tool for this population. Objectives The aims of this study were to translate the three of five subscales of ILS (“memory/orientation”, “health and safety” and “social adjustment” into Persian language and evaluate their validity. The remaining two subscales of ILS (“money management”, “home management and transportation” have already been translated to Persian language by other researchers in Iran. In addition, the reliability of whole Persian version of ILS subscales was evaluated to be used for patients with Schizophrenia. Methods The three subscales of ILS were translated from English into Persian according to the international quality of life assessment (IQOLA approach. The translation of the three subscales: memory/orientation, health and safety and social adjustment, were analyzed by experts to develop the final version of each subscale. After translation, face and content validity of scale were performed. In face validity evaluation, the scale was investigated by 6 occupational therapists in terms of simplicity, mastery, relationship and clarity or transparency for each of the items. To assess the validity of content, scale was examined by 15 occupational therapists and content validity ratio (CVR and content validity index (CVI of each item were calculated. To assess the reliability of the subscales, test-retest reliability techniques (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC and standard error of measure (SEM were utilized. Results The simplicity, relevance, clarity and necessity of the translated items were acceptable, according to the CVI and CVR scores. Face validity was also acceptable with respect to agreement rate (> 80%. Test-retest reliability
Validation of degree heating weeks as a coral bleaching index in the northwestern Pacific
Kayanne, Hajime
2017-03-01
Mass bleaching is the most significant threat to coral reefs. The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration monitors world sea surface temperature (SST) and releases warnings for bleaching based on degree heating weeks (DHW), which is the accumulation of temperature anomalies exceeding the monthly maximum mean SST for a given region. DHW values >4.0 °C-weeks are thought to induce bleaching, and those >8.0 °C-weeks are thought to result in widespread bleaching and some mortality. This study validates the effectiveness of DHW as a mass bleaching index by on-site historical observation at eight sites in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The mass bleaching events occurred during different years at different sites. The recorded years of the bleaching events matched well with DHW values >8 °C-weeks, and the logistically projected probability of bleaching against DHW showed a positive relationship. DHW provides a reasonable threshold for bleaching.
Risk management of stock index futures
Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)
无
2008-01-01
The Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures is taken as a study object and a method of empirical analysis is adopted in order to verify the validity of the application of the value-at-risk (VaR) method in the risk measurement of the stock index futures market. The results suggest that under normal market conditions it is feasible to apply the VaR method in the measurement of the market risks of stock index futures. The daily VaR value of the stock index futures provides a foreseeable profit and loss of the stock ...
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Finamore P
2018-05-01
Full Text Available Panaiotis Finamore,1 Claudio Pedone,1 Simone Scarlata,1 Alessandra Di Paolo,1 Simone Grasso,2 Marco Santonico,2 Giorgio Pennazza,2 Raffaele Antonelli Incalzi1 1Unit of Geriatrics, Campus Bio-Medico di Roma University, Rome, Italy; 2Unit of Electronics for Sensor Systems, Campus Bio-Medico di Roma University, Rome, Italy Aim: Six-minute walking test distance (6MWD and body mass index, obstruction, dyspnea and exercise (BODE index are measures of functional status in COPD patients, but require space, time and patient’s compliance. Exhaled volatile organic compounds (VOCs analysis via electronic nose is a quick and easy method that has already been used to discriminate COPD phenotypes. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether VOCs analysis can predict functional status and its variation over time in COPD patients.Methods: A monocentric prospective study with 1 year of follow-up was carried out. All patients underwent pulmonary function tests, arterial gas analysis, bioimpedance analysis, 6-minute walking test, and VOCs collection. Exhaled breath was collected with Pneumopipe® and analyzed using BIONOTE electronic nose. Outcomes prediction was performed by k-fold cross-validated partial least square discriminant analysis: accuracy, sensitivity and specificity as well as Cohen’s kappa for agreement were calculated.Results: We enrolled 63 patients, 60.3% men, with a mean age of 71 (SD: 8 years, median BODE index of 1 (interquartile range: 0–3 and mean 6MWD normalized by squared height (n6MWD of 133.5 (SD: 42 m/m2. The BIONOTE predicted baseline BODE score (dichotomized as BODE score <3 or ≥3 with an accuracy of 86% and quartiles of n6MWD with an accuracy of 79%. n6MWD decline more than the median value after 1 year was predicted with an accuracy of 86% by BIONOTE, 52% by Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD class and 78% by combined BIONOTE and GOLD class.Conclusion: Exhaled VOCs analysis identifies classes of BODE
An index to quantify an individual's scientific research valid across disciplines
Batista, Pablo Diniz; Campiteli, Monica Guimaraes; Kinouchi, Osame; Martinez, Alexandre Souto
2005-01-01
The number h of papers with at least h citations has been proposed to evaluate individual's scientific research production. This index is robust in several ways but yet strongly dependent on the research field. We propose a complementary index hI = h^2/N_t, with N_t being the total number of authors in the considered h papers. A researcher with index hI has hI papers with at least hI citation if he/she had published alone. We have obtained the rank plots of h and hI for four Brazilian scienti...
Validation of a colour rendering index based on memory colours
Smet, Kevin; Jost-Boissard, Sophie; Ryckaert, Wouter; Deconinck, Geert; Hanselaer, Peter
2010-01-01
In this paper the performance of a colour rendering index based on memory colours is investigated in comparison with the current CIE Colour Rendering Index, the NIST Colour Quality Scale and visual appreciation results obtained at CNRS at Lyon University for a set of 3000K and 4000K LED light sources. The Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients between each colour rendering metric and the two sets of visual results were calculated. It was found that the memory colour based colour render...
Scientometric Dilemma: Is H-index Adequate for Scientific Validity of Academic's Work?
Masic, Izet; Begic, Edin
2016-07-16
H-index is an index that attempts to measure the productivity and impact of published work of scientists. H-index has several advantages - it combines productivity with echo, is not sensitive to extreme values in terms of articles without citation or to articles with above-average number of citations and directly enables the identification of the most relevant articles with regard to the number of citations received. H-index has great potential in the academic community, but it still has not realistic indicator of the quality of work of one author. Authors described most used indices for scientific assessment.
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S. R. C. Reyes
2012-07-01
Full Text Available A number of studies assessing the vulnerability of Southeast Asia to climate change have classified the Philippines as one of the vulnerable countries in the region. Bolinao, Pangasinan is a municipality located in northwestern Luzon, situated in the western part of the Lingayen Gulf and is bounded on the north and west by the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea. Recent studies have verified the varying trends in sea level across the South China Sea, which is considered as one of the largest, semi-enclosed marginal seas in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Three barangays (villages were included in the study: (1 Luciente 1.0, (2 Concordia and (3 Germinal. The Socioeconomic Vulnerability Index (SVI was computed based on population, age, gender, employment, source of income and household size, which were gathered through a qualitative survey in the selected barangays. The Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI described the physical vulnerability of these coastal communities based on recorded sea level anomalies and significant wave heights of multiple satellite altimetry missions, coastal topography derived from the 25-m SRTM digital elevation model (DEM, bathymetry from WorldView-2 and additional elevation data from terrestrial laser scanning surveys. The research utilized merged satellite altimetry data downloaded from the Radar Altimetry Database System (RADS, which covered the period from 1991–2010. The SVI and CVI were calculated and evaluated in ArcGIS. The SVI and CVI were integrated to determine the Total Vulnerability Index (TVI, which characterized the vulnerability of the three barangays in five classes, from very low to very high vulnerability.
Reyes, S. R. C.; Blanco, A. C.
2012-07-01
A number of studies assessing the vulnerability of Southeast Asia to climate change have classified the Philippines as one of the vulnerable countries in the region. Bolinao, Pangasinan is a municipality located in northwestern Luzon, situated in the western part of the Lingayen Gulf and is bounded on the north and west by the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea). Recent studies have verified the varying trends in sea level across the South China Sea, which is considered as one of the largest, semi-enclosed marginal seas in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Three barangays (villages) were included in the study: (1) Luciente 1.0, (2) Concordia and (3) Germinal. The Socioeconomic Vulnerability Index (SVI) was computed based on population, age, gender, employment, source of income and household size, which were gathered through a qualitative survey in the selected barangays. The Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) described the physical vulnerability of these coastal communities based on recorded sea level anomalies and significant wave heights of multiple satellite altimetry missions, coastal topography derived from the 25-m SRTM digital elevation model (DEM), bathymetry from WorldView-2 and additional elevation data from terrestrial laser scanning surveys. The research utilized merged satellite altimetry data downloaded from the Radar Altimetry Database System (RADS), which covered the period from 1991-2010. The SVI and CVI were calculated and evaluated in ArcGIS. The SVI and CVI were integrated to determine the Total Vulnerability Index (TVI), which characterized the vulnerability of the three barangays in five classes, from very low to very high vulnerability.
Test of Gross Motor Development : Expert Validity, confirmatory validity and internal consistence
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Nadia Cristina Valentini
2008-12-01
Full Text Available The Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2 is an instrument used to evaluate children’s level of motordevelopment. The objective of this study was to translate and verify the clarity and pertinence of the TGMD-2 items by expertsand the confirmatory factorial validity and the internal consistence by means of test-retest of the Portuguese TGMD-2. Across-cultural translation was used to construct the Portuguese version. The participants of this study were 7 professionalsand 587 children, from 27 schools (kindergarten and elementary from 3 to 10 years old (51.1% boys and 48.9% girls.Each child was videotaped performing the test twice. The videotaped tests were then scored. The results indicated thatthe Portuguese version of the TGMD-2 contains clear and pertinent motor items; demonstrated satisfactory indices ofconfirmatory factorial validity (χ2/gl = 3.38; Goodness-of-fit Index = 0.95; Adjusted Goodness-of-fit index = 0.92 and Tuckerand Lewis’s Index of Fit = 0.83 and test-retest internal consistency (locomotion r = 0.82; control of object: r = 0.88. ThePortuguese TGMD-2 demonstrated validity and reliability for the sample investigated.
Test of Gross Motor Development: expert validity, confirmatory validity and internal consistence
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Nadia Cristina Valentini
2008-01-01
The Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2 is an instrument used to evaluate children’s level of motor development. The objective of this study was to translate and verify the clarity and pertinence of the TGMD-2 items by experts and the confirmatory factorial validity and the internal consistence by means of test-retest of the Portuguese TGMD-2. A cross-cultural translation was used to construct the Portuguese version. The participants of this study were 7 professionals and 587 children, from 27 schools (kindergarten and elementary from 3 to 10 years old (51.1% boys and 48.9% girls. Each child was videotaped performing the test twice. The videotaped tests were then scored. The results indicated that the Portuguese version of the TGMD-2 contains clear and pertinent motor items; demonstrated satisfactory indices of confirmatory factorial validity (÷2/gl = 3.38; Goodness-of-fit Index = 0.95; Adjusted Goodness-of-fit index = 0.92 and Tucker and Lewis’s Index of Fit = 0.83 and test-retest internal consistency (locomotion r = 0.82; control of object: r = 0.88. The Portuguese TGMD-2 demonstrated validity and reliability for the sample investigated.
Herth hope index: psychometric testing of the Chinese version.
Chan, Keung Sum; Li, Ho Cheung William; Chan, Sally Wai-Chi; Lopez, Violeta
2012-09-01
This article is a report on psychometric testing of the Chinese version of the herth hope index. The availability of a valid and reliable instrument that accurately measures the level of hope in patients with heart failure is crucial before any hope-enhancing interventions can be appropriately planned and evaluated. There is no such instrument for Chinese people. A test-retest, within-subjects design was used. A purposive sample of 120 Hong Kong Chinese patients with heart failure between the ages of 60 and 80 years admitted to two medical wards was recruited during an 8-month period in 2009. Participants were asked to respond to the Chinese version of the herth hope index, Hamilton depression rating scale and Rosenberg's self-esteem scale. The internal consistency, content validity and construct validity and test-retest reliability of the Chinese version of the herth hope index were assessed. The newly translated scale demonstrated adequate internal consistency, good content validity and appropriate convergent and discriminant validity. Confirmatory factor analysis added further evidence of the construct validity of the scale. Results suggest that the newly translated scale can be used as a self-report assessment tool in assessing the level of hope in Hong Kong Chinese patients with heart failure. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Oddon, P A; Boucekine, M; Boyer, L; Triglia, J M; Nicollas, R
2018-01-01
voice disorders are common in the pediatric population and can negatively affect children's quality of life. The pediatric voice handicap Index (pVHI) is a valid instrument to assess parental perception of their children voice but it is not translated into French language. The aim of the present study was to adapt a French version of the pVHI and to evaluate its psychometric properties including construct validity, reliability, and some aspects of external validity. we performed a cross sectional study including 32 dysphonic children and 60 children with no history of voice problems between 3 and 12 years of age. The original pVHI was translated into French language according to forward-backward rules and then administered to parents or caregivers. Construct validity and internal consistency were explored using confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha. The questionnaire was filled twice to assess test-retest reliability using the intra-class correlation coefficient. The external validity was explored by comparing the French pVHI total and subscales scores between dysphonic and asymptomatic children. Correlations between the French pVHI and both the perceptual GRBAS scale and the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) survey "Vécu et Santé Perçu de l'Adolescent et de l'Enfant" (VSP-Ap) were also performed. the structure of the French pVHI showed a good fit with excellent reliability (α = 0.929) and high test-retest reliability. Significant differences were found between the group of dysphonic children and the control group (p life in children with voice disorder. We recommend its use in the multidimensional protocols for assessing voice disorder in the pediatric population. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Is the Oswestry Disability Index a valid measure of response to sacroiliac joint treatment?
Copay, Anne G; Cher, Daniel J
2016-02-01
Disease-specific measures of the impact of sacroiliac (SI) joint pain on back/pelvis function are not available. The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) is a validated functional measure for lower back pain, but its responsiveness to SI joint treatment has yet to be established. We sought to assess the validity of ODI to capture disability caused by SI joint pain and the minimum clinically important difference (MCID) after SI joint treatment. Patients (n = 155) participating in a prospective clinical trial of minimally invasive SI joint fusion underwent baseline and follow-up assessments using ODI, visual analog scale (VAS) pain assessment, Short Form 36 (SF-36), EuroQoL-5D, and questions (at follow-up only) regarding satisfaction with the SI joint fusion and whether the patient would have the fusion surgery again. All outcomes were compared from baseline to 12 months postsurgery. The health transition item of the SF-36 and the satisfaction scale were used as external anchors to calculate MCID. MCID was estimated for ODI using four calculation methods: (1) minimum detectable change, (2) average ODI change of patients' subsets, (3) change difference between patients' subsets, and (4) receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. After SI fusion, patients improved significantly (p disability caused by SI pain. We estimated the MCID for ODI to be 13-15 points, which falls within the range of that previously reported for lumbar back pain and indicates that an improvement in disability should be at least 15 % to be beyond random variation.
Translation and validation of the Danish Foot Function Index (FFI-DK).
Jorgensen, J E; Andreasen, J; Rathleff, M S
2015-08-01
The objective of this study was to translate the Foot Function Index (FFI) for use in Danish-speaking patients with foot complaints. The FFI consists of 23 items scored on a numeric rating scale from 0 to 10. The 23 items are grouped into three subscales: pain (nine items), activity limitation (five items), and disability (nine items). The Danish FFI was developed according to the recommended forward/backward translation protocol. The data analysis included reliability [intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) 2.1] and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha). Excellent internal consistency was shown for the three subscales: pain (0.99), disability (0.98), and activity limitation (0.98), as for the total score (0.97). The test-retest reliability was excellent: pain subscale: ICC 0.98 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.97-0.99]; activity limitation subscale: ICC: 0.95 (95% CI: 0.91-0.98); disability subscale: ICC 0.97 (95% CI: 0.95-0.98); total score: ICC: 0.95 (95% CI: 0.91 to 0.98). The mean difference between test and retest was below 1 point and P > 0.08. Bland-Altman plots showed no significant or clinically relevant differences from test to retest in any of the subscales or in the total score. The Danish version of the FFI was found to be valid and reliable and therefore acceptable for use in the Danish population. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Dimensions of Safety Climate among Iranian Nurses
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Z Naghavi Konjin
2015-10-01
Full Text Available Background: Workplace safety has been a concern of workers and managers for decades. Measuring safety climate is crucial in improving safety performance. It is also a method of benchmarking safety perception. Objective: To develop and validate a psychometrics scale for measuring nurses' safety climate. Methods: Literature review, subject matter experts and nurse's judgment were used in items developing. Content validity and reliability for new tool were tested by content validity index (CVI and test-retest analysis, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA with varimax rotation was used to improve the interpretation of latent factors. Results: A 40-item scale in 6 factors was developed, which could explain 55% of the observed variance. The 6 factors included employees' involvement in safety and management support, compliance with safety rules, safety training and accessibility to personal protective equipment, hindrance to safe work, safety communication and job pressure, and individual risk perception. Conclusion: The proposed scale can be used in identifying the needed areas to implement interventions in safety climate of nurses.
Yun, Young Ho; Sim, Jin Ah; Lim, Ye Jin; Lim, Cheol Il; Kang, Sung-Choon; Kang, Joon-Ho; Park, Jun Dong; Noh, Dong Young
2016-06-01
The objective of this study was to develop the Worksite Health Index (WHI) and validate its psychometric properties. The development of the WHI questionnaire included item generation, item construction, and field testing. To assess the instrument's reliability and validity, we recruited 30 different Korean worksites. We developed the WHI questionnaire of 136 items categorized into five domains, namely Governance and Infrastructure, Need Assessment and Planning, Health Prevention and Promotion Program, Occupational Safety, and Monitoring and Feedback. All WHI domains demonstrated a high reliability with good internal consistency. The total WHI scores differentiated worksite groups effectively according to firm size. Each domain was associated significantly with employees' health status, absence, and financial outcome. The WHI can assess comprehensive worksite health programs. This tool is publicly available for addressing the growing need for worksite health programs.
PENILAIAN KERENTANAN PANTAI DI WILAYAH PESISIR KABUPATEN TUBAN TERHADAP ANCAMAN KERUSAKAN
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Marita Ika Joesidawati
2016-11-01
Full Text Available Analisa Kerentanan Pantai ini dilakukan di wilayah pesisir pantai utara Jawa Timur khususnya Kabupaten Tuban dengan panjang pantai 65 km. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengembangkan metode pengolahan data penginderaan jauh untuk penentuan parameter terkait CVI (Coastal Vulnerability Index terhadap ancaman kerusakan dan untuk mengetahui tingkat kerentanan pantai yang diperlukan untuk merumuskan langkah-langkah mitigasi dalam meminimalkan dampak kerusakan pantai. Langkah dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengumpulkan hidro-oseanografi dan data geologi dan informasi dari kerusakan pesisir dari data sekunder dan survey lapangan secara langsung. Pemanfaatan data penginderaan jauh dari satelit sensor optis serta sistem informasi geografis dapat memberikan informasi spasial sebagian besar parameter-parameter yang diperlukan dalam perhitungan Indeks Kerentanan Pantai. Parameter indeks kerentanan pantai (Coastal Vulnerability Index/CVI yang digunakan dalam pembobotan Kerentanan pantai terhadap ancaman kerusakan menggunakan 10 variabel fisik pantai, yaitu: (1. Geomorfologi pantai (GF, (2 Ketinggian Permukaan Tanah (Elevasi/E, (3 Tunggang pasut (Tidal Range rata-rata (TR,(4 Tinggi Gelombang Signifikan (SHW (5 Kenaikan Muka Air Laut Relatif (SLR, (6 Perubahan Garis Pantai (PGP, (7 Penggunaan Lahan (PL, (8 Litologi (L, (9 Luas Kerusakan Pantai (KP, (10 Lebar sabuk hijau (SH. Pengelompokan kelas dilakukan dengan membaginya berdasarkan persen dengan kisaran antar kelas 20%. Nilai yang kurang dari sama dengan 20% termasuk kelas tidak rentan, 20% – 40% termasuk dalam kelas kurang rentan, 40% – 60% kelas sedang, 60% – 80% masuk dalam kelas rentan, dan lebih dari 80% masuk kelas sangat rentan. Berdasarkan hasil survey, perhitungan dan analisa terhadap seluruh data, diperoleh nilai CVI wilayah pesisir pesisir utara Kabupaten Tuban yang terdiri dari 5 Kecamatan pantai dikelompokkan menjadi 4 kategori kerentanan terhadap ancaman kerusakan
Faik, A; Benbouazza, K; Amine, B; Maaroufi, H; Bahiri, R; Lazrak, N; Aboukal, R; Hajjaj-Hassouni, N
2008-05-01
The aim of this study is to assess the reliability and validity of the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) in Moroccan patients with knee osteoarthritis. The WOMAC was translated and back translated to and from dialectal Arabic, pre-tested and reviewed by a committee following the Guillemin criteria. The Moroccan version of the WOMAC was administered twice during a 24-48 h interval to 71 Moroccan patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis, fulfilling the revised criteria of the American College of Rheumatology. The test-retest reliability was assessed using intra-class correlation coefficient, and the Bland and Altman method. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Construct validity was tested by correlating the WOMAC subscales with visual analogic scale (VAS) of pain, VAS of handicap, maximum distance walked and clinical characteristics. The Moroccan version of the WOMAC showed good reliability, with ICC values of the three dimensions: pain, stiffness and physical function being 0.80, 0.77 and 0.89, respectively. Bland and Altman analysis showed that means of differences did not differ significantly from 0 and that no systematic trend was observed. Internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha for pain was found to be 0.76, and its equivalents for stiffness and physical function subscales were evaluated at 0.76, 0.90, respectively. Construct validity showed statistically significant correlation with all WOMAC subscales and VAS of pain (rho=0.38, 0.42, 0.63 respectively, P<0.01). Correlation between VAS handicap (rho=0.38 P<0.001) and maximum distance walked (rho=-0.40, P<0.01) was observed with physical function subscale. There was no correlation between age, duration of disease, BMI and severity of pain and physical function in knee OA. The Moroccan version of the WOMAC is a comprehensible, reliable, and valid instrument to measure outcome in patients with knee OA.
Diet quality index for healthy food choices
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Simone Caivano
2013-12-01
Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To present a Diet Quality Index proper for dietary intake studies of Brazilian adults. METHODS: A diet quality index to analyze the incorporation of healthy food choices was associated with a digital food guide. This index includes moderation components, destined to indicate foods that may represent a risk when in excess, and adequacy components that include sources of nutrients and bioactive compounds in order to help individuals meet their nutritional requirements. The diet quality index-digital food guide performance was measured by determining its psychometric properties, namely content and construct validity, as well as internal consistency. RESULTS: The moderation and adequacy components correlated weakly with dietary energy (-0.16 to 0.09. The strongest correlation (0.52 occurred between the component 'sugars and sweets' and the total score. The Cronbach's coefficient alpha for reliability was 0.36. CONCLUSION: Given that diet quality is a complex and multidimensional construct, the Diet Quality Index-Digital Food Guide, whose validity is comparable to those of other indices, is a useful resource for Brazilian dietary studies. However, new studies can provide additional information to improve its reliability.
Denehy, Linda; Hornsby, Whitney E; Herndon, James E; Thomas, Samantha; Ready, Neal E; Granger, Catherine L; Valera, Lauren; Kenjale, Aarti A; Eves, Neil D; Jones, Lee W
2013-12-01
To investigate the prognostic utility of the body mass index, severity of airflow obstruction, measures of exertional dyspnea, and exercise capacity (BODE) index in patients with inoperable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). One hundred consecutive patients with inoperable NSCLC and performance status 0 to 3 completed pulmonary function testing, the modified Medical Research Council dyspnea scale, a 6-minute walk test, and body mass index-the multidimensional 10-point BODE index. Cox proportional models were used to estimate the risk of all-cause mortality according to the BODE index with or without adjustment for traditional prognostic factors. Median follow-up was 31.5 months; 61 deaths (61%) were reported during this period. There was a significant univariate association between the BODE index score and mortality (adjusted p(trend) = 0.027). Compared with patients with a BODE index of 0, the adjusted hazard ratio for risk of death was 1.37 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.74-2.55) for a BODE index of 1, 1.22 (95% CI, 0.45-3.25) for a BODE index of 2, and 2.44 (95% CI, 1.19-4.99) for a BODE index more than 2. The BODE index provided incremental prognostic information beyond that provided traditional markers of prognosis (adjusted p(trend) = 0.051). Every one-point increase in the BODE index, the risk of death increased by 25% (hazard ratio = 1.25; 95% CI, 1.27-4.64). The BODE index is a strong independent predictor of survival in inoperable NSCLC beyond traditional risk factors. Use of this multidimensional tool may improve risk stratification and prognostication in NSCLC.
Yamamoto, Nana; Yamamoto, Takumi; Hayashi, Nobuko; Hayashi, Akitatsu; Iida, Takuya; Koshima, Isao
2016-06-01
Volumetry, measurement of extremity volume, is a commonly used method for upper extremity lymphedema (UEL) evaluation. However, comparison between different patients with different physiques is difficult with volumetry, because body-type difference greatly affects arm volume. Seventy arms of 35 participants who had no history of arm edema or breast cancer were evaluated. Arm volume was calculated using a summed truncated cone model, and UEL index was calculated using circumferences and body mass index (BMI). Examinees' BMI was classified into 3 groups, namely, low BMI (BMI, 25 kg/m). Arm volume and UEL index were compared with corresponding BMI groups. Mean (SD) arm volume was 1090.9 (205.5) mL, and UEL index 96.9 (5.6). There were significant differences in arm volume between BMI groups [low BMI vs middle BMI vs high BMI, 945.2 (107.4) vs 1045.2 (87.5) vs 1443.1 (244.4) mL, P 0.5]. Arm volume significantly increased with increase of BMI, whereas UEL index stayed constant regardless of BMI. Upper extremity lymphedema index would allow better body-type corrected arm volume evaluation compared with arm volumetry.
Umbehr, Martin H; Bachmann, Lucas M; Poyet, Cedric; Hammerer, Peter; Steurer, Johann; Puhan, Milo A; Frei, Anja
2018-02-20
No official German translation exists for the 50-item Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC), and no minimal important difference (MID) has been established yet. The aim of the study was to translate and validate a German version of the EPIC with cultural adaptation to the different German speaking countries and to establish the MID. We translated and culturally adapted the EPIC into German. For validation, we included a consecutive subsample of 92 patients with localized prostate cancer undergoing radical prostatectomy who participated the Prostate Cancer Outcomes Cohort. Baseline and follow-up assessments took place before and six weeks after prostatectomy in 2010 and 2011. We assessed the EPIC, EORTC QLQ-PR25, Feeling Thermometer, SF-36 and a global rating of health state change variable. We calculated the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity, responsiveness and MID. For most EPIC domains and subscales, our a priori defined criteria for reliability were fulfilled (construct reliability: Cronbach's alpha 0.7-0.9; test-retest reliability: intraclass-correlation coefficient ≥ 0.7). Cross-sectional and longitudinal correlations between EPIC and EORTC QLQ-PR25 domains ranged from 0.14-0.79, and 0.06-0.5 and 0.08-0.72 for Feeling Thermometer and SF-36, respectively. We established MID values of 10, 4, 12, and 6 for the urinary, bowel, sexual and hormonal domain. The German version of the EPIC is reliable, responsive and valid to measure HRQL in prostate cancer patients and is now available in German language. With the suggested MID we provide interpretation to what extent changes in HRQL are clinically relevant for patients. Hence, study results are of interest beyond German speaking countries.
Cadman, Cassandra S C; Toorop, Peter E; Hilhorst, Henk W M; Finch-Savage, William E
2006-06-01
Physiologically dormant seeds, like those of Arabidopsis, will cycle through dormant states as seasons change until the environment is favourable for seedling establishment. This phenomenon is widespread in the plant kingdom, but has not been studied at the molecular level. Full-genome microarrays were used for a global transcript analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana (accession Cvi) seeds in a range of dormant and dry after-ripened states during cycling. Principal component analysis of the expression patterns observed showed that they differed in newly imbibed primary dormant seeds, as commonly used in experimental studies, compared with those in the maintained primary and secondary dormant states that exist during cycling. Dormant and after-ripened seeds appear to have equally active although distinct gene expression programmes, dormant seeds having greatly reduced gene expression associated with protein synthesis, potentially controlling the completion of germination. A core set of 442 genes were identified that had higher expression in all dormant states compared with after-ripened states. Abscisic acid (ABA) responsive elements were significantly over-represented in this set of genes the expression of which was enhanced when multiple copies of the elements were present. ABA regulation of dormancy was further supported by expression patterns of key genes in ABA synthesis/catabolism, and dormancy loss in the presence of fluridone. The data support an ABA-gibberelic acid hormone balance mechanism controlling cycling through dormant states that depends on synthetic and catabolic pathways of both hormones. Many of the most highly expressed genes in dormant states were stress-related even in the absence of abiotic stress, indicating that ABA, stress and dormancy responses overlap significantly at the transcriptome level.
Chen, Shangying; Zhang, Peng; Liu, Xin; Qin, Chu; Tao, Lin; Zhang, Cheng; Yang, Sheng Yong; Chen, Yu Zong; Chui, Wai Keung
2016-06-01
The overall efficacy and safety profile of a new drug is partially evaluated by the therapeutic index in clinical studies and by the protective index (PI) in preclinical studies. In-silico predictive methods may facilitate the assessment of these indicators. Although QSAR and QSTR models can be used for predicting PI, their predictive capability has not been evaluated. To test this capability, we developed QSAR and QSTR models for predicting the activity and toxicity of anticonvulsants at accuracy levels above the literature-reported threshold (LT) of good QSAR models as tested by both the internal 5-fold cross validation and external validation method. These models showed significantly compromised PI predictive capability due to the cumulative errors of the QSAR and QSTR models. Therefore, in this investigation a new quantitative structure-index relationship (QSIR) model was devised and it showed improved PI predictive capability that superseded the LT of good QSAR models. The QSAR, QSTR and QSIR models were developed using support vector regression (SVR) method with the parameters optimized by using the greedy search method. The molecular descriptors relevant to the prediction of anticonvulsant activities, toxicities and PIs were analyzed by a recursive feature elimination method. The selected molecular descriptors are primarily associated with the drug-like, pharmacological and toxicological features and those used in the published anticonvulsant QSAR and QSTR models. This study suggested that QSIR is useful for estimating the therapeutic index of drug candidates. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Piram, Maryam; Koné-Paut, Isabelle; Lachmann, Helen J; Frenkel, Joost; Ozen, Seza; Kuemmerle-Deschner, Jasmin; Stojanov, Silvia; Simon, Anna; Finetti, Martina; Sormani, Maria Pia; Martini, Alberto; Gattorno, Marco; Ruperto, Nicolino
2014-01-01
Objectives To validate the Auto-Inflammatory Diseases Activity Index (AIDAI) in the four major hereditary recurrent fever syndromes (HRFs): familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), mevalonate kinase deficiency (MKD), tumour necrosis factor receptor-associated periodic syndrome (TRAPS) and cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes (CAPS). Methods In 2010, an international collaboration established the content of a disease activity tool for HRFs. Patients completed a 1-month prospective diary with 12 yes/no items before a clinical appointment during which their physician assessed their disease activity by a questionnaire. Eight international experts in auto-inflammatory diseases evaluated the patient's disease activity by a blinded web evaluation and a nominal group technique consensus conference, with their consensus judgement considered the gold standard. Sensitivity/specificity/accuracy measures and the ability of the score to discriminate active from inactive patients via the best cut-off score were calculated by a receiver operating characteristic analysis. Results Consensus was achieved for 98/106 (92%) cases (39 FMF, 35 CAPS, 14 TRAPS and 10 MKD), with 26 patients declared as having inactive disease and 72 as having active disease. The median total AIDAI score was 14 (range=0–175). An AIDAI cut-off score ≥9 discriminated active from inactive patients, with sensitivity/specificity/accuracy of 89%/92%/90%, respectively, and an area under the curve of 98% (95% CI 96% to 100%). Conclusions The AIDAI score is a valid and simple tool for assessing disease activity in FMF/MKD/TRAPS/CAPS. This tool is easy to use in clinical practice and has the potential to be used as the standard efficacy measure in future clinical trials. PMID:24026675
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Yamamoto, Masaaki, E-mail: BCD06275@nifty.com [Katsuta Hospital Mito GammaHouse, Hitachi-naka (Japan); Department of Neurosurgery, Tokyo Women' s Medical University Medical Center E, Tokyo (Japan); Kawabe, Takuya [Katsuta Hospital Mito GammaHouse, Hitachi-naka (Japan); Department of Neurosurgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyoto (Japan); Higuchi, Yoshinori [Department of Neurosurgery, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba (Japan); Sato, Yasunori [Clinical Research Center, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba (Japan); Barfod, Bierta E. [Katsuta Hospital Mito GammaHouse, Hitachi-naka (Japan); Kasuya, Hidetoshi [Department of Neurosurgery, Tokyo Women' s Medical University Medical Center E, Tokyo (Japan); Urakawa, Yoichi [Katsuta Hospital Mito GammaHouse, Hitachi-naka (Japan)
2012-12-01
Purpose: We tested the validity of 3 recently proposed prognostic indexes for breast cancer patients with brain metastases (METs) treated radiosurgically. The 3 indexes are Diagnosis-Specific Graded Prognostic Assessment (DS-GPA), New Breast Cancer (NBC)-Recursive Partitioning Analysis (RPA), and our index, sub-classification of RPA class II patients into 3 sub-classes (RPA class II-a, II-b and II-c) based on Karnofsky performance status, tumor number, original tumor status, and non-brain METs. Methods and Materials: This was an institutional review board-approved, retrospective cohort study using our database of 269 consecutive female breast cancer patients (mean age, 55 years; range, 26-86 years) who underwent Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS) alone, without whole-brain radiation therapy, for brain METs during the 15-year period between 1996 and 2011. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the absolute risk of each event. Results: Kaplan-Meier plots of our patient series showed statistically significant survival differences among patients stratified into 3, 4, or 5 groups based on the 3 systems (P<.001). However, the mean survival time (MST) differences between some pairs of groups failed to reach statistical significance with all 3 systems. Thus, we attempted to regrade our 269 breast cancer patients into 3 groups by modifying our aforementioned index along with the original RPA class I and III, (ie, RPA I+II-a, II-b, and II-c+III). There were statistically significant MST differences among these 3 groups without overlap of 95% confidence intervals (CIs) between any 2 pairs of groups: 18.4 (95% CI = 14.0-29.5) months in I+II-a, 9.2 in II-b (95% CI = 6.8-12.9, P<.001 vs I+II-a) and 5.0 in II-c+III (95% CI = 4.2-6.8, P<.001 vs II-b). Conclusions: As none of the new grading systems, DS-GPS, BC-RPA and our system, was applicable to our set of radiosurgically treated patients for comparing survivals after GKRS, we slightly modified our system for breast cancer
Tabrizi, Jafar Sadegh; Gholipour, Kamal; Iezadi, Shabnam; Farahbakhsh, Mostafa; Ghiasi, Akbar
2018-01-01
The aim was to design a district health management performance framework for Iran's healthcare system. The mixed-method study was conducted between September 2015 and May 2016 in Tabriz, Iran. In this study, the indicators of district health management performance were obtained by analyzing the 45 semi-structured surveys of experts in the public health system. Content validity of performance indicators which were generated in qualitative part were reviewed and confirmed based on content validity index (CVI). Also content validity ratio (CVR) was calculated using data acquired from a survey of 21 experts in quantitative part. The result of this study indicated that, initially, 81 indicators were considered in framework of district health management performance and, at the end, 53 indicators were validated and confirmed. These indicators were classified in 11 categories which include: human resources and organizational creativity, management and leadership, rules and ethics, planning and evaluation, district managing, health resources management and economics, community participation, quality improvement, research in health system, health information management, epidemiology and situation analysis. The designed framework model can be used to assess the district health management and facilitates performance improvement at the district level.
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Jafar Sadegh Tabrizi
2018-04-01
Full Text Available The aim was to design a district health management performance framework for Iran’s healthcare system. The mixed-method study was conducted between September 2015 and May 2016 in Tabriz, Iran. In this study, the indicators of district health management performance were obtained by analyzing the 45 semi-structured surveys of experts in the public health system. Content validity of performance indicators which were generated in qualitative part were reviewed and confirmed based on content validity index (CVI. Also content validity ratio (CVR was calculated using data acquired from a survey of 21 experts in quantitative part. The result of this study indicated that, initially, 81 indicators were considered in framework of district health management performance and, at the end, 53 indicators were validated and confirmed. These indicators were classified in 11 categories which include: human resources and organizational creativity, management and leadership, rules and ethics, planning and evaluation, district managing, health resources management and economics, community participation, quality improvement, research in health system, health information management, epidemiology and situation analysis. The designed framework model can be used to assess the district health management and facilitates performance improvement at the district level.
Roorda, Leo D.; Green, John R.; Houwink, Annemieke; Bagley, Pam J.; Smith, Jane; Molenaar, Ivo W.; Geurts, Alexander C.
Roorda LD, Green JR, Houwink A, Bagley PJ, Smith J, Molenaar IW, Geurts AC. The Rivermead Mobility index allows valid comparisons between subgroups of patients undergoing rehabilitation after stroke who differ with respect to age, sex, or side of lesion. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2012;93:1086-90.
Computing discharge using the index velocity method
Levesque, Victor A.; Oberg, Kevin A.
2012-01-01
Application of the index velocity method for computing continuous records of discharge has become increasingly common, especially since the introduction of low-cost acoustic Doppler velocity meters (ADVMs) in 1997. Presently (2011), the index velocity method is being used to compute discharge records for approximately 470 gaging stations operated and maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey. The purpose of this report is to document and describe techniques for computing discharge records using the index velocity method. Computing discharge using the index velocity method differs from the traditional stage-discharge method by separating velocity and area into two ratings—the index velocity rating and the stage-area rating. The outputs from each of these ratings, mean channel velocity (V) and cross-sectional area (A), are then multiplied together to compute a discharge. For the index velocity method, V is a function of such parameters as streamwise velocity, stage, cross-stream velocity, and velocity head, and A is a function of stage and cross-section shape. The index velocity method can be used at locations where stage-discharge methods are used, but it is especially appropriate when more than one specific discharge can be measured for a specific stage. After the ADVM is selected, installed, and configured, the stage-area rating and the index velocity rating must be developed. A standard cross section is identified and surveyed in order to develop the stage-area rating. The standard cross section should be surveyed every year for the first 3 years of operation and thereafter at a lesser frequency, depending on the susceptibility of the cross section to change. Periodic measurements of discharge are used to calibrate and validate the index rating for the range of conditions experienced at the gaging station. Data from discharge measurements, ADVMs, and stage sensors are compiled for index-rating analysis. Index ratings are developed by means of regression
Mohan, Venkatdeep; G S, Prashanth; Meravanigi, Gururaja; N, Rajagopalan; Yerramshetty, Janardhan
2016-06-01
A translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and validation study. The aim of this study was to translate, adapt cross-culturally, and validate the Kannada version of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). Low back pain is recognized as an important public health problem. Self-administered condition-specific questionnaires are important tools for assessing a patient. For low backache, the ODI is used widely. Preferred language of a region can have an effect on interpretation of questions and thus scoring. A search of literature showed no previously validated Kannada version of the ODI. Cross-cultural adaptation and translation was carried out according to previously set guidelines. Patients were recruited from the orthopedic outpatient department. They filled out a booklet containing the Kannada version of the ODI, Kannada version of the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), and a 10-point visual analog scale for pain (VASpain). The Kannada ODI was answered by 91 patients and retested in 35 patients. After removing questionnaires with stray or ambiguous markings causing difficulty in computation of scores, 76 test questionnaires and 32 retest questionnaires were available for statistical analysis. The Kannada version showed an excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.92). The Kannada version of the ODI showed good correlation with the RMDQ (r = 0.72) and moderate correlation with VASpain (r = 0.58). It also showed an excellent test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.96). Standard error of measurement (SEM) was also low (4.08) and a difference of 11 points is the "Minimum Detectable Change (MDC)." The Kannada version of the ODI that was developed showed consistency and reliability. It can be used for assessment of low back pain and treatment outcomes in Kannada-speaking populations. However, in view of a smaller sample size, it will benefit from verification at multiple centers and with more patients. 3.
Tomassetti, C; Geysenbergh, B; Meuleman, C; Timmerman, D; Fieuws, S; D'Hooghe, T
2013-05-01
Can the ability of the endometriosis fertility index (EFI) to predict non-assisted reproductive technology (ART) pregnancy after endometriosis surgery be confirmed by an external validation study? The significant relationship between the EFI score and the time to non-ART pregnancy observed in our study represents an external validation of this scoring system. The EFI was previously developed and tested prospectively in a single center, but up to now no external validation has been published. Our data provide validation of the EFI in an external fertility unit on a robust scientific basis, to identify couples with a good prognosis for spontaneous conception who can therefore defer ART treatment, regardless of their revised American Fertility Society (rAFS) endometriosis staging. Retrospective cohort study where the EFI was calculated based on history and detailed surgical findings, and related to pregnancy outcome in 233 women attempting non-ART conception immediately after surgery; all data used for EFI calculation and analysis of reproductive outcome had been collected prospectively as part of another study. The EFI score was calculated (score 0-10) for 233 women with all rAFS endometriosis stages (minimal-mild, n = 75; moderate-severe, n = 158) after endometriosis surgery (1 September 2006-30 September 2010) in a university hospital-based reproductive medicine unit with combined expertise in reproductive surgery and medically assisted reproduction. All participants attempted non-ART conception immediately after surgery by natural intercourse, ovulation induction with timed intercourse or intrauterine insemination (with or without ovulation induction or controlled ovarian stimulation). All analyses were performed for three different definitions of pregnancy [overall (any HCG >25 IU/l), clinical and ongoing >20 weeks]. Six groups were distinguished (EFI scores 1-3, 4, 5, 6, 7+8, 9+10), and Kaplan-Meier (K-M) estimates for cumulative pregnancy rate were calculated
Vincent, Joshua Israel; Macdermid, Joy Christine; Grewal, Ruby; Sekar, Vincent Prabhakaran; Balachandran, Dinesh
2014-01-01
Prospective longitudinal validation study. To translate and cross-culturally adapt the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) to the Tamil language (ODI-T), and to evaluate its reliability and construct validity. ODI is widely used as a disease specific questionnaire in back pain patients to evaluate pain and disability. A thorough literature search revealed that the Tamil version of the ODI has not been previously published. The ODI was translated and cross-culturally adapted to the Tamil language according to established guidelines. 30 subjects (16 women and 14 men) with a mean age of 42.7 years (S.D. 13.6; Range 22 - 69) with low back pain were recruited to assess the psychometric properties of the ODI-T Questionnaire. Patients completed the ODI-T, Roland-Morris disability questionnaire (RMDQ), VAS-pain and VAS-disability at baseline and 24-72 hours from the baseline visit. The ODI-T displayed a high degree of internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.92. The test-retest reliability was high (n=30) with an ICC of 0.92 (95% CI, 0.84 to 0.96) and a mean re-test difference of 2.6 points lower on re-test. The ODI-T scores exhibited a strong correlation with the RMDQ scores (r = 0.82) pTamil version of the ODI Questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool that can be used to measure subjective outcomes of pain and disability in Tamil speaking patients with low back pain.
The improved physical activity index for measuring physical activity in EPIC Germany.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Angelika Wientzek
Full Text Available In the European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study (EPIC, physical activity (PA has been indexed as a cross-tabulation between PA at work and recreational activity. As the proportion of non-working participants increases, other categorization strategies are needed. Therefore, our aim was to develop a valid PA index for this population, which will also be able to express PA continuously. In the German EPIC centers Potsdam and Heidelberg, a clustered sample of 3,766 participants was re-invited to the study center. 1,615 participants agreed to participate and 1,344 participants were finally included in this study. PA was measured by questionnaires on defined activities and a 7-day combined heart rate and acceleration sensor. In a training sample of 433 participants, the Improved Physical Activity Index (IPAI was developed. Its performance was evaluated in a validation sample of 911 participants and compared with the Cambridge Index and the Total PA Index. The IPAI consists of items covering five areas including PA at work, sport, cycling, television viewing, and computer use. The correlations of the IPAI with accelerometer counts in the training and validation sample ranged r = 0.40-0.43 and with physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE r = 0.33-0.40 and were higher than for the Cambridge Index and the Total PA Index previously applied in EPIC. In non-working participants the IPAI showed higher correlations than the Cambridge Index and the Total PA Index, with r = 0.34 for accelerometer counts and r = 0.29 for PAEE. In conclusion, we developed a valid physical activity index which is able to express PA continuously as well as to categorize participants according to their PA level. In populations with increasing rates of non-working people the performance of the IPAI is better than the established indices used in EPIC.
The improved physical activity index for measuring physical activity in EPIC Germany.
Wientzek, Angelika; Vigl, Matthäus; Steindorf, Karen; Brühmann, Boris; Bergmann, Manuela M; Harttig, Ulrich; Katzke, Verena; Kaaks, Rudolf; Boeing, Heiner
2014-01-01
In the European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study (EPIC), physical activity (PA) has been indexed as a cross-tabulation between PA at work and recreational activity. As the proportion of non-working participants increases, other categorization strategies are needed. Therefore, our aim was to develop a valid PA index for this population, which will also be able to express PA continuously. In the German EPIC centers Potsdam and Heidelberg, a clustered sample of 3,766 participants was re-invited to the study center. 1,615 participants agreed to participate and 1,344 participants were finally included in this study. PA was measured by questionnaires on defined activities and a 7-day combined heart rate and acceleration sensor. In a training sample of 433 participants, the Improved Physical Activity Index (IPAI) was developed. Its performance was evaluated in a validation sample of 911 participants and compared with the Cambridge Index and the Total PA Index. The IPAI consists of items covering five areas including PA at work, sport, cycling, television viewing, and computer use. The correlations of the IPAI with accelerometer counts in the training and validation sample ranged r = 0.40-0.43 and with physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE) r = 0.33-0.40 and were higher than for the Cambridge Index and the Total PA Index previously applied in EPIC. In non-working participants the IPAI showed higher correlations than the Cambridge Index and the Total PA Index, with r = 0.34 for accelerometer counts and r = 0.29 for PAEE. In conclusion, we developed a valid physical activity index which is able to express PA continuously as well as to categorize participants according to their PA level. In populations with increasing rates of non-working people the performance of the IPAI is better than the established indices used in EPIC.
Friedman, Bruce; Heisel, Marnin; Delavan, Rachel
2005-11-01
To examine criterion and construct validity of the five-item Mental Health Index (MHI-5) of the 36-item Short Form health survey (SF-36) in relation to the presence of major depression in functionally impaired, community-dwelling elderly patients and of eight subsamples defined by cognitive functioning, levels of functional impairment, and proxy report versus self-report. Cross-sectional observational. Nineteen counties in western New York, West Virginia, and Ohio. One thousand four hundred forty-four functionally impaired, community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and older who participated in the Medicare Primary and Consumer-Directed Care Demonstration. MHI-5, Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview Major Depressive Episode (MINI-MDE) module. The MHI-5 demonstrated sufficient criterion validity (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve=0.837; sensitivity=78.7% and specificity=72.1% using a cutpoint of 59/60) with respect to the presence of depression for the entire sample. A significant correlation between MHI-5 scores and presence of major depression as identified using the MINI-MDE (Spearman correlation=-0.426, Pvalidity. Additional evidence is provided by decline in mean MHI-5 score as level of formal education and number of close friends and relatives decreased. All eight subsamples demonstrated similar criterion and construct validity. A Cronbach alpha of 0.794 demonstrated internal consistency reliability. This study provides evidence for adequate criterion and construct validity of the MHI-5 in relation to the presence of major depression among functionally impaired, community-dwelling elderly Medicare patients.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Geir Fagerjord Lorem
Full Text Available The objective of this study was to develop a method of classifying comorbid conditions that accounts for both the severity and joint effects of the diseases. The Tromsø Study is a cohort study with a longitudinal design utilizing a survey approach with physical examinations in the Tromsø municipality from 1974 to 2008, where in total 40051 subjects participated. We used Tromsø 4 as reference population and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI panel as validation population. Ordinal regression was used to assess the effect of comorbid disease on Self-Reported Health (SRH. The model is controlled for interaction between diseases, mental health, age, and gender. The health impact index estimated levels of SRH. The comparison of predicted and observed SRH showed no significant differences. Spearman's correlation showed that increasing levels of comorbidity were related to lower levels of SRH (RS = -0.36, p <.001. The Charlson Comorbidity Index(CCI was also associated with SRH (r = -.25, p <.001. When focusing on only individuals with a comorbid disease, the relation between SRH and the Health Impact Index (HII was strengthened (r = -.42, p <.001, while the association between SRH and CCI was attenuated (r = -.14, p <.001. CCI was designed to control for comorbid conditions when survival/mortality is the outcome of interest but is inaccurate when the outcome is SRH. We conclude that HII should be used when SRH is not available, and well-being or quality of survival/life is the outcome of interest.
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Gagnadoux, Frédéric; Pevernagie, Dirk; Jennum, Poul
2017-01-01
the performance of the System One RemStar Auto A-Flex (Philips Respironics, Murrysville, PA, USA) automatically adjusted positive airway pressure (APAP) mode to manually titrated, fixed pressure CPAP and to validate the device's breathing event detection capabilities against attended in-laboratory PSG. METHODS......: Sixty-one patients investigated in five centers for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea between May 2012 and June 2013 were invited to participate. Participants underwent two full-night attended polysomnograms in random order with manually titrated, fixed pressure CPAP versus APAP. RESULTS: Fifty......-three participants with a mean apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of 45.9 ± 23 completed two sleep studies and were included in the analysis. There were significant but not clinically relevant differences between APAP and CPAP respectively: Apnea index [1.0 (2.8 ± 0.8), median (mean ± standard deviation)] versus [1.8 (5...
Rahavi-Ezabadi, Sara; Amali, Amin; Sadeghniiat-Haghighi, Khosro; Montazeri, Ali; Nedjat, Saharnaz
2016-05-01
The aim of this study was the translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and validation of the Sleep Apnea Quality of Life Index (SAQLI) in Persian-speaking patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Ninety-six patients with OSA completed a series of questionnaires including SAQLI, Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS),10-item Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire (FOSQ-10), and Medical Outcome Survey Short form 12 (SF-12) for assessment of reliability, validity, and responsiveness of Persian version of SAQLI. The Persian version of SAQLI had a very good internal consistency and also demonstrated good test-retest reliability. Concurrent validity was confirmed by significant correlations with ESS, FOSQ-10 and SF-12 subscale scores. Comparison of SAQLI scores in groups of patients categorized by ESS showed the high discriminative power of this instrument. However, there was no significant difference in the SAQLI scores of patients with mild, moderate, and severe sleep apnea. The results of sensitivity to change verified that the SAQLI was able to detect changes after continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment. The findings of this study indicate that the Persian version of SAQLI is a reliable, valid, and responsive measure for evaluation of quality of life in patients with OSA.
Follicular lymphoma international prognostic index
Solal-Céligny, Philippe; Roy, Pascal; Colombat, Philippe; White, Josephine; Armitage, Jim O.; Arranz-Saez, Reyes; Au, Wing Y.; Bellei, Monica; Brice, Pauline; Caballero, Dolores; Coiffier, Bertrand; Conde-Garcia, Eulogio; Doyen, Chantal; Federico, Massimo; Fisher, Richard I.; Garcia-Conde, Javier F.; Guglielmi, Cesare; Hagenbeek, Anton; Haïoun, Corinne; LeBlanc, Michael; Lister, Andrew T.; Lopez-Guillermo, Armando; McLaughlin, Peter; Milpied, Noël; Morel, Pierre; Mounier, Nicolas; Proctor, Stephen J.; Rohatiner, Ama; Smith, Paul; Soubeyran, Pierre; Tilly, Hervé; Vitolo, Umberto; Zinzani, Pier-Luigi; Zucca, Emanuele; Montserrat, Emili
2004-01-01
The prognosis of follicular lymphomas (FL) is heterogeneous and numerous treatments may be proposed. A validated prognostic index (PI) would help in evaluating and choosing these treatments. Characteristics at diagnosis were collected from 4167 patients with FL diagnosed between 1985 and 1992.
Salavati, Masoud; Waninge, Aly; Rameckers, E.A.A.; van der Steen, J; Krijnen, W.P.; van der Schans, C.P.; Steenbergen, B.
2016-01-01
AIM: The objectives of this study were (i) to develop two cerebral visual impairment motor questionnaires (CVI-MQ's) for children with cerebral palsy (CP): one for children with Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels I, II and III and one for children with GMFCS levels IV and V;
Salavati, M.; Waninge, A.; Rameckers, E. A. A.; van der Steen, J.; Krijnen, W. P.; van der Schans, C. P.; Steenbergen, B.
Aim The objectives of this study were (i) to develop two cerebral visual impairment motor questionnaires (CVI-MQ's) for children with cerebral palsy (CP): one for children with Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels I, II and III and one for children with GMFCS levels IV and V;
A new casemix adjustment index for hospital mortality among patients with congestive heart failure.
Polanczyk, C A; Rohde, L E; Philbin, E A; Di Salvo, T G
1998-10-01
Comparative analysis of hospital outcomes requires reliable adjustment for casemix. Although congestive heart failure is one of the most common indications for hospitalization, congestive heart failure casemix adjustment has not been widely studied. The purposes of this study were (1) to describe and validate a new congestive heart failure-specific casemix adjustment index to predict in-hospital mortality and (2) to compare its performance to the Charlson comorbidity index. Data from all 4,608 admissions to the Massachusetts General Hospital from January 1990 to July 1996 with a principal ICD-9-CM discharge diagnosis of congestive heart failure were evaluated. Massachusetts General Hospital patients were randomly divided in a derivation and a validation set. By logistic regression, odds ratios for in-hospital death were computed and weights were assigned to construct a new predictive index in the derivation set. The performance of the index was tested in an internal Massachusetts General Hospital validation set and in a non-Massachusetts General Hospital external validation set incorporating data from all 1995 New York state hospital discharges with a primary discharge diagnosis of congestive heart failure. Overall in-hospital mortality was 6.4%. Based on the new index, patients were assigned to six categories with incrementally increasing hospital mortality rates ranging from 0.5% to 31%. By logistic regression, "c" statistics of the congestive heart failure-specific index (0.83 and 0.78, derivation and validation set) were significantly superior to the Charlson index (0.66). Similar incrementally increasing hospital mortality rates were observed in the New York database with the congestive heart failure-specific index ("c" statistics 0.75). In an administrative database, this congestive heart failure-specific index may be a more adequate casemix adjustment tool to predict hospital mortality in patients hospitalized for congestive heart failure.
Hirsch Index Value and Variability Related to General Surgery in a UK Deanery.
Abdelrahman, Tarig; Brown, Josephine; Wheat, Jenny; Thomas, Charlotte; Lewis, Wyn
2016-01-01
The Hirsch Index (h-index) is often used to assess research impact, and on average a social science senior lecturer will have an h-index of 2.29, yet its validity within the context of UK General Surgery (GS) is unknown. The aim of this study was to calculate the h-indices of a cohort of GS consultants in a UK Deanery to assess its relative validity. Individual h-indices and total publication (TP) counts were obtained for GS consultants via the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) Internet search engines. Assessment of construct validity and reliability of these 2 measures of the h-index was undertaken. All hospitals in a single UK National Health Service Deanery were included (14 general hospitals). All 136 GS consultants from the Deanery were included. Median h-index (Scopus) was 5 (0-52) and TP 15 (0-369), and strong correlation was found between h-index and TP (ρ = 0.932, p Scopus and WoS h-index also significant (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.973 [95% CI: 0.962-0.981], p Scopus 12 vs 7 vs 4 [p 2.29 in 57.4% of consultants. No subspecialty differences were apparent in median h-indices (p = 0.792) and TP (p = 0.903). h-Index is a valid GS research productivity metric with over half of consultants performing at levels equivalent to social science Senior Lecturers. Copyright © 2015 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Zhang, Lifeng; Ren, Chengzu; Zhou, Changling; Xu, Hongzhao; Jin, Xinmin
2015-12-01
The characterization of interfaces in woven ceramic matrix composites is one of the most challenging problems in composite application. In this investigation, a new model material consisting of the chemical vapor infiltration unidirectional C/SiC composites with PyC fiber coating were prepared and evaluated to predict the interfacial mechanic properties of woven composites. Single fiber push-out/push-back tests with the Berkovich indenter were conducted on the thin sliced specimens using nano-indentation technique. To give a detailed illustration of the interfacial crack propagation and failure mechanism, each sector during the push-out process was analyzed at length. The test results show that there is no detectable difference between testing a fiber in a direct vicinity to an already tested fiber and testing a fiber in vicinity to not-pushed fibers. Moreover, the interface debonding and fiber sliding mainly occur at the PyC coating, and both the fiber and surrounding matrix have no plastic deformation throughout the process. Obtained from the load-displacement curve, the interfacial debonding strength (IDS) and friction stress (IFS) amount to, respectively, 35 ± 5 MPa and 10 ± 1 MPa. Based on the findings, the interfacial properties with PyC fiber coating can be predicted. Furthermore, it is expected to provide a useful guideline for the design, evaluation and optimal application of CVI-C/SiC.
The Danish Neck Disability Index
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Lauridsen, Henrik Hein; O'Neill, Lotte; Kongsted, Alice
2017-01-01
Objective: To (1) translate and culturally adapt and (2) determine the clinimetric properties of the Danish 8-item Neck Disability Index (NDI-8) in primary sector patients (PSPs) and secondary sector patients (SSPs). Methods: Analyses included 326 patients with neck pain. Validity and reliability...
Evaluation of a nutrient-rich food index score in the Netherlands
Sluik, D.; Streppel, M.T.; Lee, van L.; Geelen, A.; Feskens, E.J.M.
2015-01-01
Nutrient-rich food (NRF) index scores are dietary quality indices based on nutrient density. We studied the design aspects involved in the development and validation of NRF index scores, using the Dutch consumption data and guidelines as an example. We evaluated fifteen NRF index scores against the
Zhou, Xianfeng; Huang, Wenjiang; Kong, Weiping; Ye, Huichun; Dong, Yingying; Casa, Raffaele
2017-05-01
Leaf carotenoids content (LCar) is an important indicator of plant physiological status. Accurate estimation of LCar provides valuable insight into early detection of stress in vegetation. With spectroscopy techniques, a semi-empirical approach based on spectral indices was extensively used for carotenoids content estimation. However, established spectral indices for carotenoids that generally rely on limited measured data, might lack predictive accuracy for carotenoids estimation in various species and at different growth stages. In this study, we propose a new carotenoid index (CARI) for LCar assessment based on a large synthetic dataset simulated from the leaf radiative transfer model PROSPECT-5, and evaluate its capability with both simulated data from PROSPECT-5 and 4SAIL and extensive experimental datasets: the ANGERS dataset and experimental data acquired in field experiments in China in 2004. Results show that CARI was the index most linearly correlated with carotenoids content at the leaf level using a synthetic dataset (R2 = 0.943, RMSE = 1.196 μg/cm2), compared with published spectral indices. Cross-validation results with CARI using ANGERS data achieved quite an accurate estimation (R2 = 0.545, RMSE = 3.413 μg/cm2), though the RBRI performed as the best index (R2 = 0.727, RMSE = 2.640 μg/cm2). CARI also showed good accuracy (R2 = 0.639, RMSE = 1.520 μg/cm2) for LCar assessment with leaf level field survey data, though PRI performed better (R2 = 0.710, RMSE = 1.369 μg/cm2). Whereas RBRI, PRI and other assessed spectral indices showed a good performance for a given dataset, overall their estimation accuracy was not consistent across all datasets used in this study. Conversely CARI was more robust showing good results in all datasets. Further assessment of LCar with simulated and measured canopy reflectance data indicated that CARI might not be very sensitive to LCar changes at low leaf area index (LAI) value, and in these conditions soil moisture
Chen, Po-Yi; Jan, Ya-Wen; Yang, Chien-Ming
2017-07-01
The purpose of this study was to examine whether the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) are valid outcome measures for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). Specifically, we tested whether the factorial parameters of the ISI and the PSQI could remain invariant against CBT-I, which is a prerequisite to using their change scores as an unbiased measure of the treatment outcome of CBT-I. A clinical data set including scores on the Chinese versions of the ISI and the PSQI obtained from 114 insomnia patients prior to and after a 6-week CBT-I program in Taiwan was analyzed. A series of measurement invariance (MI) tests were conducted to compare the factorial parameters of the ISI and the PSQI before and after the CBT-I treatment program. Most factorial parameters of the ISI remained invariant after CBT-I. However, the factorial model of the PSQI changed after CBT-I treatment. An extra loading with three residual correlations was added into the factorial model after treatment. The partial strong invariance of the ISI supports that it is a valid outcome measure for CBT-I. In contrast, various changes in the factor model of the PSQI indicate that it may not be an appropriate outcome measure for CBT-I. Some possible causes for the changes of the constructs of the PSQI following CBT-I are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Naal, Florian D; Impellizzeri, Franco M; Huber, Martin; Rippstein, Pascal F
2008-12-01
The purpose of this study was to cross-culturally adapt the Foot Function Index (FFI) for use in German-speaking patients with foot complaints. The FFI was adapted for the German language according to the recommended forward/backward translation protocol. The following metric properties were assessed in 53 consecutive patients (mean age, 57.2 years; 39 women) undergoing foot surgery at our department: feasibility, reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient ICC), internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha, CA), and construct validity (correlation with the Short Form (SF-36), a VAS assessing pain, a VAS assessing function, and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) activity scale. The German FFI (FFI-D) comprised 18 items separated into a pain and a disability subscale. Completion of the FFI-D was feasible. The reliability and the internal consistency were both excellent with an ICC of 0.98 and a CA of 0.97 for the total score. We found moderate to high correlations between the FFI-D and the physical related SF-36 domains (r = -0.43 to -0.80), the VAS pain (r = 0.81), the VAS function (r = 0.77), and the UCLA (r = -0.52). Correlation coefficients between the FFI-D and the mental health related SF-36 domains were significantly lower (r = -0.08 to -0.32; p validity. The German version of the FFI is a reliable and valid questionnaire for the self-assessment of pain and disability in German-speaking patients with foot complaints.
Dewan, Neha; MacDermid, Joy C; MacIntyre, Norma
2018-05-01
Study Design Clinical measurement. Background Recently, the Western Ontario Rotator Cuff Index (WORC) was shortened, but few studies have reported its measurement properties. Objective To compare the validity and responsiveness of the short version of the Western Ontario Rotator Cuff Index (Short-WORC) and the WORC (disease-specific measures) with those of the Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) and the simple shoulder test (SST) (joint-specific measures); the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) (a region-specific measure); and the Medical Outcomes Study 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey version 2 (SF-12v2) (a general health status measure) in patients undergoing rotator cuff repair (RCR). Methods A cohort of patients (n = 223) completed the WORC, SPADI, SST, DASH, and SF-12v2 preoperatively and at 3 and 6 months after RCR. Short-WORC scores were extracted from the WORC questionnaire. The construct validity (Pearson correlations) and internal responsiveness (effect size [ES], standardized response mean [SRM], relative efficiency [RE]) of the Short-WORC were calculated. Results The Short-WORC was strongly correlated with the WORC (r = 0.89-0.96) and moderately to strongly correlated with non-disease-specific measures at preoperative and postoperative assessments (r = 0.51-0.92). The Short-WORC and WORC were equally responsive (RE Short-WORC/WORC = 1) at 0 to 6 months and highly responsive overall at 0 to 3 months (ES Short-WORC , 0.72; ES WORC , 0.92; SRM Short-WORC , 0.75; SRM WORC , 0.81) and 0 to 6 months (ES Short-WORC , 1.05; ES WORC , 1.12; SRM Short-WORC , 0.89; SRM WORC , 0.89). The responsiveness of the comparator measures (SPADI, SST, DASH, SF-12v2) was poor to moderate at 0 to 3 months (ES, 0.07-0.55; SRM, 0.09-0.49) and 0 to 6 months (ES, 0.05-0.78; SRM, 0.07-0.78). Conclusion The Short-WORC and WORC have similar responsiveness in patients undergoing RCR, and are more responsive than non-disease-specific measures. Future studies
Monticone, Marco; Baiardi, Paola; Ferrari, Silvano; Foti, Calogero; Mugnai, Raffaele; Pillastrini, Paolo; Vanti, Carla; Zanoli, Gustavo
2009-09-01
Evaluation of the psychometric properties of a translated, culturally adapted questionnaire. Translating, culturally adapting, and validating the Italian version of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI-I), allowing its use in Italian-speaking patients with low back pain inside and outside Italy. Growing attention is devoted to standardized outcome measures to improve interventions for low back pain. A translated form of the ODI in patients with low back pain has never been validated within the Italian population. The ODI-I questionnaire was developed involving forward-backward translation, final review by an expert committee and test of the prefinal version to establish as better as possible proper correspondence with the original English latest version (2.1a). Psychometric testing included factor analysis, reliability by internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) and test-retest repeatability (Intraclass Coefficient Correlation), concurrent validity by comparing the ODI-I to Visual Analogue Scale, (Pearson correlation), and construct validity by comparing the ODI-I to Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire, RMDQ, and to Short Form Health Survey, Short Form Health Survey-36 (Pearson correlation). The authors required a 3-month period before achieving a shared version of the ODI-I. The questionnaire was administered to 126 subjects, showing satisfying acceptability. Factor analysis demonstrated a 1-factor structure (45% of explained variance). The questionnaire showed high internal consistency (alpha = 0.855) and good test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.961). Concurrent validity was confirmed by a high correlation with Visual Analogue Scale (r = 0.73, P < 0.001), Construct validity revealed high correlations with RMDQ (r = 0.819, P < 0.001), and with Short Form Health Survey-36 domains, highly significant with the exception of Mental Health (r = -0.139, P = 0.126). The ODI outcome measure was successfully translated into Italian, showing good factorial structure and
Ramos, Rafel; Baena-Díez, Jose Miguel; Quesada, Miquel; Solanas, Pascual; Subirana, Isaac; Sala, Joan; Alzamora, Maite; Forès, Rosa; Masiá, Rafel; Elosua, Roberto; Grau, María; Cordón, Ferran; Pera, Guillem; Rigo, Fernando; Martí, Ruth; Ponjoan, Anna; Cerezo, Carlos; Brugada, Ramon; Marrugat, Jaume
2011-02-01
The recommendation of screening with ankle brachial index (ABI) in asymptomatic individuals is controversial. The aims of the present study were to develop and validate a pre-screening test to select candidates for ABI measurement in the Spanish population 50-79 years old, and to compare its predictive capacity to current Inter-Society Consensus (ISC) screening criteria. Two population-based cross-sectional studies were used to develop (n = 4046) and validate (n = 3285) a regression model to predict ABI guidelines, and similar sensitivity. This resulted in fewer patients screened per diagnosis of ABI < 0.9 (10.6 vs. 8.75) and a lower proportion of the population aged 50-79 years candidate to ABI screening (63.3% vs. 55.0%). This model provides accurate ABI < 0.9 risk estimates for ages 50-79, with a better predictive capacity than that of ISC criteria. Its use could reduce possible harms and unnecessary work-ups of ABI screening as a risk stratification strategy in primary prevention of peripheral vascular disease. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Kunaratnam, Kanita; Halaki, Mark; Wen, Li Ming; Baur, Louise A; Flood, Victoria M
2018-03-01
To report on the reliability and validity of a Diet Quality Index (DQI) to assess preschoolers dietary patterns using a short food frequency questionnaire (sFFQ) and 3-day food records (3d-FR). Seventy-seven preschool carers/parents completed a telephone interview on preschoolers (2-5-year olds) dietary habits in metropolitan Sydney. Agreement in scores was assessed using intraclass correlation (ICC) and paired t-tests for repeated sFFQ-DQI scores and Bland-Altman methods and paired t-tests for sFFQ-DQI and 3d-FR-DQI scores. Mean-total sFFQ-DQI ICC scores was high = 0.89, 95% CI (0.81, 0.93). There was weak agreement between sFFQ-DQI and 3d-FR-DQI scores (r = 0.36, p < 0.01). The 3d-FR-DQI scores were positively associated with carbohydrate, folate, ß-carotene, magnesium, calcium, protein, total fat and negatively associated with sugar, starch, niacin, vitamin C, phosphorus, polyunsaturated fat, and monounsaturated fat. The sFFQ-DQI demonstrated good reliability but weak validity. Associations between nutrients and 3d-FR-DQI scores indicate promising usability and warrants further investigation. Further research is needed to establish its validity in accurately scoring children's diet quality using sFFQ compared to 3d-FR before the tool can be implemented for use in population settings.
Validation of a quality-of-life instrument for patients with nonmelanoma skin cancer.
Rhee, John S; Matthews, B Alex; Neuburg, Marcy; Logan, Brent R; Burzynski, Mary; Nattinger, Ann B
2006-01-01
To validate a disease-specific quality-of-life instrument--the Skin Cancer Index--intended to measure quality-of-life issues relevant to patients with nonmelanoma skin cancer. Internal reliability, convergent and divergent validity with existing scales, and factor analyses were performed in a cross-sectional study of 211 patients presenting with cervicofacial nonmelanoma skin cancer to a dermatologic surgery clinic. Factor analyses of the Skin Cancer Index confirmed a multidimensional scale with 3 distinct subscales-emotional, social, and appearance. Excellent internal validity of the 3 subscales was demonstrated. Substantial evidence was observed for convergent validity with the Dermatology Life Quality Index, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Lerman's Cancer Worry Scale, and Medical Outcomes Survey Short-Form 12 domains for vitality, emotion, social function, and mental health. These findings validate a new disease-specific quality-of-life instrument for patients with cervicofacial nonmelanoma skin cancer. Studies on the responsiveness of the Skin Cancer Index to clinical intervention are currently under way.
A PC-based shutter glasses controller for visual stimulation using multithreading in LabWindows/CVI.
Gramatikov, Ivan; Simons, Kurt; Guyton, David; Gramatikov, Boris
2017-05-01
Amblyopia, commonly known as "lazy eye," is poor vision in an eye from prolonged neurologic suppression. It is a major public health problem, afflicting up to 3.6% of children, and will lead to lifelong visual impairment if not identified and treated in early childhood. Traditional treatment methods, such as occluding or penalizing the good eye with eye patches or blurring eye drops, do not always yield satisfactory results. Newer methods have emerged, based on liquid crystal shutter glasses that intermittently occlude the better eye, or alternately occlude the two eyes, thus stimulating vision in the "lazy" eye. As yet there is no technology that allows easy and efficient optimization of the shuttering characteristics for a given individual. The purpose of this study was to develop an inexpensive, computer-based system to perform liquid crystal shuttering in laboratory and clinical settings to help "wake up" the suppressed eye in amblyopic patients, and to help optimize the individual shuttering parameters such as wave shape, level of transparency/opacity, frequency, and duty cycle of the shuttering. We developed a liquid crystal glasses controller connected by USB cable to a PC computer. It generates the voltage waveforms going to the glasses, and has potentiometer knobs for interactive adjustments by the patient. In order to achieve good timing performance in this bidirectional system, we used multithreading programming techniques with data protection, implemented in LabWindows/CVI. The hardware and software developed were assessed experimentally. We achieved an accuracy of ±1Hz for the frequency, and ±2% for the duty cycle of the occlusion pulses. We consider these values to be satisfactory for the purpose of optimizing the visual stimulation by means of shutter glasses. The system can be used for individual optimization of shuttering attributes by clinicians, for training sessions in clinical settings, or even at home, aimed at stimulating vision in the
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Blackburn, Patrick Rowan; Jørgensen, Klaus Frovin
2012-01-01
In this paper we explore the logic of now, yesterday, today and tomorrow by combining the semantic approach to indexicality pioneered by Hans Kamp [9] and refined by David Kaplan [10] with hybrid tense logic. We first introduce a special now nominal (our @now corresponds to Kamp’s original now...... operator N) and prove completeness results for both logical and contextual validity. We then add propositional constants to handle yesterday, today and tomorrow; our system correctly treats sentences like “Niels will die yesterday” as contextually unsatisfiable. Building on our completeness results for now......, we prove completeness for the richer language, again for both logical and contextual validity....
Diagnosing cerebral visual impairment in children with good visual acuity.
van Genderen, Maria; Dekker, Marjoke; Pilon, Florine; Bals, Irmgard
2012-06-01
To identify elements that could facilitate the diagnosis of cerebral visual impairment (CVI) in children with good visual acuity in the general ophthalmic clinic. We retrospectively investigated the clinical characteristics of 30 children with good visual acuity and CVI and compared them with those of 23 children who were referred with a suspicion of CVI, but proved to have a different diagnosis. Clinical characteristics included medical history, MRI findings, visual acuity, crowding ratio (CR), visual field assessment, and the results of ophthalmologic and orthoptic examination. We also evaluated the additional value of a short CVI questionnaire. Eighty-three percent of the children with an abnormal medical history (mainly prematurity and perinatal hypoxia) had CVI, in contrast with none of the children with a normal medical history. Cerebral palsy, visual field defects, and partial optic atrophy only occurred in the CVI group. 41% of the children with CVI had a CR ≥2.0, which may be related to dorsal stream dysfunction. All children with CVI, but also 91% of the children without CVI gave ≥3 affirmative answers on the CVI questionnaire. An abnormal pre- or perinatal medical history is the most important risk factor for CVI in children, and therefore in deciding which children should be referred for further multidisciplinary assessment. Additional symptoms of cerebral damage, i.e., cerebral palsy, visual field defects, partial optic atrophy, and a CR ≥2 may support the diagnosis. CVI questionnaires should not be used for screening purposes as they yield too many false positives.
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Roseli B. D. Toffano
2018-01-01
Full Text Available The Brazilian Healthy Eating Index-Revised (BHEI-R can be used to determine overall dietary patterns. We assessed the BHEI-R scores in children and adolescents, aged from 9 to 13 years old, and associated its component scores with biomarkers of health and dietary exposure. Three 24-h recalls were used to generate BHEI-R. Biomarkers were analyzed in plasma and red blood cells. Correlation tests, agreement, and covariance analyses were used to associate BHEI-R components with biomarkers. Data from 167 subjects were used. The strongest correlations were between fruits, vegetables and legumes with omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, and β-carotene intakes. Milk and dairy correlated with plasma retinol and pyridoxine. All components rich in vegetable and animal protein sources correlated with plasma creatine. Total BHEI-R scores were positively associated with intakes of omega-6, omega-3, fiber and vitamin C, and inversely associated with energy and saturated fat intakes of individuals. Plasma β-carotene and riboflavin biomarkers were positively associated with total BHEI-R. An inadequate food consumption pattern was captured by both biomarkers of health and dietary exposure. BHEI-R was validated for the above dietary components and can be associated with metabolomics and nutritional epidemiological data in future pediatric studies.
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Ritu Raj Upreti
2017-02-01
Full Text Available Purpose: To investigate the interobserver variations in delineation of lumpectomy cavity (LC and clinical target volume (CTV, and its impact on irradiated volume in accelerated partial breast irradiation using intraoperative multicatheter brachytherapy. Material and methods : Delineation of LC and CTV was done by five radiation oncologists on planning computed tomography (CT scans of 20 patients with intraoperative interstitial breast implant. Cavity visualization index (CVI, four-point index ranging from (0 = poor to (3 = excellent was created and assigned by observers for each patient. In total, 200 contours for all observers and 100 treatment plans were evaluated. Spatial concordance (conformity index, CI common , and CIgen, average shift in the center of mass (COM, and ratio of maximum and minimum volumes (V max /V min of LC and CTV were quantified among all observers and statistically analyzed. Variation in active dwell positions (0.5 cm step for each catheter, total reference air kerma (TRAK, volume enclosed by prescription isodose (V100% among observers and its spatial concordance were analyzed. Results : The mean ± SD CI common of LC and CTV was 0.54 ± 0.09, and 0.58 ± 0.08, respectively. Conformity index tends to increase, shift in COM and V max /V min decrease significantly (p < 0.05, as CVI increased. Out of total 309 catheters, 29.8% catheters had no change, 29.8% and 17.5% catheters had variations of 1 and 2 dwell positions (0.5 cm and 1 cm, respectively. 9.3% catheters shown variations ≥ 10 dwell positions (5 cm. The mean ± SD CI common of V100% was 0.75 ± 0.11. The mean observed V max /V min of prescription isodose and TRAK was 1.18 (range, 1.03 to 1.56 and 1.11 (range, 1.03 to 1.35, respectively. Conclusions : Interobserver variability in delineation of target volume was found to be significantly related to CVI. Smaller variability was observed with excellent visualization of LC. Interobserver variations showed dosimetric
Serial album validation for promotion of infant body weight control
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Nathalia Costa Gonzaga Saraiva
2018-05-01
Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective: to validate the content and appearance of a serial album for children aged from 7 to 10 years addressing the topic of prevention and control of body weight. Method: methodological study with descriptive nature. The validation process was attended by 33 specialists in educational technologies and/or in excess of infantile weight. The agreement index of 80% was the minimum considered to guarantee the validation of the material. Results: most of the specialists had a doctoral degree and a graduate degree in nursing. Regarding content, illustrations, layout and relevance, all items were validated and 69.7% of the experts considered the album as great. The overall agreement validation index for the educational technology was 0.88. Only the script-sheet 3 did not reach the cutoff point of the content validation index. Changes were made to the material, such as title change, inclusion of the school context and insertion of nutritionist and physical educator in the story narrated in the album. Conclusion: the proposed serial album was considered valid by experts regarding content and appearance, suggesting that this technology has the potential to contribute in health education by promoting healthy weight in the age group of 7 to 10 years.
Joshi, Veena D; Raiturker, Pradyumna P Pai; Kulkarni, Aditi A
2013-05-15
A total of 200 patients with low back pain (LBP) completed an English and Marathi Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) questionnaires (100 each), visual analogue scale, and Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire. To validate the English and Marathi versions of ODI (version 2.1a). Patient-orientated assessment methods are important in the evaluation of treatment outcome. The ODI is one of the condition-specific questionnaires recommended for the use of patients with LBP. An adaptation of the ODI (version 2.1a) for Marathi language was carried out according to established guidelines. Average age of patients who answered the English ODI was 42 ± 15, whereas that of Marathi-speaking patients was 52 ± 15 years. About 40% were males. The Cronbach α reliability score was 0.877 for English and 0.943 for Marathi. Forty-seven and 53 of these patients were retested with English and Marathi ODI within 2 weeks (to assess test-retest reliability). The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the test-retest reliability of the questionnaire was 0.877 and 0.943 for English and Marathi respectively. The ODI scores correlated with visual analogue scale pain intensity (r = 0.67, P Disability Questionnaire score (r = 0.71, P Disability Questionnaire scores (r = 0.503, P Oswestry questionnaire is reliable and valid, and shows psychometric characteristics as good as the English version. It should represent a valuable tool for use in future patient-orientated outcome studies for population with LBP in India.
Chen, Po-Yi; Yang, Chien-Ming; Morin, Charles M
2015-05-01
The purpose of this study is to examine the factor structure of the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) across samples recruited from different countries. We tried to identify the most appropriate factor model for the ISI and further examined the measurement invariance property of the ISI across samples from different countries. Our analyses included one data set collected from a Taiwanese sample and two data sets obtained from samples in Hong Kong and Canada. The data set collected in Taiwan was analyzed with ordinal exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to obtain the appropriate factor model for the ISI. After that, we conducted a series of confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs), which is a special case of the structural equation model (SEM) that concerns the parameters in the measurement model, to the statistics collected in Canada and Hong Kong. The purposes of these CFA were to cross-validate the result obtained from EFA and further examine the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the ISI. The three-factor model outperforms other models in terms of global fit indices in Taiwan's population. Its external validity is also supported by confirmatory factor analyses. Furthermore, the measurement invariance analyses show that the strong invariance property between the samples from different cultures holds, providing evidence that the ISI results obtained in different cultures are comparable. The factorial validity of the ISI is stable in different populations. More importantly, its invariance property across cultures suggests that the ISI is a valid measure of the insomnia severity construct across countries. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
The Environmental Action Internal Control Index.
Smith-Sebasto, N. J.; Fortner, Rosanne W.
1994-01-01
Reports research designed to develop a reliable and valid instrument to assess the relationship between locus of control of reinforcement and environmentally responsible behavior in (n=853) undergraduate students. Results suggest that the Environmental Action Internal Control Index can accurately predict environmentally responsible behavior.…
Initial Validation of the Activity Choice Index among Overweight Women
Mullen, Sean P.; Silva, Marlene N.; Sardinha, Luís B.; Teixeira, Pedro J.
2016-01-01
Purpose: This prospective study was designed to evaluate psychometric properties of the Activity Choice Index (ACI), a measure for assessing one's choice to engage in more effortful, physically active behaviors in the course of daily routines over less-demanding, sedentary behaviors, in a sample of overweight women. Method: The sample included 192…
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Juliana Catucci Boza
2013-06-01
Full Text Available Psoriasis Family Index is a quality of life instrument for family members of patients with psoriasis developed in English. The aims of this study were to translate the Psoriasis Family Index into Brazilian Portuguese, culturally adapt it and verify its reliability and validity. The study followed these two steps: 1 Translation, linguistic and cultural adaptation, 2 Validation. The translated Psoriasis Family Index showed high internal consistency and high test-retest reliability, confirming its reproducibility. The Portuguese version of the Psoriasis Family Index was validated for our population and can be recommended as a reliable instrument to assess the QoL of family members and partners of patients with psoriasis.Psoriasis Family Index é um instrumento para aferição da qualidade de vida em familiares de pacientes com psoríase, desenvolvido em língua inglesa. O objetivo deste estudo é traduzir o Psoriasis Family Index para o Português, adaptá-lo culturalmente e determinar sua confiabilidade e validade. Foi realizado em duas etapas: 1 tradução, adaptação cultural e linguística e 2 validação. O Psoriasis Family Index traduzido demonstrou alta consistência interna e alta confiabilidade de teste e reteste, confirmando sua reprodutibilidade. A versão brasileira do Psoriasis Family Index foi validada para nossa população e pode ser recomendada como uma ferramenta na avaliação da influência da psoríase na família dos pacientes.
Vincent, Joshua Israel; MacDermid, Joy Christine; Grewal, Ruby; Sekar, Vincent Prabhakaran; Balachandran, Dinesh
2014-01-01
Study Design: Prospective longitudinal validation study Objective: To translate and cross-culturally adapt the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) to the Tamil language (ODI-T), and to evaluate its reliability and construct validity. Summary of Background Data: ODI is widely used as a disease specific questionnaire in back pain patients to evaluate pain and disability. A thorough literature search revealed that the Tamil version of the ODI has not been previously published. Methods: The ODI was translated and cross-culturally adapted to the Tamil language according to established guidelines. 30 subjects (16 women and 14 men) with a mean age of 42.7 years (S.D. 13.6; Range 22 - 69) with low back pain were recruited to assess the psychometric properties of the ODI-T Questionnaire. Patients completed the ODI-T, Roland-Morris disability questionnaire (RMDQ), VAS-pain and VAS-disability at baseline and 24-72 hours from the baseline visit. Results: The ODI-T displayed a high degree of internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.92. The test-retest reliability was high (n=30) with an ICC of 0.92 (95% CI, 0.84 to 0.96) and a mean re-test difference of 2.6 points lower on re-test. The ODI-T scores exhibited a strong correlation with the RMDQ scores (r = 0.82) pdisability in Tamil speaking patients with low back pain. PMID:24563681
Oyanedel, Juan Carlos; Vargas, Salvador; Mella, Camila; Páez, Darío
2015-09-01
Personal well-being calculates quality of life in terms of the necessary conditions required to live well. To validate the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) in a representative sample of vulnerable users of the public health system in Santiago, Chile. A probabilistic and multistage sample consisting of 400 individuals aged 44 ± 18 years (61% females) belonging to the lower income group of the National Health Fund (FONASA), residents of Gran Santiago was surveyed. Internal consistency and correlation between items and scale were examined. Structure was analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis. The seven-item PWI is a good indicator of subjective well-being in the population under study, considering internal consistency, factor loadings, relation with overall life satisfaction and goodness of fit. The indicators mostly associated with personal well-being are the socioeconomic level followed by relationships with the community, health conditions and achievements. The 7-item version of the PWI is suitable for application in vulnerable health service users.
Insomnia Severity Index: psychometric properties with Chinese community-dwelling older people.
Yu, Doris S F
2010-10-01
This paper is a report of a study to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Insomnia Severity Index. Despite the high prevalence of insomnia in older people and its detrimental impact on well-being and healthcare costs, this problem is almost always undetected and consequently under-treated. The Insomnia Severity Index is psychometrically sound in measuring perceived insomnia severity. However, it has had very limited application in non-White populations. An instrument validation study was carried out between October 2008 and April 2009. The Insomnia Severity Index was translated into Chinese using Brislin's model and administered to a convenience sample of 585 older Chinese people recruited from three community centres for elders. Other instruments were also administered, including the Chinese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Geriatric Depression Scale. Cronbach's alpha of the Chinese version of the Insomnia Severity Index was 0.81, with item-to-total correlations in the range of 0.34-0.67. Construct validity was supported by its moderate relationship with the Chinese Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and sleep efficiency. The Chinese version of the Insomnia Severity Index also indicated more severe level of insomnia in older people who reported depressed mood on the Geriatric Depression Scale. Discriminant validity was supported as the Chinese version of the Insomnia Severity Index could discriminate poorer sleepers from normal sleepers. Exploratory factor analysis identified a two-factor structure for the Chinese version of the Insomnia Severity Index in measuring the severity and impacts of insomnia on the Chinese older people. The Chinese version of the Insomnia Severity Index is a culturally-relevant and psychometrically-sound instrument for assessing severity and impact of insomnia in Chinese community-dwelling older people. Nurses can use this tool to assess older people's perceptions of insomnia. © 2010 The
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Goh Khean-Lee
2009-05-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Treatment objectives for dyspepsia include improvements in both symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQoL. There is a lack of disease-specific instruments measuring HRQoL in South East Asian dyspeptics. Objectives To validate English and locally translated version of the Short-Form Nepean Dyspepsia Index (SF-NDI in Malaysian patients who consult for dyspepsia. Methods The English version of the SF-NDI was culturally adapted locally and a Malay translation was developed using standard procedures. English and Malay versions of the SF-NDI were assessed against the SF-36 and the Leeds Dyspepsia Questionnaire (LDQ, examining internal consistency, test-retest reliability and construct validity. Results Pilot testing of the translated Malay and original English versions of the SF-NDI in twenty subjects did not identify any cross-cultural adaptation problems. 143 patients (86 English-speaking and 57 Malay speaking with dyspepsia were interviewed and the overall response rate was 100% with nil missing data. The median total SF-NDI score for both languages were 72.5 and 60.0 respectively. Test-retest reliability was good with intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.90 (English and 0.83 (Malay, while internal consistency of SF-NDI subscales revealed α values ranging from 0.83 – 0.88 (English and 0.83 – 0.90 (Malay. In both languages, SF-NDI sub-scales and total score demonstrated lower values in patients with more severe symptoms and in patients with functional vs organic dyspepsia (known groups validity, although these were less marked in the Malay language version. There was moderate to good correlation (r = 0.3 – 0.6 between all SF-NDI sub-scales and various domains of the SF-36 (convergent validity. Conclusion This study demonstrates that both English and Malay versions of the SF-NDI are reliable and probably valid instruments for measuring HRQoL in Malaysian patients with dyspepsia.
Valasek, Tamás; Varga, Peter Paul; Szövérfi, Zsolt; Kümin, Michelle; Fairbank, Jeremy; Lazary, Aron
2013-05-01
Patient-reported outcome measurements (PROMs) are widely used in spine care. The development of reliable and valid National versions of spine-related disability questionnaires is strongly recommended from both the clinical and scientific points-of-view. The aims of this study were to adapt and validate the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and the Quebec back pain disability scale (QDS) for use with the Hungarian language. After translating and culturally adapting the ODI and QDS, 133 patients with lumbar degenerative spinal disorder filled in the questionnaire booklet twice within 2 weeks. Subjects completed the Hungarian versions of the two PROMs as well as the WHOQoL-BREF validated as a general life quality questionnaire and Visual Analogue Scale of pain. Internal consistency, reliability and construct validity of the questionnaires were determined, as were the standard error of measurement (SEM) and minimal detectable change (MDC) scores. The Hungarian ODI consisted of one factor that showed good internal consistency (Cronbach-α 0.890). The QDS showed a four-factor structure with Cronbach-α values between 0.788 and 0.917. No significant floor or ceiling effects were observed. The test-retest analysis showed excellent reliability of the Hungarian ODI and QDS. The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were 0.927 and 0.923, respectively. SEM values of 4.8 and 5.2 resulted in a MDC of 13 and 14 points in the Hungarian ODI and QDS, respectively. The correlation coefficient (r) between pain and ODI was 0.680 (p 0.4, p disability measured by the Hungarian ODI and QDS was significantly higher in the surgical subgroup than in non-surgically treated patients (p < 0.001). Translation and cultural adaptation of the ODI and QDS were successful. Hungarian versions of the ODI and QDS proved to be reliable, valid PROMs confirming that they can be used in future clinical and scientific work with Hungarian-speaking spine patients.
Schefte, David B; Hetland, Merete L
2010-01-01
The Danish DANBIO registry has developed open-source software for touch screens in the waiting room. The objective was to assess the validity of outcomes from self-explanatory patient questionnaires on touch screen in comparison with the traditional paper form in routine clinical care. Fifty-two AS patients and 59 RA patients completed Visual Analogue Scales (VASs) for pain, fatigue and global health, and Bath measures on Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) and Function Index (BASFI) (AS patients) or HAQs (RA patients) on touch screen and paper form in random order with a 1-h interval. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs), 95% CIs and smallest detectable differences (SDDs) were calculated. ICC ranged from 0.922 to 0.988 (P health when compared with the traditional paper form. Implementation of touch screens in clinical practice is feasible and patients need no instruction.
A brief symptom index for advanced renal cell carcinoma
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Cella David
2006-09-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Our objective was to test a brief, symptom index for advanced renal cell carcinoma, a disease affecting over 38,000 Americans each year and often diagnosed in late stages. Methods We conducted secondary data analyses on patient-reported outcomes of 209 metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients participating in a Phase III clinical trial. Patient-reported outcomes, obtained from the FACT-Biological Response Modifier (FACT-BRM scale, were available at baseline, 2, and 8 weeks. We analyzed data from eight FACT-BRM items previously identified by clinical experts to represent the most important symptoms of advanced renal cell carcinoma. Items comprising this index assess nausea, pain, appetite, perceived sickness, fatigue and weakness, with higher scores indicating fewer symptoms. We determined reliability and validity of the index and estimated a minimally important difference. Results The index had excellent internal reliability at all three time points (alphas ≥ 0.83. Baseline scores were able to discriminate patients across Karnofsky performance status, number of metastatic sites, and risk group categories (ps Conclusion The 8-item index of patient-reported symptoms of renal cell carcinoma appears to be a psychometrically sound measure. It is a brief, reliable, and valid measure that can easily be adapted for use in clinical trials and observational studies.
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Gelebart, L.; Colin, C.
2008-01-01
The aim of this work is to reveal the role of porosity inhering to the CVI fabrication process. Indeed, this process which consists of depositing by a gaseous way a SiC layer on a fibrous preform (assembling weaved of SiC fibers) does not allow a complete densification of the material and induces thus a porosity of size and shape particularly heterogeneous and complex. The effect of this porosity, studied at the strand scale (unidirectional composite) is revealed by the elastic anisotropy of the behaviour as well as by the local stresses distribution heterogeneity inside the strand. A discussion is proposed on the representative elementary volume size associated with this type of microstructures. The method used depends on a generation model of 'representative' microstructures of the microstructures induced by the CVI process. On account of the lack of data on the three-dimensional characterization of the porosity, a microstructure invariance hypothesis in the direction of fibers is used. In order to study the elastic behaviour of these microstructures, a periodic homogenisation process, with stress control, is carried out on these porous microstructures in the finite elements CASTEM calculation code. The obtained results reveals an important elastic anisotropy. In order to reveal the interest of this approach and the requirement to take into account the complex geometry of the porosity, these results are compared to a Mori-Tanaka analytical model frequently used for this type of material. Then is studied the evolution of the heterogeneity of the local stresses, that no analytical model can describe, in term of the type of load. If for a traction direction parallel to fibers, the stresses are homogeneous, a strong heterogeneity appears when the traction direction diverges from the fibers direction. For a solicitation perpendicular to fibers, the stresses distribution reveals a peak with zero stress corresponding to zones unloaded inside the material; a second peak
SooHoo, Nelson F; Samimi, David B; Vyas, Raj M; Botzler, Tin
2006-01-01
There is uncertainty regarding which outcomes tools should be used to report the results of treatment for patients with foot and ankle disorders. This study evaluates the validity of the Foot Function Index (FFI) by examining its level of correlation to the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36). The SF-36 is an extensively validated outcomes tool that has been used as a benchmark in examining the validity of several orthopaedic outcomes tools. Seventy-three patients were recruited at a tertiary referral foot and ankle practice. Patients completed packets which included informed consent forms, the FFI, and the SF-36 questionnaires. The questionnaires were scored and Pearson correlation coefficients were determined between the three domains of the FFI and the eight SF-36 sub-scales, as well as the two SF-36 summary scales. Sixty-nine patients completed an adequate number of items to be included in the study. The mean age of the patient sample was 46 (range 16 to 82) years and 44 were women (64%). Twenty-one patients (30%) had conditions affecting the forefoot, while 48 patients (70%) had conditions affecting the ankle or hindfoot. All three FFI domains had moderate to high levels of correlation to many of the SF-36 scales. The Disability domain of the FFI had the most consistent level of correlation to the SF-36 with Pearson coefficients in the range of -0.23 to -0.69. The Activity Limitation (r=-0.28 to -0.64) and Pain domains (r=-0.10 to -0.61) also demonstrated moderate levels of correlation to several of the SF-36 scales. The consistently moderate to high levels of correlation of the FFI to the SF-36 seen in this study support the FFI as a valid measure of health status. This suggests that the FFI is a reasonable method to monitor patient outcomes. Future studies should focus on determining if the FFI improves responsiveness to clinical change when used in combination with generic instruments like the SF-36.
Mestre, Sandrine; Veye, Florent; Perez-Martin, Antonia; Behar, Thomas; Triboulet, Jean; Berron, Nicolas; Demattei, Christophe; Quéré, Isabelle
2014-01-01
Measurement of limb volume is helpful for the evaluation and follow-up of edema, especially in patients with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) or lymphedema. Water displacement (WD) is the reference method for limb volumetry but is not really suitable for clinical routine. Indirect volumetry based on circumference measurements as well as the more expansive but automatic optoelectronic techniques do not allow detailed measurement at the extremity of the limb. We used a self-positioning laser scanner with dynamic referencing for acquisition and real-time three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of the lower limb volume in 30 patients with CVI, 30 patients with lymphedema, and 30 healthy controls. Two independent observers performed either one or two laser scans, whose results were tested for intra- and interobserver reproducibility and compared with WD volumetry by Lin's concordance correlation coefficient and Bland and Altman graphic analysis. Automatic volume calculation from 3D laser scanning data failed in one patient with major lymphedema. Lin's concordance correlation coefficient was 0.99 and 0.98, respectively, for intraobserver no. 1 and no. 2, 0.98 for interobserver reproducibility, and 0.98 and 0.96, respectively, for observer no. 1 and observer no. 2 vs WD comparison. The 3D laser scanning yielded 1.99% precision. Accuracy was 3.12% for observer no. 1 and 2.71% for observer no. 2, laser scanning values being 90 mL higher than WD, which could be attributed to the different posture during measurement. Three-dimensional laser scanning is accurate and reproducible, and appears suitable for the evaluation of limb volume in patients with CVI or lymphedema. Copyright © 2014 Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Zuk Dalyce
2010-09-01
Full Text Available Abstract Purpose To assess the cross-sectional construct validity of the Health Utilities Index Mark 3 (HUI3 in lung transplantation. Methods Two hundred and thirteen patients (103 pre-transplant and 110 post-transplant with mean age 53 years old (SD 13 were recruited during a randomized controlled clinical trial at the out-patient clinic in a tertiary institution. At baseline, patients self-completed measures that included the HUI3, EuroQol EQ-5D, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS and socio-demographic questionnaire. Six-minute walk test scores and forced expiratory volume in 1 second data were collected from patient's medical records. A priori hypotheses were formulated by members of the transplant team about the expected degree of association between the measures. Correlation coefficients of Results Of the ninety predictions made, forty three were correct but in 31 the correlation was slightly lower than predicted and in 7 the correlations were much higher than predicted. In 48% of the cases, predicted and observed associations were in agreement. Predictions of associations were off by one category in 42% of the cases; in 10% of the cases the predictions were off by two categories. Conclusions This is the first study providing evidence of cross-sectional construct validity of HUI3 in lung transplantation. Results indicate that the HUI3 was able to capture the burden of lung disease before transplantation and that post-transplant patients enjoyed higher health-related quality of life than pre-transplant patients.
Miura, T.; Kato, A.; Wang, J.; Vargas, M.; Lindquist, M.
2015-12-01
Satellite vegetation index (VI) time series data serve as an important means to monitor and characterize seasonal changes of terrestrial vegetation and their interannual variability. It is, therefore, critical to ensure quality of such VI products and one method of validating VI product quality is cross-comparison with in situ flux tower measurements. In this study, we evaluated the quality of VI time series derived from Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) spacecraft by cross-comparison with in situ radiation flux measurements at select flux tower sites over North America and Europe. VIIRS is a new polar-orbiting satellite sensor series, slated to replace National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer in the afternoon overpass and to continue the highly-calibrated data streams initiated with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer of National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Observing System. The selected sites covered a wide range of biomes, including croplands, grasslands, evergreen needle forest, woody savanna, and open shrublands. The two VIIRS indices of the Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the atmospherically-corrected, Top-of-Canopy (TOC) Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) (daily, 375 m spatial resolution) were compared against the TOC NDVI and a two-band version of EVI (EVI2) calculated from tower radiation flux measurements, respectively. VIIRS and Tower VI time series showed comparable seasonal profiles across biomes with statistically significant correlations (> 0.60; p-value 0.95), with mean differences of 2.3 days and 5.0 days for the NDVI and the EVI, respectively. These results indicate that VIIRS VI time series can capture seasonal evolution of vegetated land surface as good as in situ radiometric measurements. Future studies that address biophysical or physiological interpretations
Contextual Validity in Hybrid Logic
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Blackburn, Patrick Rowan; Jørgensen, Klaus Frovin
2013-01-01
interpretations. Moreover, such indexicals give rise to a special kind of validity—contextual validity—that interacts with ordinary logi- cal validity in interesting and often unexpected ways. In this paper we model these interactions by combining standard techniques from hybrid logic with insights from the work...... of Hans Kamp and David Kaplan. We introduce a simple proof rule, which we call the Kamp Rule, and first we show that it is all we need to take us from logical validities involving now to contextual validities involving now too. We then go on to show that this deductive bridge is strong enough to carry us...... to contextual validities involving yesterday, today and tomorrow as well....
Using wound care algorithms: a content validation study.
Beitz, J M; van Rijswijk, L
1999-09-01
Valid and reliable heuristic devices facilitating optimal wound care are lacking. The objectives of this study were to establish content validation data for a set of wound care algorithms, to identify their associated strengths and weaknesses, and to gain insight into the wound care decision-making process. Forty-four registered nurse wound care experts were surveyed and interviewed at national and regional educational meetings. Using a cross-sectional study design and an 83-item, 4-point Likert-type scale, this purposive sample was asked to quantify the degree of validity of the algorithms' decisions and components. Participants' comments were tape-recorded, transcribed, and themes were derived. On a scale of 1 to 4, the mean score of the entire instrument was 3.47 (SD +/- 0.87), the instrument's Content Validity Index was 0.86, and the individual Content Validity Index of 34 of 44 participants was > 0.8. Item scores were lower for those related to packing deep wounds (P valid and reliable definitions. The wound care algorithms studied proved valid. However, the lack of valid and reliable wound assessment and care definitions hinders optimal use of these instruments. Further research documenting their clinical use is warranted. Research-based practice recommendations should direct the development of future valid and reliable algorithms designed to help nurses provide optimal wound care.
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Colwell Bradford
2008-08-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Newer antiretroviral (ARV agents have improved pharmacokinetics, potency, and tolerability and have enabled the design of regimens with improved virologic outcomes. Successful antiretroviral therapy is dependent on patient adherence. In previous research, we validated a subset of items from the ACTG adherence battery as prognostic of virologic suppression at 6 months and correlated with adherence estimates from the Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS. The objective of the current study was to validate the longitudinal use of the Owen Clinic adherence index in analyses of time to initial virologic suppression and maintenance of suppression. Results 278 patients (naïve n = 168, experienced n = 110 met inclusion criteria. Median [range] time on the first regimen during the study period was 286 (30 – 1221 days. 217 patients (78% achieved an undetectable plasma viral load (pVL at median 63 days. 8.3% (18/217 of patients experienced viral rebound (pVL > 400 after initial suppression. Adherence scores varied from 0 – 25 (mean 1.06, median 0. The lowest detectable adherence score cut point using this instrument was ≥ 5 for both initial suppression and maintenance of suppression. In the final Cox model of time to first undetectable pVL, controlling for prior treatment experience and baseline viral load, the adjusted hazard ratio for time updated adherence score was 0.36score ≥ 5 (95% CI: 0.19–0.69 [reference: score ≥ 5 (0.05–0.66 [reference: Conclusion A brief, longitudinally administered self report adherence instrument predicted both initial virologic suppression and maintenance of suppression in patients using contemporary ARV regimens. The survey can be used for identification of sub-optimal adherence with subsequent appropriate intervention.
Replacement Saltwell Pumping System Document Bibliography
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
BELLOMY, J.R.
2000-01-01
This document bibliography is prepared to identify engineering documentation developed during the design of the Replacement Saltwell Pumping System. The bibliography includes all engineering supporting documents and correspondence prepared prior to the deployment of the system in the field. All documents referenced are available electronically through the Records Management Information System (RMIS). Major components of the Replacement Saltwell Pumping System include the Sundyne Canned Motor Pump, the Water Filter Skid, the Injection Water Skid and the Backflow Preventer Assembly. Drawing H-14-104498 provides an index of drawings (fabrication details, PandIDs, etc.) prepared to support development of the Replacement Saltwell Pumping System. Specific information pertaining to new equipment can be found in Certified Vendor Information (CVI) File 50124. This CVI file has been established specifically for new equipment associated with the Replacement Saltwell Pumping System
Amsallem, Myriam; Sweatt, Andrew J; Aymami, Marie C; Kuznetsova, Tatiana; Selej, Mona; Lu, HongQuan; Mercier, Olaf; Fadel, Elie; Schnittger, Ingela; McConnell, Michael V; Rabinovitch, Marlene; Zamanian, Roham T; Haddad, Francois
2017-06-01
Right ventricular (RV) end-systolic dimensions provide information on both size and function. We investigated whether an internally scaled index of end-systolic dimension is incremental to well-validated prognostic scores in pulmonary arterial hypertension. From 2005 to 2014, 228 patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension were prospectively enrolled. RV end-systolic remodeling index (RVESRI) was defined by lateral length divided by septal height. The incremental values of RV free wall longitudinal strain and RVESRI to risk scores were determined. Mean age was 49±14 years, 78% were female, 33% had connective tissue disease, 52% were in New York Heart Association class ≥III, and mean pulmonary vascular resistance was 11.2±6.4 WU. RVESRI and right atrial area were strongly connected to the other right heart metrics. Three zones of adaptation (adapted, maladapted, and severely maladapted) were identified based on the RVESRI to RV systolic pressure relationship. During a mean follow-up of 3.9±2.4 years, the primary end point of death, transplant, or admission for heart failure was reached in 88 patients. RVESRI was incremental to risk prediction scores in pulmonary arterial hypertension, including the Registry to Evaluate Early and Long-Term PAH Disease Management score, the Pulmonary Hypertension Connection equation, and the Mayo Clinic model. Using multivariable analysis, New York Heart Association class III/IV, RVESRI, and log NT-proBNP (N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide) were retained (χ 2 , 62.2; P right heart metrics, RVESRI demonstrated the best test-retest characteristics. RVESRI is a simple reproducible prognostic marker in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.
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Bertrand Olliac
Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Although the reliable and valid Child Post-Traumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPTS-RI is a widely used measure of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD symptoms in children, it has not been validated in French-speaking populations. The present study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the CPTS-RI in three samples of French-speaking school-children. METHODS: Data was obtained from three samples. Sample 1 was composed of 106 children (mean (SD age = 11.7(0.7, 50% females victims of an industrial disaster. Sample 2 was composed of 50 children (mean (SD age = 10.8(2.6, 44% females who had received an orthopaedic surgical procedure after an accident. Sample 3 was composed of 106 children (mean (SD age = 11.7(2.2, 44% females admitted to an emergency department after a road traffic accident. We tested internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha. We examined test-retest reliability using intraclass correlation coefficient. In order to assess the convergent validity of the French version of the CPTS-RI and the Clinician Administered PTS Scale-Child and Adolescent (CAPS-CA, spearman-correlation coefficient was computed. To verify the validity of the cut-off scores, a ROC curve was constructed which evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of each score compared to the diagnosis with the CAPS-CA. We also used principal components analysis with varimax rotation to study the structure of the French version of the CPTS-RI. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.87 for the French version of the CPTS-RI. Two-week test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient (n = 30 was 0.67. The French version of the CPTS-RI was well correlated with the CAPS-CA (r = 0.76, p 24 for the CPTS-RI, the sensitivity and specificities were 100% and 62.6%, respectively. The French version of the CPTS-RI demonstrated a three-factor structure. CONCLUSIONS: The CPTS-RI is reliable and valid in French-speaking children.
Olliac, Bertrand; Birmes, Philippe; Bui, Eric; Allenou, Charlotte; Brunet, Alain; Claudet, Isabelle; Sales de Gauzy, Jérôme; Grandjean, Hélène; Raynaud, Jean-Philippe
2014-01-01
Although the reliable and valid Child Post-Traumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPTS-RI) is a widely used measure of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in children, it has not been validated in French-speaking populations. The present study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the CPTS-RI in three samples of French-speaking school-children. Data was obtained from three samples. Sample 1 was composed of 106 children (mean (SD) age = 11.7(0.7), 50% females) victims of an industrial disaster. Sample 2 was composed of 50 children (mean (SD) age = 10.8(2.6), 44% females) who had received an orthopaedic surgical procedure after an accident. Sample 3 was composed of 106 children (mean (SD) age = 11.7(2.2), 44% females) admitted to an emergency department after a road traffic accident. We tested internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha. We examined test-retest reliability using intraclass correlation coefficient. In order to assess the convergent validity of the French version of the CPTS-RI and the Clinician Administered PTS Scale-Child and Adolescent (CAPS-CA), spearman-correlation coefficient was computed. To verify the validity of the cut-off scores, a ROC curve was constructed which evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of each score compared to the diagnosis with the CAPS-CA. We also used principal components analysis with varimax rotation to study the structure of the French version of the CPTS-RI. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.87 for the French version of the CPTS-RI. Two-week test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient (n = 30) was 0.67. The French version of the CPTS-RI was well correlated with the CAPS-CA (r = 0.76, p 24 for the CPTS-RI, the sensitivity and specificities were 100% and 62.6%, respectively. The French version of the CPTS-RI demonstrated a three-factor structure. The CPTS-RI is reliable and valid in French-speaking children.
Kong, C L; Lee, C C; Ip, Y C; Chow, L P; Leung, C H; Lam, Y C
2016-03-01
The World Health Organization Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5) has been developed to measure psychological wellbeing. Translation and linguistic validation of the WHO-5 into a Cantonese version has been accomplished for local use but it is not yet validated in people with severe mental illness in Hong Kong. This study aimed to examine the applicability of WHO-5 in measuring the psychological wellbeing dimension of people with severe mental illness. A brief and easily administrated tool to measure psychological wellbeing of people with severe mental illness can be used to provide an outcome measure in research studies and clinical trials. Subjects were randomly recruited from the Extended-Care Patient Intensive Treatment, Early Diversion and Rehabilitation Stepping-Stone Project (EXITERS) and the Rehabilitation Activity Centre (RAC) of Kwai Chung Hospital in Hong Kong. They were invited to complete the abbreviated version of Hong Kong Chinese World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF [HK]) and WHO-5 (Cantonese version) separately and concurrent validity was examined. A total of 84 subjects were recruited, 42 each from EXITERS and RAC. In all, 49 (58%) were male and 35 (42%) were female. The mean ± standard deviation age was 43.2 ± 9.7 years. Their mean duration of mental illness was 16.4 ± 10.5 years and the mean years of education was 10.17 ± 2.5 years, i.e. about junior secondary school level in Hong Kong. The internal consistency of the WHO-5 was satisfactory (0.86) and was comparable with previous reports. Regarding validity, 1-factor structure with an eigenvalue of 3.24 explained 64.8% of total variance of WHO-5 for people with severe mental illness. Concurrent validity was established with moderate correlation (0.41-0.51) between WHO-5 and 4 domains of the WHOQOL-BREF (HK). The WHO-5 (Cantonese version) is a reliable and valid tool to assess the psychological wellbeing of people with severe mental illness in Hong Kong. It can be used to monitor
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M Sadeghi Aliabadi
2005-10-01
Full Text Available Background and Aims: Existence of heat in industries is considered as a serious problem. Someindexes have been invited to evaluate the rate of heat loud on worker. These indexes have beenused & comprised in different researches. This research validity of some of these indexes wasevaluated.Method: In purpose of evaluation of indexes and environmental factor ordinary and CataTermometer, WBCT Meter instrument and Humidity Meter was used. As a first step Molding unitdivided into 15 stations, and in the second step parameters measurement was begone . After thatthe obtained figures was used in special equation to calculate heat stress indexes.Mouth, skin, and core body temperature of 90 healthy and adopted male worker was recorded.Then the obtained result was analysed by Spss, and mean, standard deviation and correlationcoficient was ealeutated for each of them.Results: At first mean, minimum, maximum and standard deviation was calculated forenvironmental parameter and indexes.At the second step the relationship between personalfactors (mouth, skin and core body temperature and parameters and environmental indexes. (Airtemperature, radiation temperature, air velocity and relative humidity was assessed.The result showed no significance relationship between personal factor and heat stressor. Factor(p>5% only purse index had significance relationship (p=0/005, and the others indexes did notshowed significance relationship.Conclusion: In this research the relationship between purse and all variables was significance.Therefore this index considered as a first valid index in this research.WBGTindex shows the most relationship after the purse index in comparison with other indexes.Because of the other indexes's no significance relationship, so pours had a good validity in thisresearch.
Barnikol, Wolfgang K R; Pötzschke, Harald
2012-01-01
The basis for the new procedure is the simultaneous transcutaneous measurement of the peri-ulceral oxygen partial pressure (tcPO(2)), using a minimum of 4 electrodes which are placed as close to the wound margin as possible, additionally, as a challenge the patient inhales pure oxygen for approximately 15 minutes. In order to evaluate the measurement data and to characterise the wounds, two new oxygen parameters were defined: (1) the oxygen characteristic (K-PO(2)), and (2) the oxygen inhomogeneity (I-PO(2)) of a chronic wound. The first of these is the arithmetic mean of the two lowest tcPO(2) measurement values, and the second is the variation coefficient of the four measurement values. Using the K-PO(2) parameter, a grading of wound hypoxia can be obtained. To begin with, the physiologically regulated (and still compensated) hypoxia with K-PO(2) values of between 35 and 40 mmHg is distinguished from the pathological decompensated hypoxia with K-PO(2) values of between 0 and 35 mmHg; the first of these still stimulates self-healing (within the limits of the oxygen balance). The decompensated hypoxia can be (arbitrarily) divided into "simple" hypoxia (Grade I), intense hypoxia (Grade II) and extreme hypoxia (Grade III), with the possibility of intermediate grades (I/II and II/III).Measurements were carried out using the new procedure on the skin of the right inner ankle of 21 healthy volunteers of various ages, and in 17 CVI (chronic venous insufficiency) wounds. Sixteen of the 17 CVI wounds (i.e., 94%) were found to be pathologically hypoxic, a state which was not found in any of the healthy volunteers. The oxygen inhomogeneity (I-PO(2)) of the individual chronic wounds increased exponentially as a function of the hypoxia grading (K-PO(2)), with a 10-fold increase with extreme hypoxia in contrast to a constant value of approximately 14% in the healthy volunteers. This pronounced oxygen inhomogeneity explains inhomogeneous wound healing, resulting in the so
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Shaohua Liu
2016-01-01
Full Text Available The physical-based drought indices such as the self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (sc-PDSI with the fixed time scale is inadequate for the multiscalar drought assessment, and the multiscalar drought indices including Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI, Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI, and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI based on the meteorological factors are lack of physical mechanism and cannot depict the actual water budget. To fill this gap, the Standardized Water Budget Index (SWBI is constructed based on the difference between areal precipitation and actual evapotranspiration (AET, which can describe the actual water budget but also assess the drought at multiple time scales. Then, sc-PDSI was taken as the reference drought index to compare with multiscalar drought indices at different time scale in Haihe River basin. The result shows that SWBI correlates better with sc-PDSI and the RMSE of SWBI is less than other multiscalar drought indices. In addition, all of drought indices show a decreasing trend in Haihe River Basin, possibly due to the decreasing precipitation from 1961 to 2010. The decreasing trends of SWBI were significant and consistent at all the time scales, while the decreasing trends of other multiscalar drought indices are insignificant at time scale less than 3 months.
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Roya Hasanzadeh
2015-08-01
Full Text Available Background and Objectives : Customer Quality refers to customers’ capabilities to be effectively participating in service delivery and correct care processes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of customer quality questionnaire in services related to patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Material and Methods : This is a qualitative study with the aim of assessment of customer quality questionnaire with 16 questions. This questionnaire was distributed among 11 experts to determine the validity of the questionnaire. Finally, 10 of them expressed their own opinions based on the criteria of validity and in the face validity section , they expressed their opinions qualitatively. Also, reliability of questionnaire was reviewed with 30 samples, according to the internal consistency. Results : In determining the content validity, all the questionnaire items were confirmed by CVR (1 and CVI (0.89 indicators. Also, reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha (α=0.78.The final questionnaire was changed according to the experts’ recommendations and their qualitative comments on the 19 questions in four stages of customer quality, including: a the patient’s belief that his/her role in care process is important, b having knowledge, skill and confidence to take action in the care process, c taking action to protect and improve the health or active involvement, d continuity of care, even in critical situations and under stress. Conclusion : Confirmation of the questionnaire with statistical scientific methods showed that this questionnaire is a very strong tool that using it in research can be an effective step in order to improve the quality of health services.
Sheahan, Peter J; Nelson-Wong, Erika J; Fischer, Steven L
2015-01-01
The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) is a self-report-based outcome measure used to quantify the extent of disability related to low back pain (LBP), a substantial contributor to workplace absenteeism. The ODI tool has been adapted for use by patients in several non-English speaking nations. It is unclear, however, if these adapted versions of the ODI are as credible as the original ODI developed for English-speaking nations. The objective of this study was to conduct a review of the literature to identify culturally adapted versions of the ODI and to report on the adaptation process, construct validity, test-retest reliability and internal consistency of these ODIs. Following a pragmatic review process, data were extracted from each study with regard to these four outcomes. While most studies applied adaptation processes in accordance with best-practice guidelines, there were some deviations. However, all studies reported high-quality psychometric properties: group mean construct validity was 0.734 ± 0.094 (indicated via a correlation coefficient), test-retest reliability was 0.937 ± 0.032 (indicated via an intraclass correlation coefficient) and internal consistency was 0.876 ± 0.047 (indicated via Cronbach's alpha). Researchers can be confident when using any of these culturally adapted ODIs, or when comparing and contrasting results between cultures where these versions were employed. Implications for Rehabilitation Low back pain is the second leading cause of disability in the world, behind only cancer. The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) has been developed as a self-report outcome measure of low back pain for administration to patients. An understanding of the various cross-cultural adaptations of the ODI is important for more concerted multi-national research efforts. This review examines 16 cross-cultural adaptations of the ODI and should inform the work of health care and rehabilitation professionals.
Corporate visual identity management: current practices, impact, and assessment
van den Bosch, A.L.M.
2005-01-01
This dissertation is about Corporate Visual Identity (CVI) management. Its purpose is to gain more insight into activities associated with managing CVI and the impact of these activities on the outcome: the degree of consistency in CVI.
The Index of Attitudes toward Homosexuals 30 Years Later: A Psychometric Study
Siebert, Darcy Clay; Chonody, Jill; Rutledge, Scott Edward; Killian, Michael
2009-01-01
Objective: The authors report a validation study of the Index of Attitudes toward Homosexuals (IAH) to examine its ongoing usefulness. Method: Students (n = 331) completed surveys anonymously. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted and group differences analyzed. Results: Content validity was established conceptually, and preliminary…
Transient productivity index for numerical well test simulations
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Blanc, G.; Ding, D.Y.; Ene, A. [Institut Francais du Petrole, Pau (France)] [and others
1997-08-01
The most difficult aspect of numerical simulation of well tests is the treatment of the Bottom Hole Flowing (BHF) Pressure. In full field simulations, this pressure is derived from the Well-block Pressure (WBP) using a numerical productivity index which accounts for the grid size and permeability, and for the well completion. This productivity index is calculated assuming a pseudo-steady state flow regime in the vicinity of the well and is therefore constant during the well production period. Such a pseudo-steady state assumption is no longer valid for the early time of a well test simulation as long as the pressure perturbation has not reached several grid-blocks around the well. This paper offers two different solutions to this problem: (1) The first one is based on the derivation of a Numerical Transient Productivity Index (NTPI) to be applied to Cartesian grids; (2) The second one is based on the use of a Corrected Transmissibility and Accumulation Term (CTAT) in the flow equation. The representation of the pressure behavior given by both solutions is far more accurate than the conventional one as shown by several validation examples which are presented in the following pages.
Hills, Jordan A; Zarate, Yuri A; Danylchuk, Noelle R; Lepard, Tiffany; Chen, Jean Chi-Jen; Collins, Ronnie Thomas
2017-05-01
Extracardiac arterial stenoses are not uncommon in Williams syndrome (WS); however, data on the utility of advanced cardiovascular imaging (CVI) to assess these stenoses are lacking. We retrospectively reviewed the frequency, indication, and diagnostic outcomes of CVI modalities performed in patients with WS evaluated at a single institution between 2001 and 2014. Data were collected and analyzed from 34 patients (56% female) who underwent CVI during the study period. The median age was 10 years (range 1.8-33 years). Excluding echocardiograms, 78 CVI studies "advanced" were performed in the 34 patients (mean 2.3 studies/patient). The most common advanced CVI was renal ultrasound with Doppler (29/34, 85%), followed by computed tomographic angiography (13/34, 38%) and magnetic resonance angiography in (9/34, 26%). Abnormalities were detected in 62% of patients (21/34). For the 20 patients in whom advanced CVI were performed for defined clinical indications, the rate of abnormalities were 73, 70, 57, and 100% when performed for anatomic delineation (15 patients), hypertension (10 patients), bruits (7 patients), and/or decreased peripheral pulses (2 patients), respectively. Advanced CVI in patients with WS reveals abnormalities in the majority of cases, and physical exam findings frequently indicate abnormalities on advanced CVI. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Garde, A H; Hansen, Åse Marie; Skovgaard, L T
2000-01-01
Concentrations of physiological response variables fluctuate over time. The present study describes within-day and seasonal fluctuations for total cholesterol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), hemoglobin A(1c) (HbA(1c)), IgA, prolactin, and free testosterone in blood, and estimates within......- (CV(i)) and between-subject (CV(g)) CVs for healthy women. In addition, the index of individuality, prediction intervals, and power calculations were derived....
Construction of prediction intervals for Palmer Drought Severity Index using bootstrap
Beyaztas, Ufuk; Bickici Arikan, Bugrayhan; Beyaztas, Beste Hamiye; Kahya, Ercan
2018-04-01
In this study, we propose an approach based on the residual-based bootstrap method to obtain valid prediction intervals using monthly, short-term (three-months) and mid-term (six-months) drought observations. The effects of North Atlantic and Arctic Oscillation indexes on the constructed prediction intervals are also examined. Performance of the proposed approach is evaluated for the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) obtained from Konya closed basin located in Central Anatolia, Turkey. The finite sample properties of the proposed method are further illustrated by an extensive simulation study. Our results revealed that the proposed approach is capable of producing valid prediction intervals for future PDSI values.
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Moon, S [Korea University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Gangdong-gu (Korea, Republic of); Kim, D; Chung, W [Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Gangdong-gu (Korea, Republic of); Yoon, M [Korea University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)
2015-06-15
Purpose: The hippocampus sparing during the cranial irradiation has become interesting because it may mitigate radiation-induced neurocognitive toxicity. Herein we report our preliminary study for sparing the hippocampus with and without tilling condition for patient with brain metastases. Methods: Ten patients previously treated with whole brain were reviewed. Five patients tilted the head to around 30 degrees and others were treated without tilting. Treatment plans of linear accelerator (Linac)-based volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) were generated for prescription dose of 30 Gy in 15 fractions. Hippocampal avoidance regions were created with 5-mm volumetric expansion around the hippocampus. Whole brain, hippocampus and hippocampal avoidance volume were 1372cm3, 6cm3 and 30cm3 and hippocampal avoidance volume was 2.2% of the whole brain planned target volume in average. Organs at risk (OARs) are hippocampus, eyes, lens, and cochleae. Coverage index (CVI), conformity index (CI), homogeneity index (HI) and mean dose to OARs were used to compare dose characteristic of tilted and non-tilted cases. Results: In IMRT, when CI, CVI and HI of whole brain were 0.88, 0.09 and 0.98 in both tilted and non-tilted cases, absorbed dose of hippocampal avoidance volume in tilted cases were 10% lower than non-tilted cases. Doses in other OARs such as eyes, lens, and cochleae were also decreased about 20% when tilting the head. When CI, HI and CVI in VMAT were 0.9, 0.08 and 0.99, the dose-decreased ratio of OARs in both with and without tilting cases were almost the same with IMRT. But absolute dose of hippocampal avoidance volume in VMAT was 30% lower than IMRT. Conclusion: This study confirms that dose to hippocampus decreases if patients tilt the head. When treating the whole brain with head tilted, patients can acquire the same successful treatment Result and also preserve their valuable memory.
Turkish Version of the Student Nurse Stress Index: Validity and Reliability
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Gamze Sarikoc, PhD, RN
2017-06-01
Conclusion: Results showed that the SNSI had a satisfactory level of reliability and validity in nursing students in Turkey. Multicenter studies including nursing students from different nursing schools are recommended for the SNSI to be generalized.
Bijarania, Sunil Kumar; Saini, Sushma Kumari; Verma, Sanjay; Kaur, Sukhwinder
2017-05-01
To develop standard operational protocol (SOP) on oral drug administration and checklist to assess the implementation of the developed SOP. In this prospective methodological study, SOPs were developed in five phases. In the first phase, the preliminary draft of SOPs and checklists were prepared based on literature review, assessment of current practices and focus group discussion (FGD) with bedside working nurses. In the second phase, content validity was checked with the help of Delphi technique (12 experts). Total four drafts were prepared in stages and necessary modifications were made as per suggestions after each Delphi round. Fourth Delphi round was performed after conducting a pilot study. In the fourth phase, all bedside nurses were trained as per SOPs and asked to practice accordingly and observation of thirty oral drug administrations in children was done to check reliability of checklists for implementation of SOPs. In Phase-V, 7 FGDs were conducted with bedside nurses to assess the effectiveness of SOPs. The Content Validity Index (CVI) of SOP and checklists was 99.77%. Overall standardized Cronbach's alpha was calculated as 0.94. All the nurses felt that the SOP is useful. Valid and feasible SOP for drug administration to children through oral route along with valid and reliable checklist were developed. It is recommended to use this document for drug administration to children.
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Miroslava Přidalová
2008-01-01
Full Text Available U 3 souborů žen v mladším seniorském věku (průměrný věk 61, 63 a 66 let jsme v roce 2005, 2006 a 2007 sledovali změny v držení těla a ve tvaru páteře pomocí diagnostického přístroje DTP2 po intervenčním zásahu cíleného cvičebního programu (čínské terapeutické cvičení Chuej čchun kung. Cvičení ovlivnilo především oblast pánve, trendy naznačující zlepšení držení těla a stability nedosáhly ve všech případech statistické významnosti. Vzhledem k tomu, že technika cvičení je cíleně náročná, nesprávně provedené pozice nevedly ke zlepšení, ale projevily se nulovým efektem.Vždy byly nalezeny pozitivní změny ve smyslu zlepšení stability stoje a signifikantního posunu hrudní kyfózy k vertikále, což svědčí o zlepšení držení těla. V postavení ramen se projevila určitá rozkolísanost ve smyslu změn asymetrie ramen. Také postavení pánve reagovalo na intervenční zásahy přesuny asymetrie spinálních úhlů po 1. a 2. etapě cvičení, po 3. etapě došlo ke statisticky významnému vyrovnání levostranné asymetrie. Nalezli jsme zmenšení rozsahu titubací axiálního skeletu, což je doprovodným projevem zvýšení stability stoje. Celkově se nejlepší výsledky projevily po intervenci v roce 2007, kdy se snížil rozsah titubací ve směru osy x i y, byla zjištěna statisticky významná pozitivní změna v úpravě symetrie spina iliaca posterior superior a nalezen věcně významný trend snížení úhlových hodnot lordóz i hrudní kyfózy.Zdůvodnění těchto změn je možné najít ve zvýšeném důrazu na správné provádění technik cvičení a tím i úprav svalových dysbalancí. Subjektivní pocity seniorek byly velmi příznivé, vysoce pozitivně hodnotily pocit zlepšení stability stoje. During the years 2005, 2006, and 2007, we studied changes in the posture and spinal shape in three groups of younger female seniors (mean age 61, 63, and
Theoretical optimum of implant positional index design.
Semper, W; Kraft, S; Krüger, T; Nelson, K
2009-08-01
Rotational freedom of the implant-abutment connection influences its screw joint stability; for optimization, influential factors need to be evaluated based on a previously developed closed formula. The underlying hypothesis is that the manufacturing tolerances, geometric pattern, and dimensions of the index do not influence positional stability. We used the dimensions of 5 commonly used implant systems with a clearance of 20 microm to calculate the extent of rotational freedom; a 3D simulation (SolidWorks) validated the analytical findings. Polygonal positional indices showed the highest degrees of rotational freedom. The polygonal profile displayed higher positional stability than the polygons, but less positional accuracy than the cam-groove connection. Features of a maximal rotation-safe positional index were determined. The analytical calculation of rotational freedom of implant positional indices is possible. Rotational freedom is dependent on the geometric design of the index and may be decreased by incorporating specific aspects into the positional index design.
Peterson, Elizabeth A; Roy, Nelson; Awan, Shaheen N; Merrill, Ray M; Banks, Russell; Tanner, Kristine
2013-07-01
To examine the validity of the Cepstral Spectral Index of Dysphonia (CSID) as an objective treatment outcomes measure of dysphonia severity. Pre- and posttreatment samples of sustained vowel and connected speech productions were elicited from 112 patients across six diagnostic categories: unilateral vocal fold paralysis, adductor spasmodic dysphonia, primary muscle tension dysphonia, benign vocal fold lesions, presbylaryngis, and mutational falsetto. Listener ratings of severity in connected speech were compared with a three-factor CSID model consisting of the cepstral peak prominence (CPP), the low-to-high spectral energy ratio, and its standard deviation. Two additional variables, the CPP standard deviation and gender, were included in the five-factor CSID model to estimate severity of vowels. CSID-estimated severity for sustained vowels and connected speech was strongly associated with listener ratings pretreatment, posttreatment, and change observed pre- to posttreatment. Spectrum effects were examined, and severity of dysphonia did not influence the relationship between listener perceived severity and CSID-estimated severity. The results confirm a robust relationship between listener perceived and CSID-derived dysphonia severity estimates in sustained vowels and connected speech across diverse diagnoses and severity levels and support the clinical utility of the CSID as an objective treatment outcomes measure. Copyright © 2013 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.
Li, Jie; Li, Yi; Qian, Bao; Niu, Lihua; Zhang, Wenlong; Cai, Wei; Wu, Hainan; Wang, Peifang; Wang, Chao
2017-07-01
With the increasing human disturbance to urban rivers, the extinction and biodiversity losses of some macroorganism species decreased the accuracy of bioassessment. In this study, a novel index of biotic integrity based on bacteria (Ba-IBI) was first developed for Qinhuai River in Nanjing city, China. Thirty-two biofilm samples were collected along the river bank and the bacterial communities were identified by high-throughput sequencing. By the range, responsive, and redundancy tests, four core metrics were selected from the dataset of 78 candidate metrics, including Pielou's evenness index, proportion of Paenibacillus, proportion of OTUs tolerant to organic pollution and proportion of Nitrosomonas. The results showed that the Ba-IBI was able to effectively discriminate different impaired site groups, and had a good correlation with the index of water quality (r = 0.79, p river. Our study revealed that the Ba-IBI is an effective and reliable approach for assessing the ecological status of Qinhuai River basin, which can complement the existing ecological assessment approaches for urban rivers. Meanwhile, repeted surveys and field validations are still needed to further improve the applicability of the index in future studies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A reliable and valid index was developed to measure appropriate psychotropic drug use in dementia
van der Spek, K.; Gerritsen, D.L.; Smalbrugge, M.; Nelissen-Vrancken, M.H.J.M.; Wetzels, R.B.; Smeets, C.H.W.; Zuidema, S.U.; Koopmans, R.T.C.M.
2015-01-01
Objectives The aim of this study was to develop an index derived from the Medication Appropriateness Index (MAI) items that is suited for clinical studies evaluating appropriateness of psychotropic drug use (PDU) for neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in patients with dementia in nursing homes and to
Perception of competence in middle school physical education: instrument development and validation.
Scrabis-Fletcher, Kristin; Silverman, Stephen
2010-03-01
Perception of Competence (POC) has been studied extensively in physical activity (PA) research with similar instruments adapted for physical education (PE) research. Such instruments do not account for the unique PE learning environment. Therefore, an instrument was developed and the scores validated to measure POC in middle school PE. A multiphase design was used consisting of an intensive theoretical review, elicitation study, prepilot study, pilot study, content validation study, and final validation study (N=1281). Data analysis included a multistep iterative process to identify the best model fit. A three-factor model for POC was tested and resulted in root mean square error of approximation = .09, root mean square residual = .07, goodness offit index = .90, and adjusted goodness offit index = .86 values in the acceptable range (Hu & Bentler, 1999). A two-factor model was also tested and resulted in a good fit (two-factor fit indexes values = .05, .03, .98, .97, respectively). The results of this study suggest that an instrument using a three- or two-factor model provides reliable and valid scores ofPOC measurement in middle school PE.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Brandon J. Puckett
2018-04-01
Full Text Available Habitat suitability index (HSI models are increasingly used to guide ecological restoration. Successful restoration is a byproduct of several factors, including physical and biological processes, as well as permitting and logistical considerations. Rarely are factors from all of these categories included in HSI models, despite their combined relevance to common restoration goals such as population persistence. We developed a Geographic Information System (GIS-based HSI for restoring persistent high-relief subtidal oyster (Crassostrea virginica reefs protected from harvest (i.e., sanctuaries in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, USA. Expert stakeholder input identified 17 factors to include in the HSI. Factors primarily represented physical (e.g., salinity and biological (e.g., larval dispersal processes relevant to oyster restoration, but also included several relevant permitting (e.g., presence of seagrasses and logistical (e.g., distance to restoration material stockpile sites considerations. We validated the model with multiple years of oyster density data from existing sanctuaries, and compared HSI output with distributions of oyster reefs from the late 1800's. Of the 17 factors included in the model, stakeholders identified four factors—salinity, larval export from existing oyster sanctuaries, larval import to existing sanctuaries, and dissolved oxygen—most critical to oyster sanctuary site selection. The HSI model provided a quantitative scale over which a vast water body (~6,000 km2 was narrowed down by 95% to a much smaller suite of optimal (top 1% HSI and suitable (top 5% HSI locations for oyster restoration. Optimal and suitable restoration locations were clustered in northeast and southwest Pamlico Sound. Oyster density in existing sanctuaries, normalized for time since reef restoration, was a positive exponential function of HSI, providing validation for the model. Only a small portion (10–20% of historical reef locations
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jelena Meinilä
2016-07-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background The aim was to develop and validate a food-based diet quality index for measuring adherence to the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR in a pregnant population with high risk of gestational diabetes (GDM. Methods This study is a part of the Finnish Gestational Diabetes Prevention Study (RADIEL, a lifestyle intervention conducted between 2008 and 2014. The 443 pregnant participants (61 % of those invited, were either obese or had a history of GDM. Food frequency questionnaires collected at 1st trimester served for composing the HFII; a sum of 11 food groups (available score range 0–17 with higher scores reflecting higher adherence to the NNR. Results The average HFII of the participants was 10.2 (SD 2.8, range 2–17. Factor analysis for the HFII component matrix revealed three factors that explained most of the distribution (59 % of the HFII. As an evidence of the component relevance 9 out of 11 of the HFII components independently contributed to the total score (item-rest correlation coefficients <0.31. Saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, sucrose, and fiber intakes (among other nutrients showed linearity across the HFII categories (P ≤ 0.030 for all nutrients tested; the higher the HFII, the closer the nutrient intake to the recommended intake level. Educational attainment (P = 0.0045, BMI (P = 0.0098, smoking (P = 0.007, and leisure time physical exercise (P = 0.038 showed linearity across the HFII categories. Intra-class correlation coefficient for the HFII was 0.85 (CI 0.79, 0.90. Conclusions The HFII components reflect the food guidelines of the NNR, intakes of relevant nutrients, and characteristics known to vary with diet quality. It largely ignores energy intake, its components have independent contribution to the HFII, and it exhibits reproducibility. The main shortcomings are absence of red and processed meat component, and the validation in a
Suresh Babu, K. V.; Roy, Arijit; Ramachandra Prasad, P.
2016-05-01
Forest fire has been regarded as one of the major causes of degradation of Himalayan forests in Uttarakhand. Forest fires occur annually in more than 50% of forests in Uttarakhand state, mostly due to anthropogenic activities and spreads due to moisture conditions and type of forest fuels. Empirical drought indices such as Keetch-Byram drought index, the Nesterov index, Modified Nesterov index, the Zhdanko index which belongs to the cumulative type and the Angstrom Index which belongs to the daily type have been used throughout the world to assess the potential fire danger. In this study, the forest fire danger index has been developed from slightly modified Nesterov index, fuel and anthropogenic activities. Datasets such as MODIS TERRA Land Surface Temperature and emissivity (MOD11A1), MODIS AQUA Atmospheric profile product (MYD07) have been used to determine the dew point temperature and land surface temperature. Precipitation coefficient has been computed from Tropical Rainfall measuring Mission (TRMM) product (3B42RT). Nesterov index has been slightly modified according to the Indian context and computed using land surface temperature, dew point temperature and precipitation coefficient. Fuel type danger index has been derived from forest type map of ISRO based on historical fire location information and disturbance danger index has been derived from disturbance map of ISRO. Finally, forest fire danger index has been developed from the above mentioned indices and MODIS Thermal anomaly product (MOD14) has been used for validating the forest fire danger index.
Cook, Carolyn M; Bolinger, Elizabeth; Suhr, Julie
2016-06-01
Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be easily presented in a non-credible manner, through non-credible report of ADHD symptoms and/or by non-credible performance on neuropsychological tests. While most studies have focused on detection of non-credible performance using performance validity tests, there are few studies examining the ability to detect non-credible report of ADHD symptoms. We provide further validation data for a recently developed measure of non-credible ADHD symptom report, the Conner's Adult ADHD Rating Scales (CAARS) Infrequency Index (CII). Using archival data from 86 adults referred for concerns about ADHD, we examined the accuracy of the CII in detecting extreme scores on the CAARS and invalid reporting on validity indices of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Format (MMPI-2-RF). We also examined the accuracy of the CII in detecting non-credible performance on standalone and embedded performance validity tests. The CII was 52% sensitive to extreme scores on CAARS DSM symptom subscales (with 97% specificity) and 20%-36% sensitive to invalid responding on MMPI-2-RF validity scales (with near 90% specificity), providing further evidence for the interpretation of the CII as an indicator of non-credible ADHD symptom report. However, the CII detected only 18% of individuals who failed a standalone performance validity test (Word Memory Test), with 87.8% specificity, and was not accurate in detecting non-credible performance using embedded digit span cutoffs. Future studies should continue to examine how best to assess for non-credible symptom report in ADHD referrals. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
A Price Index Model for Road Freight Transportation and Its Empirical analysis in China
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Liu Zhishuo
2017-01-01
Full Text Available The aim of price index for road freight transportation (RFT is to reflect the changes of price in the road transport market. Firstly, a price index model for RFT based on the sample data from Alibaba logistics platform is built. This model is a three levels index system including total index, classification index and individual index and the Laspeyres method is applied to calculate these indices. Finally, an empirical analysis of the price index for RFT market in Zhejiang Province is performed. In order to demonstrate the correctness and validity of the exponential model, a comparative analysis with port throughput and PMI index is carried out.
Mannion, A F; Junge, A; Fairbank, J C T; Dvorak, J; Grob, D
2006-01-01
Patient-orientated assessment methods are of paramount importance in the evaluation of treatment outcome. The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) is one of the condition-specific questionnaires recommended for use with back pain patients. To date, no German version has been published in the peer-reviewed literature. A cross-cultural adaptation of the ODI for the German language was carried out, according to established guidelines. One hundred patients with chronic low-back pain (35 conservative, 65 surgical) completed a questionnaire booklet containing the newly translated ODI, along with a 0-10 pain visual analogue scale (VAS), the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire, and Likert scales for disability, medication intake and pain frequency [to assess ODI's construct (convergent) validity]. Thirty-nine of these patients completed a second questionnaire within 2 weeks (to assess test-retest reliability). The intraclass correlation coefficient for the test-retest reliability of the questionnaire was 0.96. In test-retest, 74% of the individual questions were answered identically, and 21% just one grade higher or lower. The standard error of measurement (SEM) was 3.4, giving a "minimum detectable change" (MDC(95%)) for the ODI of approximately 9 points, i.e. the minimum change in an individual's score required to be considered "real change" (with 95% confidence) over and above measurement error. The ODI scores correlated with VAS pain intensity (r = 0.78, P disability, medication use and pain frequency (in each case P Oswestry questionnaire is reliable and valid, and shows psychometric characteristics as good as, if not better than, the original English version. It should represent a valuable tool for use in future patient-orientated outcome studies in German-speaking lands.
Simon, Daniela; Kriston, Levente; Loh, Andreas; Spies, Claudia; Scheibler, Fueloep; Wills, Celia; Härter, Martin
2010-09-01
Validation of the German version of the Autonomy-Preference-Index (API), a measure of patients' preferences for decision making and information seeking. Stepwise confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on a sample of patients (n = 1592) treated in primary care for depression (n = 186), surgical and internal medicine inpatients (n = 811) and patients with minor trauma treated in an emergency department (n = 595). An initial test of the model was done on calculation and validation halves of the sample. Both local and global indexes-of-fit suggested modifications to the scale. The scale was modified and re-tested in the calculation sample and confirmed in the validation sample. Subgroup analyses for age, gender and type of treatment setting were also performed. The confirmatory analysis led to a modified version of the API with better local and global indexes-of-fit for samples of German-speaking patients. Two items of the sub-scale, 'preference for decision-making', and one item of the sub-scale, 'preference for information seeking', showed very low reliability scores and were deleted. Thus, several global indexes-of-fit clearly improved significantly. The modified scale was confirmed on the validation sample with acceptable to good indices of fit. Results of subgroup analyses indicated that no adaptations were necessary. This first confirmatory analysis for a German-speaking population showed that the API was improved by the removal of several items. There were theoretically plausible explanations for this improvement suggesting that the modifications might also be appropriate in English and other language versions.
Cross-validating a bidimensional mathematics anxiety scale.
Haiyan Bai
2011-03-01
The psychometric properties of a 14-item bidimensional Mathematics Anxiety Scale-Revised (MAS-R) were empirically cross-validated with two independent samples consisting of 647 secondary school students. An exploratory factor analysis on the scale yielded strong construct validity with a clear two-factor structure. The results from a confirmatory factor analysis indicated an excellent model-fit (χ(2) = 98.32, df = 62; normed fit index = .92, comparative fit index = .97; root mean square error of approximation = .04). The internal consistency (.85), test-retest reliability (.71), interfactor correlation (.26, p anxiety. Math anxiety, as measured by MAS-R, correlated negatively with student achievement scores (r = -.38), suggesting that MAS-R may be a useful tool for classroom teachers and other educational personnel tasked with identifying students at risk of reduced math achievement because of anxiety.
The Addiction Severity Index: Reliability and validity in a Dutch alcoholic population
Dejong, C.A.J.; Willems, J.C.E.W.; Schippers, G.M.; Hendriks, V.M.
1995-01-01
The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) was evaluated for its psychometric qualities in a Dutch alcoholic population admitted to an addiction treatment center in the Netherlands. Its factorial structure in this population was found to be consistent with the established six factor structure of the ASI.
Baron, Gabriel; Tubach, Florence; Ravaud, Philippe; Logeart, Isabelle; Dougados, Maxime
2007-05-15
A short version of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) function scale has recently been developed to enhance the applicability of the scale in routine practice and clinical research for patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis. The goal of the present study was to validate this short form. We conducted a prospective 4-week cohort study of 1,036 outpatients. Performance on the WOMAC function long form (LF) and short form (SF) was compared. Agreement between responses on the 2 forms was examined according to a Bland-Altman plot. Responsiveness to change (by standardized response mean [SRM]), reproducibility (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]), and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) were computed for both forms. Construct validity was assessed based on functional impairment as measured on a numerical rating scale. At baseline, 24% of patients who completed the WOMAC LF had missing data for at least 1 item as compared with only 6% of patients who completed the WOMAC SF. The mean WOMAC SF score was greater than the mean WOMAC LF score (mean +/- SD difference -4.3 +/- 4.8 on a 0-100 scale). SRMs were 0.61 and 0.73, ICCs were 0.76 and 0.68, and Cronbach's alphas were 0.93 and 0.85 for the WOMAC LF and SF, respectively. The 2 forms had comparable correlation with functional impairment. The WOMAC function short form has a low rate of missing data and is a responsive, reproducible, and valid measure. The mean SF score was 4 points higher than the mean LF score.
van den Bosch, Annette; de Jong, Menno; Elving, Wim
2006-01-01
Corporate Visual Identity (CVI) is a crucial part of the identity of any organization. Most research on managing corporate identity deals with the strategic development of corporate identity and the design and effects of specific elements of the CVI. This study focuses on an aspect of CVI management
Swift, Suzanne H.; Davidson, Roseanna C.; Weems, Linda J.
2008-01-01
Children with cortical visual impairment (CVI) exhibit distinct visual behaviors which are often misinterpreted. As the incidence of CVI is on the rise, this has subsequently caused an increased need for identification and intervention with these children from teaching and therapy service providers. Distinguishing children with CVI from children…
Indexing Creativity Fostering Teacher Behaviour: Replication and Modification
Dikici, Ayhan; Soh, Kaycheng
2015-01-01
Many measurement tools on creativity are available in the literature. One of these scales is Creativity Fostering Teacher Behaviour Index (CFTIndex) developed for Singaporean teacher originally. It was then translated into Turkish and trialled on teachers in Nigde province with acceptable reliability and factorial validity. The main purpose of…
Kutschmann, Marcus; Bardehle, Doris
2008-01-01
Within the context of preventing non-communicable diseases, the World Health Report (2002) and the WHO Global Oral Health Program (2003) put forward a new strategy of disease prevention and health promotion. Greater emphasis is placed on developing global policies in oral health promotion and oral disease prevention. The Decayed, Missing, Filled Teeth (DMFT) index does not meet new challenges in the field of oral health. Dental erosion seems to be a growing problem, and in some countries, an increase in erosion of teeth is associated with an increase in the consumption of beverages containing acids. Therefore, within a revision of the WHO Oral Health Surveys Basic Methods, new oral disease patterns, e.g. dental erosion, have to be taken into account. Within the last 20 years, many studies on dental erosion have been carried out and published. There has been a rapid growth in the number of indexes quantifying dental erosion process in different age groups. However, these indexes are not comparable. This article discusses quality criteria which an index intended for assessing tooth erosion should possess. PMID:18228060
Gao, L; Mao, C; Yu, G Y; Peng, X
2016-10-09
Objective: To translate the adult comorbidity evaluation-27(ACE-27) index authored by professor JF Piccirillo into Chinese and for the purpose of assessing the possible impact of comorbidity on survival of oral cancer patients and improving cancer staging. Methods: The translation included the following steps, obtaining permission from professor Piccirillo, translation, back translation, language modification, adjusted by the advice from the professors of oral and maxillofacial surgery. The test population included 154 patients who were admitted to Peking University of Stomatology during March 2011. Questionnaire survey was conducted on these patients. Retest of reliability, internal consistency reliability, content validity, and structure validity were performed. Results: The simplified Chinese ACE-27 index was established. The Cronbach's α was 0.821 in the internal consistency reliability test. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value of 8 items was 0.859 in the structure validity test. Conclusions: The simplified Chinese ACE-27 index has good feasibility and reliability. It is useful to assess the comorbidity of oral cancer patients.
Assessment of Differential Item Functioning in the Experiences of Discrimination Index
Cunningham, Timothy J.; Berkman, Lisa F.; Gortmaker, Steven L.; Kiefe, Catarina I.; Jacobs, David R.; Seeman, Teresa E.; Kawachi, Ichiro
2011-01-01
The psychometric properties of instruments used to measure self-reported experiences of discrimination in epidemiologic studies are rarely assessed, especially regarding construct validity. The authors used 2000–2001 data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study to examine differential item functioning (DIF) in 2 versions of the Experiences of Discrimination (EOD) Index, an index measuring self-reported experiences of racial/ethnic and gender discrimination. DIF may confound interpretation of subgroup differences. Large DIF was observed for 2 of 7 racial/ethnic discrimination items: White participants reported more racial/ethnic discrimination for the “at school” item, and black participants reported more racial/ethnic discrimination for the “getting housing” item. The large DIF by race/ethnicity in the index for racial/ethnic discrimination probably reflects item impact and is the result of valid group differences between blacks and whites regarding their respective experiences of discrimination. The authors also observed large DIF by race/ethnicity for 3 of 7 gender discrimination items. This is more likely to have been due to item bias. Users of the EOD Index must consider the advantages and disadvantages of DIF adjustment (omitting items, constructing separate measures, and retaining items). The EOD Index has substantial usefulness as an instrument that can assess self-reported experiences of discrimination. PMID:22038104
Apparently abnormal Wechsler Memory Scale index score patterns in the normal population.
Carrasco, Roman Marcus; Grups, Josefine; Evans, Brittney; Simco, Edward; Mittenberg, Wiley
2015-01-01
Interpretation of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition may involve examination of multiple memory index score contrasts and similar comparisons with Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition ability indexes. Standardization sample data suggest that 15-point differences between any specific pair of index scores are relatively uncommon in normal individuals, but these base rates refer to a comparison between a single pair of indexes rather than multiple simultaneous comparisons among indexes. This study provides normative data for the occurrence of multiple index score differences calculated by using Monte Carlo simulations and validated against standardization data. Differences of 15 points between any two memory indexes or between memory and ability indexes occurred in 60% and 48% of the normative sample, respectively. Wechsler index score discrepancies are normally common and therefore not clinically meaningful when numerous such comparisons are made. Explicit prior interpretive hypotheses are necessary to reduce the number of index comparisons and associated false-positive conclusions. Monte Carlo simulation accurately predicts these false-positive rates.
[Consequences of errors in the translation of questionnaires: Spanish version of Downton index].
Aranda-Gallardo, M; Morales-Asencio, J M; Canca-Sánchez, J C; Morales-Fernández, Á; Enríquez de Luna-Rodríguez, M; Moya-Suarez, A B; Mora-Banderas, A M; Pérez-Jiménez, C; Barrero-Sojo, S
2015-01-01
The application of screening tools to detect the risk of falls in hospitalized patients is in general use. During the development of a systematic review a serious disparity in three items of the Spanish version of the Downton index was detected, compared to the original version. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of this error and to compare the estimated risk of falls with each of these versions, its validity and internal consistency. A descriptive cross-sectional study in acute hospitalised patients was performed during 2011 in Hospital Costa del Sol, Marbella. The patients' risk of falling was assessed by the Spanish version of the Downton index, and then it was re-calculated according to the items in the original version. Sensitivity, specificity and Cronbach's alpha were calculated. Application of the original version of the index reduced the number of patients classified as "high risk" of falling by 24.2%. With the Spanish version of the tool, the possibility of being classed as "high risk" of falling was considerably 3.3 times higher (OR: 3.3). Both versions of the Downton index showed low accuracy and diagnostic validity. The sensitivity of the original scale was 28% and specificity of 82%. Its internal consistency was low (Cronbach's alpha: .51). The Downton index, given its poor accuracy and diagnostic validity, low internal consistency, and the significant error observed in its Spanish translation, is not the most appropriate tool to assess the risk of falls in hospitalised acute patients. Copyright © 2014 SECA. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.
Sinclair, Samuel Justin; Slavin-Mulford, Jenelle; Antonius, Daniel; Stein, Michelle B; Siefert, Caleb J; Haggerty, Greg; Malone, Johanna C; O'Keefe, Sheila; Blais, Mark A
2013-06-01
Research over the last decade has been promising in terms of the incremental utility of psychometric tools in predicting important clinical outcomes, such as mental health service utilization and inpatient psychiatric hospitalization. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a new Level of Care Index (LOCI) from the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). Logistic regression was initially used in a development sample (n = 253) of psychiatric patients to identify unique PAI indicators associated with inpatient (n = 75) as opposed to outpatient (n = 178) status. Five PAI variables were ultimately retained (Suicidal Ideation, Antisocial Personality-Stimulus Seeking, Paranoia-Persecution, Negative Impression Management, and Depression-Affective) and were then aggregated into a single LOCI and independently evaluated in a second validation sample (n = 252). Results indicated the LOCI effectively differentiated inpatients from outpatients after controlling for demographic variables and was significantly associated with both internalizing and externalizing risk factors for psychiatric admission (range of ds = 0.46 for history of arrests to 0.88 for history of suicidal ideation). The LOCI was additionally found to be meaningfully associated with measures of normal personality, performance-based tests of psychological functioning, and measures of neurocognitive (executive) functioning. The clinical implications of these findings and potential utility of the LOCI are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.
Urinary hemosiderin: role in evaluation of chronic venous insufficiency
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ashish Lal Shrestha
2012-08-01
Full Text Available Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI leads to skin changes with dermal hemosiderin deposition. We studied the presence of hemosiderin in the urine to assess if this could be used as a biochemical marker for CVI. Hereby we present a case control study conducted in a tertiary care centre in South India. There were 100 cases with evidence of advanced CVI (the Clinical-Etiology-Anatomy-Pathophysiology classification: C5, C6 confirmed by duplex scanning. Controls were 50 patients with leg ulcers due to other etiologies. All patients were subjected to urinary hemosiderin testing. In all 100 patients with CVI (C5 and C6 disease axial venous reflux was confirmed by duplex ultrasound. Superficial venous reflux was noted in 71% of patients and deep venous reflux in 54.%. Primary venous insufficiency was the etiology in 81% of patients. Only 4/100 patients had detectable amounts of hemosiderin in the urine. Urine hemosiderin testing to determine presence or absence of CVI yielded the following values: positive predictive value-80%; negative predictive value-33%; sensitivity-4% and specificity-98%. The test could not be recommended as a marker of CVI. In Indian patients urinary hemosiderin is not a useful screening test in CVI.
Chokron, Sylvie; Dutton, Gordon N.
2016-01-01
Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) has become the primary cause of visual impairment and blindness in children in industrialized countries. Its prevalence has increased sharply, due to increased survival rates of children who sustain severe neurological conditions during the perinatal period. Improved diagnosis has probably contributed to this increase. As in adults, the nature and severity of CVI in children relate to the cause, location and extent of damage to the brain. In the present paper, we define CVI and how this impacts on visual function. We then define developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and discuss the link between CVI and DCD. The neuroanatomical correlates and aetiologies of DCD are also presented in relationship with CVI as well as the consequences of perinatal asphyxia (PA) and preterm birth on the occurrence and nature of DCD and CVI. This paper underlines why there are both clinical and theoretical reasons to disentangle CVI and DCD, and to categorize the features with more precision. In order to offer the most appropriate rehabilitation, we propose a systematic and rapid evaluation of visual function in at-risk children who have survived preterm birth or PA whether or not they have been diagnosed with cerebral palsy or DCD. PMID:27757087
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sylvie Chokron
2016-10-01
Full Text Available Cerebral visual impairment (CVI has become the primary cause of visual impairment and blindness in children in industrialized countries. Its prevalence has increased sharply, due to increased survival rates of children who sustain severe neurological conditions during the perinatal period. Improved diagnosis has probably contributed to this increase. As in adults, the nature and severity of CVI in children relate to the cause, location and extent of damage to the brain. In the present paper, we define CVI and how this impacts on visual function. We then define DCD and discuss the link between CVI and DCD. The neuroanatomical correlates and aetiologies of DCD are also presented in relationship with CVI as well as the consequences of perinatal asphyxia and preterm birth on the occurrence and nature of DCD and CVI. This paper underlines why there are both clinical and theoretical reasons to disentangle CVI and DCD, and to categorise the features with more precision. In order to offer the most appropriate rehabilitation, we propose a systematic and rapid evaluation of visual function in at-risk children who have survived preterm birth or perinatal asphyxia whether or not they have been diagnosed with cerebral palsy or DCD.
Gradient index metamaterials realized by drilling hole arrays
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Mei Zhonglei; Cui Tiejun; Bai Jing
2010-01-01
Gradient index metamaterials have wide applications in the microwave and optical fields. Based on the quasi-static theory, such materials at the microwave band have been realized by drilling hole arrays on ordinary dielectric materials. As applications of the gradient index metamaterials, novel devices including a 45 0 dielectric wave-bending structure, a 16 0 wave-steering lens and a microwave focusing lens are designed and fabricated. Field mapping measurements validate the proposed gradient index metamaterials and the device designs. The method can be directly and easily extended to the design of cloaks, various lenses, beam shifters and beam-steering devices. It can also be applied in the optical band as long as quasi-static conditions are satisfied. The method and the devices may find applications in integrated circuit systems.
Confirmatory factor analysis of the female sexual function index.
Opperman, Emily A; Benson, Lindsay E; Milhausen, Robin R
2013-01-01
The Female Sexual Functioning Index (Rosen et al., 2000 ) was designed to assess the key dimensions of female sexual functioning using six domains: desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain. A full-scale score was proposed to represent women's overall sexual function. The fifth revision to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) is currently underway and includes a proposal to combine desire and arousal problems. The objective of this article was to evaluate and compare four models of the Female Sexual Functioning Index: (a) single-factor model, (b) six-factor model, (c) second-order factor model, and (4) five-factor model combining the desire and arousal subscales. Cross-sectional and observational data from 85 women were used to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis on the Female Sexual Functioning Index. Local and global goodness-of-fit measures, the chi-square test of differences, squared multiple correlations, and regression weights were used. The single-factor model fit was not acceptable. The original six-factor model was confirmed, and good model fit was found for the second-order and five-factor models. Delta chi-square tests of differences supported best fit for the six-factor model validating usage of the six domains. However, when revisions are made to the DSM-5, the Female Sexual Functioning Index can adapt to reflect these changes and remain a valid assessment tool for women's sexual functioning, as the five-factor structure was also supported.
Kruithof, WJ; Post, MWM; Meily, JMA
2015-01-01
Objective: To compare the psychometric properties of the Caregiver Strain Index Expanded with those of the original Caregiver Strain Index among partners of stroke patients. Design and subjects: Cross-sectional validation study among 173 caregivers of stroke patients six months post-stroke. Main
Ramírez-Vélez, Robinson; Correa-Bautista, Jorge Enrique; González-Ruíz, Katherine; Vivas, Andrés; García-Hermoso, Antonio; Triana-Reina, Hector Reynaldo
2016-01-01
The body adiposity index (BAI) is a recent anthropometric measure proven to be valid in predicting body fat percentage (BF%) in some populations. However, the results have been inconsistent across populations. This study was designed to verify the validity of BAI in predicting BF% in a sample of overweight/obese adults, using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) as the reference method. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 48 participants (54% women, mean age 41.0 ± 7.3 years old). DEXA was used as the “gold standard” to determine BF%. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the association between BAI and BF%, as assessed by DEXA. A paired sample t-test was used to test differences in mean BF% obtained with BAI and DEXA methods. To evaluate the concordance between BF% as measured by DEXA and as estimated by BAI, we used Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient and Bland–Altman agreement analysis. The correlation between BF% obtained by DEXA and that estimated by BAI was r = 0.844, p < 0.001. Paired t-test showed a significant mean difference in BF% between methods (BAI = 33.3 ± 6.2 vs. DEXA 39.0 ± 6.1; p < 0.001). The bias of the BAI was −6.0 ± 3.0 BF% (95% CI = −12.0 to 1.0), indicating that the BAI method significantly underestimated the BF% compared to the reference method. Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient was considered stronger (ρc = 0.923, 95% CI = 0.862 to 0.957). In obese adults, BAI presented low agreement with BF% measured by DEXA; therefore, BAI is not recommended for BF% prediction in this overweight/obese sample studied. PMID:27916871
Reis, Ana Luiza; Reis, Leonardo Oliveira; Saade, Ricardo Destro; Santos, Carlos Alberto; Lima, Marcelo Lopes de; Fregonesi, Adriano
2015-01-01
To validate the Quality of Erection Questionnaire (QEQ) considering Brazilian social-cultural aspects. To determine equivalence between the Portuguese and the English QEQ versions, the Portuguese version was back-translated by two professors who are native English speakers. After language equivalence had been determined, urologists considered the QEQ Portuguese version suitable. Men with self-reported erectile dysfunction (ED) and infertile men who had a stable sexual relationship for at least 6 months were invited to answer the QEQ, the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) and the RAND 36-Item Health Survey (RAND-36). The questionnaires were presented together and answered without help in a private room. Internal consistency (Cronbach's α), test-retest reliability (Spearman), convergent validity (Spearman correlation) coefficients and known-groups validity (the ability of the QEQ Portuguese version to differentiate erectile dysfunction severity groups) were assessed. We recruited 197 men (167 ED patients and 30 non-ED patients), mean age of 53.3 and median of 55.5 years (23-82 years). The Portuguese version of the QEQ had high internal consistency (Cronbach α=0.93), high stability between test and retest (ICC 0.83, with IC 95%: 0.76-0.88, pPortuguese version presented good psychometric properties and high convergent validity in relation to IIEF. The low correlations between the QEQ and the RAND-36, as well as between the IIEF and the RAND-36 indicated IIEF and QEQ specificity, which may have resulted from the patients' psychological adaptations that minimized the impact of ED on Quality of Life (QoL) and reestablished the well-being feeling.
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Long Jiao
2015-05-01
Full Text Available The quantitative structure property relationship (QSPR for the boiling point (Tb of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs was investigated. The molecular distance-edge vector (MDEV index was used as the structural descriptor. The quantitative relationship between the MDEV index and Tb was modeled by using multivariate linear regression (MLR and artificial neural network (ANN, respectively. Leave-one-out cross validation and external validation were carried out to assess the prediction performance of the models developed. For the MLR method, the prediction root mean square relative error (RMSRE of leave-one-out cross validation and external validation was 1.77 and 1.23, respectively. For the ANN method, the prediction RMSRE of leave-one-out cross validation and external validation was 1.65 and 1.16, respectively. A quantitative relationship between the MDEV index and Tb of PCDD/Fs was demonstrated. Both MLR and ANN are practicable for modeling this relationship. The MLR model and ANN model developed can be used to predict the Tb of PCDD/Fs. Thus, the Tb of each PCDD/F was predicted by the developed models.
Zhang, Yanping; Liu, Changjun; Yan, Fuhai; Liu, Ailing; Cheng, Yun; Li, Zhijie; Sun, Guorong; Lv, Hongchao; Wang, Xiaomei
2017-08-24
Gallid herpesvirus 2 (GaHV-2) continuously evolves, which reduces the effectiveness of existing vaccines. To construct new GaHV-2 candidate vaccines, LMS, which is a virulent GaHV-2 field strain isolated from diseased chicken flocks in Southwest China in 2007, was modified such that both copies of its meq oncogene were partially deleted. The resulting virus, i.e., rMSΔmeq, was characterized using PCR and sequencing. To evaluate the safety and protective efficacy of rMSΔmeq, specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens were inoculated with 2000 plaque forming units (pfu) and 20,000pfu of rMSΔmeq immediately after hatching. All birds grew well during the experimental period, and none of the challenged chickens developed Marek's disease-associated lymphoma. In addition, the rMSΔmeq- and CVI988/Rispens-vaccinated SPF chickens were challenged with 1000 pfu and 5000 pfu of the representative virulent GaHV-2 Md5 strain and 1000 pfu of the variant GaHV-2 strains LCC or LTS. The results showed that the rMSΔmeq strain provided complete protection, which was similar to that provided by the CVI988/Rispens vaccine (protective index (PI) of 95.5) when challenged with a conventional dose of the Md5 strain. However, rMSΔmeq provided a PI of 90.9 when challenged with 5000 pfu of the Md5 strain, which was significantly higher than that provided by the CVI988/Rispens vaccine (54.5). rMSΔmeq provided a PI of 86.4 against LCC, which was equal to that provided by the CVI988/Rispens vaccine (81.8). In addition, rMSΔmeq provided a PI of 100 against LTS, which was significantly higher than that provided by the CVI988/Rispens vaccine (68.2). Altogether, the rMSΔmeq virus provided efficient protection against representative and variant GaHV-2 strains. In conclusion, the rMSΔmeq virus is a safe and effective vaccine candidate for the prevention of Marek's disease and is effective against the Chinese variant GaHV-2 strains. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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Steward, Michael J.; Punwani, Shonit; Proctor, Ian; Adjei-Gyamfi, Yvette; Chatterjee, Fiona; Bloom, Stuart; Novelli, Marco; Halligan, Steve; Rodriguez-Justo, Manuel
2012-01-01
Objectives: To develop and validate a qualitative scoring system for enteric Crohn's disease activity using MR enterography (MRE). Methods: MRE was performed in 16 patients (mean age 33, 8 male) undergoing small bowel resection. Mural thickness, T2 signal, contrast enhancement, and perimural oedema were scored qualitatively (0–3) at 44 locations. Transmural histopathological scoring of acute inflammation (AIS) was performed at all locations (score 0–13). MRI parameters best predicting AIS were derived using multivariate analysis. The MRI activity index was applied to 26 Crohn's patients (mean age 32, range 13–69 years, 15 male) and correlated to terminal ileal biopsy scores of acute inflammation (“eAIS” score 1–6). Receiver operator characteristic curves were calculated. Results: Mural thickness (coefficient 1.34 (95% CI 0.36, 2.32)], p = 0.007) and T2 signal (coefficient 0.90 (95% CI −0.24, 2.04) p = 0.06) best predicted AIS (AIS = 1.79 + 1.34*mural thickness + 0.94*mural T2 score [R-squared 0.52]). There was a significant correlation between the MRI index and eAIS (Kendall's tau = 0.40, 95% CI 0.11–0.64, p = 0.02). The model achieved a sensitivity of 0.81 (95% CI 0.54–0.96), specificity of 0.70 (0.35–0.93) and AUC 0.77 for predicting acute inflammation (eAIS ≥2). Conclusions: A simple qualitative MRI Crohn's disease activity score appears predictive against a histopathological standard of reference
Hudda, M T; Nightingale, C M; Donin, A S; Fewtrell, M S; Haroun, D; Lum, S; Williams, J E; Owen, C G; Rudnicka, A R; Wells, J C K; Cook, D G; Whincup, P H
2017-07-01
Body mass index (BMI) (weight per height 2 ) is the most widely used marker of childhood obesity and total body fatness (BF). However, its validity is limited, especially in children of South Asian and Black African origins. We aimed to quantify BMI adjustments needed for UK children of Black African and South Asian origins so that adjusted BMI related to BF in the same way as for White European children. We used data from four recent UK studies that made deuterium dilution BF measurements in UK children of White European, South Asian and Black African origins. A height-standardized fat mass index (FMI) was derived to represent BF. Linear regression models were then fitted, separately for boys and girls, to quantify ethnic differences in BMI-FMI relationships and to provide ethnic-specific BMI adjustments. We restricted analyses to 4-12 year olds, to whom a single consistent FMI (fat mass per height 5 ) could be applied. BMI consistently underestimated BF in South Asians, requiring positive BMI adjustments of +1.12 kg m - 2 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.83, 1.41 kg m - 2 ; PAfricans, requiring negative BMI adjustments for Black African children. However, these were complex because there were statistically significant interactions between Black African ethnicity and FMI (P=0.004 boys; P=0.003 girls) and also between FMI and age group (PAfricans. Ethnic-specific adjustments, increasing BMI in South Asians and reducing BMI in Black Africans, can improve the accuracy of BF assessment in these children.
Levitzky, Benjamin E; Brown, Colin C; Heeren, Timothy C; Schroy, Paul C
2011-06-01
Tailoring the use of screening colonoscopy based on the risk of advanced proximal neoplasia (APN) has been advocated as a strategy for reducing demand and optimizing effectiveness. A 7-point index based on age, sex, and distal findings at sigmoidoscopy has been proposed that stratifies individuals into low, intermediate, and high-risk categories. The aim of this cross-sectional analysis was to determine the validity of this index, which was originally derived and validated among mostly whites, for black and Hispanic patients. Data, including age, sex, colonoscopic findings, and pathology, were collected retrospectively from 1,481 white, 1,329 black, and 689 Hispanic asymptomatic, average-risk patients undergoing screening colonoscopy between 2000 and 2005. Cumulative scores ranging from 0 to 7 were derived for each subject and categorized as low, intermediate, or high risk. Rates of APN were assessed for each risk category after stratification by race/ethnicity. Index performance was assessed using the C-statistic and compared across the three racial groups. Rates of APN among patients categorized as low, intermediate, or high risk increased from 1.0 to 2.8 to 3.7% for whites, 1.0 to 2.2 to 4.2% for blacks, and 0.6 to 1.9 to 3.7% for Hispanics. The index performed similarly for all three groups, but showed limited ability to discriminate low from intermediate-risk patients, with C-statistic values of 0.62 for whites, 0.63 for blacks, and 0.68 for Hispanics. A risk index based on age, sex, and distal endoscopic findings has limited ability to discriminate low from intermediate-risk white, black, and Hispanic patients for APN.
Cultural adaptation and content validation of the Single-Question for screening alcohol abuse
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Marjorie Ester Dias Maciel
2018-03-01
Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective Describing the stages of translation, cultural adaptation and content validation of the Single-Question into Brazilian Portuguese, which will be named Questão Chave. Method This study is a cultural adaptation. The instrument was translated into Portuguese as two independent versions which led to a synthesis of translations (S1, and later to the synthesis S2, which was then submitted to evaluation by a Committee of Expert Judges in the area of alcohol use and instrument validation. The Content Validity Index and Kappa agreement coefficient were calculated from this evaluation. Results The judges evaluated the Questão Chave regarding the clarity of the sentence and aspects related to the quality of the translation (cultural adaptation, preservation of original meaning and correct use of technical terms. The Content Validity Index was 1 for clarity of sentence and correct use of technical terms, and 0.8 for adaptation and preservation of the original meaning. The Kappa index for concordance among the judges was 0.83. After an adjustment proposed by the judges, the S3 version was originated. Conclusion The Questão Chave had its content validity confirmed, which supports future studies that aim for its application in the target population to verify their psychometric properties.
Predictive validity of the Work Ability Index and its individual items in the general population.
Lundin, Andreas; Leijon, Ola; Vaez, Marjan; Hallgren, Mats; Torgén, Margareta
2017-06-01
This study assesses the predictive ability of the full Work Ability Index (WAI) as well as its individual items in the general population. The Work, Health and Retirement Study (WHRS) is a stratified random national sample of 25-75-year-olds living in Sweden in 2000 that received a postal questionnaire ( n = 6637, response rate = 53%). Current and subsequent sickness absence was obtained from registers. The ability of the WAI to predict long-term sickness absence (LTSA; ⩾ 90 consecutive days) during a period of four years was analysed by logistic regression, from which the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (AUC) was computed. There were 313 incident LTSA cases among 1786 employed individuals. The full WAI had acceptable ability to predict LTSA during the 4-year follow-up (AUC = 0.79; 95% CI 0.76 to 0.82). Individual items were less stable in their predictive ability. However, three of the individual items: current work ability compared with lifetime best, estimated work impairment due to diseases, and number of diagnosed current diseases, exceeded AUC > 0.70. Excluding the WAI item on number of days on sickness absence did not result in an inferior predictive ability of the WAI. The full WAI has acceptable predictive validity, and is superior to its individual items. For public health surveys, three items may be suitable proxies of the full WAI; current work ability compared with lifetime best, estimated work impairment due to diseases, and number of current diseases diagnosed by a physician.
A cautionary note on the use of information fit indexes in covariance structure modeling with means
Wicherts, J.M.; Dolan, C.V.
2004-01-01
Information fit indexes such as Akaike Information Criterion, Consistent Akaike Information Criterion, Bayesian Information Criterion, and the expected cross validation index can be valuable in assessing the relative fit of structural equation models that differ regarding restrictiveness. In cases
Spatial contrast sensitivity vision loss in children with cortical visual impairment.
Good, William V; Hou, Chuan; Norcia, Anthony M
2012-11-19
Although cortical visual impairment (CVI) is the leading cause of bilateral vision impairment in children in Western countries, little is known about the effects of CVI on visual function. The aim of this study was to compare visual evoked potential measures of contrast sensitivity and grating acuity in children with CVI with those of age-matched typically developing controls. The swept parameter visual evoked potential (sVEP) was used to measure contrast sensitivity and grating acuity in 34 children with CVI at 5 months to 5 years of age and in 16 age-matched control children. Contrast thresholds and spatial frequency thresholds (grating acuities) were derived by extrapolating the tuning functions to zero amplitude. These thresholds and maximal suprathreshold response amplitudes were compared between groups. Among 34 children with CVI, 30 had measurable but reduced contrast sensitivity with a median threshold of 10.8% (range 5.0%-30.0% Michelson), and 32 had measurable but reduced grating acuity with median threshold 0.49 logMAR (9.8 c/deg, range 5-14 c/deg). These thresholds were significantly reduced, compared with age-matched control children. In addition, response amplitudes over the entire sweep range for both measures were significantly diminished in children with CVI compared with those of control children. Our results indicate that spatial contrast sensitivity and response amplitudes are strongly affected by CVI. The substantial degree of loss in contrast sensitivity suggests that contrast is a sensitive measure for evaluating vision deficits in patients with CVI.
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HAKAN SARITAŞ
2013-06-01
Full Text Available Proponents of the efficient market hypothesis believe that active portfolio management is largely wasted effort and unlikely to justify the expenses incurred. Therefore, they advocate a passive investment strategy that makes no attempt to outsmart the market. One common strategy for passive management is indexing where a fund is designed to replicate the performance of a broad-based index of stocks and bonds. Traditionally, indexing was used by institutional investors, but today, the use of index funds proliferated among individual investors. Over the years, both international and domestic index funds have disproportionately outperformed the market more than the actively managed funds have.
A new valid formula in differentiating iron deficiency Anemia from beta-thalassemia trait
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Keikhaei, B.
2010-01-01
Objective: To compare the validity of a new index (Hb X RDW X 100/ (RBC)/sup 2/ X MCHC) with twelve discriminating functions (DFs) to differentiate iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and beta-thalassemia trait (beta-TT). Methodology: A total of 823 patients (317 IDA and 506 beta-TT) aged 15 to 35 year old were enrolled in this study. The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity and other validity parameters were calculated to assess the diagnostic reliability of the novel index [Keikhaei index (KI)] vis-a-vis the other published DFs [Mentzer Index (MI), Green and King Index (G and KI), red cell distribution width index (RDWI), England and Fraser Index (E and FI), Bessman and Feinstein index (B and FI), Telmissani et al index (TI), Srivastava and Bevington index (S and BI), Shine and Lal index (S and LI), Ricerca et al index (RI), Ehsani et al index (EI), Sirdah et al index (SI), and Red Blood Cell Count(RBC)] were calculated in all patients. Results: All thirteen DFs did not have the sensitivity and specificity of 100%. The KI, RDWI, Gand KI and E and FI showed the most sensitivity and specificity for both IDA and TT; moreover, the lowest reliable indices belonged to B and FI, SandLI and RI. Conclusion: According to Youden's index (YI), DFs in the order of highest to lowest were KI > G and KI > RDWI > E and FI > RBC> M I> EI > TI > SI > S and BI > RI> SandLI >B and FI. (author)
Park, Sung Shin; Kwon, Tack-Kyun; Choi, Seong Hee; Lee, Won Yong; Hong, Young Hye; Jeong, Nyun Gi; Sung, Myung-Whun; Kim, Kwang Hyun
2013-01-01
The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of the Pediatric Voice Handicap Index (pVHI) for cross-cultural adaptation of the Korean version with school age children. The questionnaire was translated into Korean and was completed by 101 Korean parents who have children with or without disordered voice. The Korean version-pVHI scores were obtained with 60 parents of normal children and 41 parents who have children with voice problems. Content validity was verified by five experienced speech-language pathologists with clinical specialization in voice disorders. Internal consistency was calculated through Cronbach's α coefficient and test-retest reliability of the Korean version-pVHI score was determined using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare GRBAS with the Korean version-pVHI scores between normal and dysphonia group. The relationship between the parent-reported the Korean version-pVHI total scores and perceptual ratings of voice quality from experts was investigated using Spearman correlation coefficients. The results showed that the Korean version-pVHI provided a high internal consistency (α=0.92) and test-retest reliability of its subscales: total (T) 0.97, functional (F) 0.90, physical (P) 0.95, emotional (E) 0.92. The Korean version-pVHI mean scores in normal group were 1.28 (T), 0.62 (F), 0.35 (P) and 0.32 (E), respectively whereas those of the Korean version-pVHI in children group with dysphonia were 23.13 (T), 8.90 (F), 9.54 (P) and 4.93 (E). Significant differences in the Korean version-pVHI (T, F, P, E) and perceptual evaluation (grade, rough, breathy) between normal and dysphonia group were revealed (PKorean version-pVHI parameters (T) and perceptual measures (G) was exhibited in children with dysphonia. The subjective Korean version-pVHI can be applicable and useful supplementary tool for evaluating parents' perception of their children's voice dysfunction, identifying
Khanjari, Sedigheh; Oskouie, Fatemeh; Langius-Eklöf, Ann
2012-02-01
To translate and test the reliability and validity of the Persian version of the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer scale. Research across many countries has determined quality of life of cancer patients, but few attempts have been made to measure the quality of life of family caregivers of patients with breast cancer. The Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer scale was developed for this purpose, but until now, it has not been translated into or tested in the Persian language. Methodological research design. After standard translation, the 35-item Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer scale was administered to 166 Iranian family caregivers of patients with breast cancer. A confirmatory factor analysis was carried out using LISREL to test the scale's construct validity. Further, the internal consistency and convergent validity of the instrument were tested. For convergent validity, four instruments were used in the study: sense of coherence scale, spirituality perspective scale, health index and brief religious coping scale. The confirmatory factor analysis resulted in the same four-factor structure as the original, though, with somewhat different item loadings. The Persian version of the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer scales had satisfactory internal consistency (0·72-0·90). Tests of convergent validity showed that all hypotheses were confirmed. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis additionally confirmed the convergent validity between the total Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer score and sense of coherence (β = 0·34), negative religious coping (β = -0·21), education (β = 0·24) and the more severe stage of breast cancer (β = 0·23), in total explaining 41% of the variance. The Persian version of the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer scale could be a reliable and valid measure in Iranian family caregivers of patients with breast cancer. The Persian version of the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer scale is simple to
Test-retest reliability of the Work Ability Index questionnaire
de Zwart, B. C. H.; Frings-Dresen, M. H. W.; Van Duivenbooden, J. C.
2002-01-01
The goal of the study was to assess the test-retest reliability of the Work Ability Index (WAI) questionnaire. Reliability was tested using a test-retest design with a 4 week interval between measurements. Valid data were collected among 97 elderly construction workers aged 40 years and older. We
A Novel Pupillometric Method for Indexing Word Difficulty in Individuals with and without Aphasia
Chapman, Laura R.; Hallowell, Brooke
2015-01-01
Purpose: Cognitive effort is a clinically important facet of linguistic processing that is often overlooked in the assessment and treatment of people with aphasia (PWA). Furthermore, there is a paucity of valid ways to index cognitive effort in PWA. The construct of cognitive effort has been indexed for decades via pupillometry (measurement of…
The de Morton Mobility Index (DEMMI: An essential health index for an ageing world
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Davidson Megan
2008-08-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Existing instruments for measuring mobility are inadequate for accurately assessing older people across the broad spectrum of abilities. Like other indices that monitor critical aspects of health such as blood pressure tests, a mobility test for all older acute medical patients provides essential health data. We have developed and validated an instrument that captures essential information about the mobility status of older acute medical patients. Methods Items suitable for a new mobility instrument were generated from existing scales, patient interviews and focus groups with experts. 51 items were pilot tested on older acute medical inpatients. An interval-level unidimensional mobility measure was constructed using Rasch analysis. The final item set required minimal equipment and was quick and simple to administer. The de Morton Mobility Index (DEMMI was validated on an independent sample of older acute medical inpatients and its clinimetric properties confirmed. Results The DEMMI is a 15 item unidimensional measure of mobility. Reliability (MDC90, validity and the minimally clinically important difference (MCID of the DEMMI were consistent across independent samples. The MDC90 and MCID were 9 and 10 points respectively (on the 100 point Rasch converted interval DEMMI scale. Conclusion The DEMMI provides clinicians and researchers with a valid interval-level method for accurately measuring and monitoring mobility levels of older acute medical patients. DEMMI validation studies are underway in other clinical settings and in the community. Given the ageing population and the importance of mobility for health and community participation, there has never been a greater need for this instrument.
Escobar, A; Quintana, J M; Bilbao, A; Azkárate, J; Güenaga, J I
2002-11-01
The aim of this study was to validate a translated version of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) questionnaire in Spanish patients with hip or knee osteoarthritis (OA). The WOMAC questionnaire and the SF-36 were administered to a sample of 269 patients on the waiting list for hip or knee replacement. We studied the convergent validity and the item-scale correlation using Pearson's correlation coefficient and Spearman's pi. For the reliability study we used another sample of 58 patients who received the WOMAC twice within 15 days. The Pearson's, Spearman's pi, and intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated. Internal consistency was measured by Cronbach's alpha. The responsiveness study was carried out by resending the two questionnaires to all patients 6 months after surgical intervention; responsiveness was measured by means of the paired t-test, the effect size I and the standardised response mean. The Pearson's coefficients for the convergent validity ranged from -0.52 to -0.63. The coefficients obtained for the item-scale correlation of the pain area were 0.74 or higher, 0.91 or higher for stiffness, and 0.61 or higher for function. When measuring the test-retest reliability, the coefficients ranged from 0.66 to 0.81. Internal consistency yielded a Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.81 to 0.93. The responsiveness showed an effect size I ranging from 1.5 to 2.2 in patients who underwent hip replacement; for those who underwent knee replacement the range was 1 to 1.8. The standardised response mean ranged from 1.3 to 1.9 for patients with hip OA; those with knee OA ranged from 0.8 to 1.5. The Spanish version of WOMAC is a valid, reliable and responsive instrument in patients with hip or knee OA.
The Summary Index of Malaria Surveillance (SIMS: a stable index of malaria within India
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Sharma Vinod P
2010-02-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Malaria in India has been difficult to measure. Mortality and morbidity are not comprehensively reported, impeding efforts to track changes in disease burden. However, a set of blood measures has been collected regularly by the National Malaria Control Program in most districts since 1958. Methods Here, we use principal components analysis to combine these measures into a single index, the Summary Index of Malaria Surveillance (SIMS, and then test its temporal and geographic stability using subsets of the data. Results The SIMS correlates positively with all its individual components and with external measures of mortality and morbidity. It is highly consistent and stable over time (1995-2005 and regions of India. It includes measures of both vivax and falciparum malaria, with vivax dominant at lower transmission levels and falciparum dominant at higher transmission levels, perhaps due to ecological specialization of the species. Conclusions This measure should provide a useful tool for researchers looking to summarize geographic or temporal trends in malaria in India, and can be readily applied by administrators with no mathematical or scientific background. We include a spreadsheet that allows simple calculation of the index for researchers and local administrators. Similar principles are likely applicable worldwide, though further validation is needed before using the SIMS outside India.
Construction of Index System Based on Advanced Persistent Threat
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Lin Jia
2017-01-01
Full Text Available With the proliferation of advanced persistent threat (APT, APT attack effect evaluation is playing an increasingly important role in cyberspace. As one of the hot issues of network security, the evaluation to its attack effect can quantify the harm caused by APT. Then according to the evaluation results, we can derive specific measures to the network attack. At present, a lot of work has done in the network attack effect evaluation index system. However, a significant barrier to the development of APT attack effect evaluation is that the existing index system is either from the point of view of the network security situation, or for a single attack weapons to customize. In this paper, an evaluation index system is proposed through analysing the features of APT. Through this index system, we can not only quantify APT attack effect, but also visually observe the APT ability from various angles. Then, we use the analytic hierarchy process (AHP to model the evaluation process and calculate the weight of each indicator. Finally, the Ukrainian Power Outages is taken as an example to validate the proposed index system. The experimental results verify the effectiveness of the index system.
Rérolle, Camille; Saint-Martin, Pauline; Dedouit, Fabrice; Rousseau, Hervé; Telmon, Norbert
2013-09-10
The first step in the identification process of bone remains is to determine whether they are of human or nonhuman origin. This issue may arise when only a fragment of bone is available, as the species of origin is usually easily determined on a complete bone. The present study aims to assess the validity of a morphometric method used by French forensic anthropologists to determine the species of origin: the corticomedullary index (CMI), defined by the ratio of the diameter of the medullary cavity to the total diameter of the bone. We studied the constancy of the CMI from measurements made on computed tomography images (CT scans) of different human bones, and compared our measurements with reference values selected in the literature. The measurements obtained on CT scans at three different sites of 30 human femurs, 24 tibias, and 24 fibulas were compared between themselves and with the CMI reference values for humans, pigs, dogs and sheep. Our results differed significantly from these reference values, with three exceptions: the proximal quarter of the femur and mid-fibular measurements for the human CMI, and the proximal quarter of the tibia for the sheep CMI. Mid-tibial, mid-femoral, and mid-fibular measurements also differed significantly between themselves. Only 22.6% of CT scans of human bones were correctly identified as human. We concluded that the CMI is not an effective method for determining the human origin of bone remains. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Neuro-Ophthalmological Disorders in Cerebral Palsy: Ophthalmological, Oculomotor, and Visual Aspects
Fazzi, Elisa; Signorini, Sabrina G.; La Piana, Roberta; Bertone, Chiara; Misefari, Walter; Galli, Jessica; Balottin, Umberto; Bianchi, Paolo Emilio
2012-01-01
Aim: Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) is a disorder caused by damage to the retrogeniculate visual pathways. Cerebral palsy (CP) and CVI share a common origin: 60 to 70% of children with CP also have CVI. We set out to describe visual dysfunction in children with CP. A further aim was to establish whether different types of CP are associated with…
The development and validation of a test of science critical thinking for fifth graders.
Mapeala, Ruslan; Siew, Nyet Moi
2015-01-01
The paper described the development and validation of the Test of Science Critical Thinking (TSCT) to measure the three critical thinking skill constructs: comparing and contrasting, sequencing, and identifying cause and effect. The initial TSCT consisted of 55 multiple choice test items, each of which required participants to select a correct response and a correct choice of critical thinking used for their response. Data were obtained from a purposive sampling of 30 fifth graders in a pilot study carried out in a primary school in Sabah, Malaysia. Students underwent the sessions of teaching and learning activities for 9 weeks using the Thinking Maps-aided Problem-Based Learning Module before they answered the TSCT test. Analyses were conducted to check on difficulty index (p) and discrimination index (d), internal consistency reliability, content validity, and face validity. Analysis of the test-retest reliability data was conducted separately for a group of fifth graders with similar ability. Findings of the pilot study showed that out of initial 55 administered items, only 30 items with relatively good difficulty index (p) ranged from 0.40 to 0.60 and with good discrimination index (d) ranged within 0.20-1.00 were selected. The Kuder-Richardson reliability value was found to be appropriate and relatively high with 0.70, 0.73 and 0.92 for identifying cause and effect, sequencing, and comparing and contrasting respectively. The content validity index obtained from three expert judgments equalled or exceeded 0.95. In addition, test-retest reliability showed good, statistically significant correlations ([Formula: see text]). From the above results, the selected 30-item TSCT was found to have sufficient reliability and validity and would therefore represent a useful tool for measuring critical thinking ability among fifth graders in primary science.
Conservation Priority Index for Estuarine Fish (COPIEF)
Branco, Paulo; Costa, José Lino; Raposo de Almeida, Pedro
2008-12-01
Public awareness regarding environmental issues has increased in recent decades. The increasing number of impact assessment studies, management and conservation plans, as well as ecological monitoring studies, demand new and more efficient techniques. Indices are an important tool to aid biologists in these studies and should allow an easier comprehension of the data by managers, decision-makers and the general public. This study presents the first multi-metrical index able to establish a hierarchical ordination of the conservation priority of the estuarine fish species using 72 species from 16 estuarine systems (W and S coasts of Portugal). The index is composed of 10 metrics, comprising species life traits, distribution and population trends. The information needed to score each metric was gathered from the published literature and the index validation was done by external means. This methodology allowed the definition of those fish species most in need of conservation planning, and those less prone to extinction in Portuguese estuarine systems. The proposed index fills a gap in our knowledge and provides a useful tool to the scientific community and to the decision-makers, being a breakthrough in the field of conservation planning of estuarine fish species.
Cross validation for the classical model of structured expert judgment
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Colson, Abigail R.; Cooke, Roger M.
2017-01-01
We update the 2008 TU Delft structured expert judgment database with data from 33 professionally contracted Classical Model studies conducted between 2006 and March 2015 to evaluate its performance relative to other expert aggregation models. We briefly review alternative mathematical aggregation schemes, including harmonic weighting, before focusing on linear pooling of expert judgments with equal weights and performance-based weights. Performance weighting outperforms equal weighting in all but 1 of the 33 studies in-sample. True out-of-sample validation is rarely possible for Classical Model studies, and cross validation techniques that split calibration questions into a training and test set are used instead. Performance weighting incurs an “out-of-sample penalty” and its statistical accuracy out-of-sample is lower than that of equal weighting. However, as a function of training set size, the statistical accuracy of performance-based combinations reaches 75% of the equal weight value when the training set includes 80% of calibration variables. At this point the training set is sufficiently powerful to resolve differences in individual expert performance. The information of performance-based combinations is double that of equal weighting when the training set is at least 50% of the set of calibration variables. Previous out-of-sample validation work used a Total Out-of-Sample Validity Index based on all splits of the calibration questions into training and test subsets, which is expensive to compute and includes small training sets of dubious value. As an alternative, we propose an Out-of-Sample Validity Index based on averaging the product of statistical accuracy and information over all training sets sized at 80% of the calibration set. Performance weighting outperforms equal weighting on this Out-of-Sample Validity Index in 26 of the 33 post-2006 studies; the probability of 26 or more successes on 33 trials if there were no difference between performance
Psychometric Properties of an Instrument to Measure Mother-Infant Togetherness After Childbirth.
Lawrence, Carol L; Norris, Anne E
2016-01-01
The purpose of this research was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a new instrument to measure mother-infant togetherness, Mother-Infant Togetherness Survey (MITS). Stage 1 examined content validity. Stage 2 pretested the readability and understandability and further examined content validity. Stage 3 examined women's ability to accurately self-report on the Delivery Events subscale. Stages 4 and 5 examined construct validity. Good content validity was obtained at the scale/subscale level (CVI = .91-1.00). Internal consistency reliability was evaluated at the scale/subscale level (α = .62-.89). Construct validity was supported with known groups testing and factor analysis. Study findings provide support for the reliability and validity of the MITS. Future research should be done to improve the internal consistency reliability of the Postpartum Events subscale.
The COPD Helplessness Index: a new tool to measure factors affecting patient self-management.
Omachi, Theodore A; Katz, Patricia P; Yelin, Edward H; Iribarren, Carlos; Knight, Sara J; Blanc, Paul D; Eisner, Mark D
2010-04-01
Psychologic factors affect how patients with COPD respond to attempts to improve their self-management skills. Learned helplessness may be one such factor, but there is no validated measure of helplessness in COPD. We administered a new COPD Helplessness Index (CHI) to 1,202 patients with COPD. Concurrent validity was assessed through association of the CHI with established psychosocial measures and COPD severity. The association of helplessness with incident COPD exacerbations was then examined by following subjects over a median 2.1 years, defining COPD exacerbations as COPD-related hospitalizations or ED visits. The CHI demonstrated internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = 0.75); factor analysis was consistent with the CHI representing a single construct. Greater CHI-measured helplessness correlated with greater COPD severity assessed by the BODE (Body-mass, Obstruction, Dyspnea, Exercise) Index (r = 0.34; P Controlling for sociodemographics and smoking status, helplessness was prospectively associated with incident COPD exacerbations (hazard ratio = 1.31; P controlling for the BODE Index, helplessness remained predictive of COPD exacerbations among subjects with BODE Index useful tool in analyzing differential clinical responses mediated by patient-centered attributes.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Bos Nanne
2012-08-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Assessment of patients’ views are essential to provide a patient-centred health service and to evaluating quality of care. As no standardized and validated system for measuring patients’ experiences in accident and emergency departments existed, we have developed the Consumer Quality index for the accident and emergency department (CQI A&E. Methods Qualitative research has been undertaken to determine the content validity of the CQI A&E. In order to assess psychometric characteristics an 84-item questionnaire was sent to 653 patients who had attended a large A&E in the Netherlands. Also, fifty importance questions were added to determine relevance of the questions and for future calculations of improvement scores. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to detect the domains of the questionnaire. Results Survey data of 304 (47% patients were used for the analysis. The first exploratory factor analysis resulted in three domains based on 13 items: ‘Attitude of the healthcare professionals’, ‘Environment and impression of the A&E’ and ‘Respect for and explanation to the patient’. The first two had an acceptable internal consistency. The second analysis, included 24 items grouped into 5 domains: ‘Attitude of the healthcare professionals’, ‘Information and explanation’, ‘Environment of the A&E’,’Leaving the A&E’ and ‘General information and rapidity of care’. All factors were internal consistent. According to the patients, the three most important aspects in healthcare performance in the A&E were: trust in the competence of the healthcare professionals, hygiene in the A&E and patients’ health care expectations. In general, the highest improvement scores concerned patient information. Conclusions The Consumer Quality index for the accident and emergency department measures patients’ experiences of A&E healthcare performance. Preliminary psychometric characteristics are sufficient to justify
An adaptation of the MMPI-2 Meyers Index for the MMPI-2-RF.
Meyers, John E; Miller, Ronald M; Haws, Nathan A; Murphy-Tafiti, Jason L; Curtis, Thomas D; Rupp, Zachary W; Smart, Taylor A; Thompson, Lisa M
2014-01-01
Using an overall sample of 278 individuals who had taken the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Second Edition (MMPI-2) and who had clear diagnostic information available in their medical records, the Meyers Index (MI) for the MMPI-2 (Meyers, Millis, & Volkert, 2002 ) was calculated for each individual, and a new version of the MI created for the MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) was calculated. The MI is a method of combining multiple MMPI-2 validity scales into a single weighted index to assess exaggerated self-report on the MMPI-2. The new index is intended to provide the same type of global assessment of validity but for the MMPI-2-RF (MI-r). The MI and the MI-r were compared at both individual and group levels and were found to correlate well (r = .87). Diagnostic groups of litigants and nonlitigants of traumatic brain injury, chronic pain, and posttraumatic stress disorder were also examined; and the performance of the MI and the MI-r were similar. Similarly, the pass and fail agreement rate for the two scales was 93%. The results indicate that the MI and MI-r perform very similarly and are good methods of assessing overall validity of MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF test performance.
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Schrader, Anne-Marie Voss; Lisby, Karen H; King, Catriona
2012-01-01
Introduction. The Ability Index was developed to classify patients with congenital heart disease into four functional classes. Functional class is typically determined by the cardiologist, based on data from a clinical interview. The validity of the Ability Index as assessed by the patient has...
Lim, T O; Das, A; Rampal, S; Zaki, M; Sahabudin, R M; Rohan, M J; Isaacs, S
2003-10-01
We adapted the English International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) into Malay. This was difficult as many sex-related terms do not exist in colloquial Malay. In the pretest, there was no difficulty with comprehension and all subjects judged the Malay IIEF equivalent to the English IIEF. After slight modification, a final instrument was evaluated in two studies. Study A included 136 subjects. It showed that the instrument had good reliability and discriminant validity. The factor structure of the English IIEF was not reproducible. Study B included 26 ED subjects who underwent oral sildenafil therapy. The Malay IIEF was sensitive to treatment response. The area under the ROC curve of the Malay IIEF-5 was 0.86; the optimal cutoff score has a sensitivity of 85% and specificity of 75%. The results suggest that the Malay IIEF requires more work, but the Malay IIEF-5 has acceptable measurement properties to recommend its use in clinical practice and research.
Validity and reliability of the Fels physical activity questionnaire for children.
Treuth, Margarita S; Hou, Ningqi; Young, Deborah R; Maynard, L Michele
2005-03-01
The aim was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Fels physical activity questionnaire (PAQ) for children 7-19 yr of age. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 130 girls and 99 boys in elementary (N=70), middle (N=81), and high (N=78) schools in rural Maryland. Weight and height were measured on the initial school visit. All the children then wore an Actiwatch accelerometer for 6 d. The Fels PAQ for children was given on two separate occasions to evaluate reliability and was compared with accelerometry data to evaluate validity. The reliability of the Fels PAQ for the girls, boys, and the elementary, middle, and high school age groups range was r=0.48-0.76. For the elementary school children, the correlation coefficient examining validity between the Fels PAQ total score and Actiwatch (counts per minute) was 0.34 (P=0.004). The correlation coefficients were lower in middle school (r=0.11, P=0.31) and high school (r=0.21, P=0.006) adolescents. The sport index of the Fels PAQ for children had the highest validity in the high school participants (r=0.34, P=0.002). The Fels PAQ for children is moderately reliable for all age groups of children. Validity of the Fels PAQ for children is acceptable for elementary and high school students when the total activity score or the sport index is used. The sport index was similar to the total score for elementary students but was a better measure of physical activity among high school students.
Chakhssi, Farid; de Ruiter, Corine; Bernstein, David
2010-01-01
The Behavioural Status Index (BEST-Index) has been introduced into Dutch forensic psychiatry to measure change in risk level of future violence. The BEST-Index is a structured observational measure that assesses aggressive behavior, degree of insight, social skills, self-care, and work and leisure skills during inpatient treatment. Thus far,…
Hudda, M T; Nightingale, C M; Donin, A S; Fewtrell, M S; Haroun, D; Lum, S; Williams, J E; Owen, C G; Rudnicka, A R; Wells, J C K; Cook, D G; Whincup, P H
2017-01-01
Background/Objectives: Body mass index (BMI) (weight per height2) is the most widely used marker of childhood obesity and total body fatness (BF). However, its validity is limited, especially in children of South Asian and Black African origins. We aimed to quantify BMI adjustments needed for UK children of Black African and South Asian origins so that adjusted BMI related to BF in the same way as for White European children. Methods: We used data from four recent UK studies that made deuterium dilution BF measurements in UK children of White European, South Asian and Black African origins. A height-standardized fat mass index (FMI) was derived to represent BF. Linear regression models were then fitted, separately for boys and girls, to quantify ethnic differences in BMI–FMI relationships and to provide ethnic-specific BMI adjustments. Results: We restricted analyses to 4–12 year olds, to whom a single consistent FMI (fat mass per height5) could be applied. BMI consistently underestimated BF in South Asians, requiring positive BMI adjustments of +1.12 kg m−2 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.83, 1.41 kg m−2; Pchildren. However, these were complex because there were statistically significant interactions between Black African ethnicity and FMI (P=0.004 boys; P=0.003 girls) and also between FMI and age group (Pchildren with higher unadjusted BMI and the smallest in older children with lower unadjusted BMI. Conclusions: BMI underestimated BF in South Asians and overestimated BF in Black Africans. Ethnic-specific adjustments, increasing BMI in South Asians and reducing BMI in Black Africans, can improve the accuracy of BF assessment in these children. PMID:28325931
Image Vector Quantization codec indexes filtering
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Lakhdar Moulay Abdelmounaim
2012-01-01
Full Text Available Vector Quantisation (VQ is an efficient coding algorithm that has been widely used in the field of video and image coding, due to its fast decoding efficiency. However, the indexes of VQ are sometimes lost because of signal interference during the transmission. In this paper, we propose an efficient estimation method to conceal and recover the lost indexes on the decoder side, to avoid re-transmitting the whole image again. If the image or video has the limitation of a period of validity, re-transmitting the data wastes the resources of time and network bandwidth. Therefore, using the originally received correct data to estimate and recover the lost data is efficient in time-constrained situations, such as network conferencing or mobile transmissions. In nature images, the pixels are correlated with their neighbours and VQ partitions the image into sub-blocks and quantises them to the indexes that are transmitted; the correlation between adjacent indexes is very strong. There are two parts of the proposed method. The first is pre-processing and the second is an estimation process. In pre-processing, we modify the order of codevectors in the VQ codebook to increase the correlation among the neighbouring vectors. We then use a special filtering method in the estimation process. Using conventional VQ to compress the Lena image and transmit it without any loss of index can achieve a PSNR of 30.429 dB on the decoder. The simulation results demonstrate that our method can estimate the indexes to achieve PSNR values of 29.084 and 28.327 dB when the loss rate is 0.5% and 1%, respectively.
An Index of Susceptibility to Drought (ISD for the Semiarid Brazilian Northeast
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Josemir Araujo Neves
2016-06-01
Full Text Available Abstract This work presents the development of a composite Index of Susceptibility to Drought (ISD for semiarid Brazilian Northeast that considers climatology, physical properties, soil usage, social and economic aspects, the risk of harvest losses and the shortage of human and animal drinking water. The index started with the Index FUNCEME of drought Severity (IFS, developed by FUNCEME. Then, it evolved to use some tools proposed by the Joint Research Centre/Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (JRC/OECD, as well as techniques of multiple imputation for missing data and data winsorization. The work was tested and validated with real data from Rio Grande do Norte State in three climatologic scenarios (dry, regular and rainy. A multivariate analysis test and a Monte Carlo simulation were also produced for a sensibility and strength analysis of the developed model. These analyses validated the composition model and the obtained results with real data. The ISD can be used as a tool to support decision makers in various government levels to help guide the actions for the drought-affected areas.
Cheng, Guo; Duan, Ruonan; Kranz, Sibylle; Libuda, Lars; Zhang, Lishi
2016-04-01
A composite measure of diet quality is preferable to an index of nutrients, food groups, or health-promoting behaviors in dietary assessment. However, to date, such a tool for Chinese children is lacking. Based on the current Chinese Dietary Guidelines and Dietary Reference Intakes, a dietary index for Chinese school-aged children, the Chinese Children Dietary Index was developed to assess overall diet quality among children in South China. Dietary data were recorded using 24-hour recalls among 1,719 children aged 7 to 15 years between March and June 2013. Inactivity data and sociodemographic information were also collected. The Chinese Children Dietary Index included 16 components, which incorporated nutrients, foods/food groups, and health-promoting behaviors. The range of possible Chinese Children Dietary Index scores was 0 to 160, with a higher score indicating better diet quality. Pearson/Spearman correlation was used to assess relative validity using correlations between total Chinese Children Dietary Index score and age, body mass index (BMI; calculated as kg/m(2)), inactivity, whole-grain intake, frequency of fried-foods intake, nutrient adequacy ratios for energy intake and 12 nutrients not included in the Chinese Children Dietary Index, and the mean adequacy ratio. Finally, a stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed to indicate the factors correlated with Chinese Children Dietary Index. Mean Chinese Children Dietary Index score of this sample was 88.1 points (range=34.2 to 137.8), the Chinese Children Dietary Index score of girls was higher than that of boys and decreased with higher age. Children with higher Chinese Children Dietary Index had lower body mass index and spent less time being inactive. Positive associations were observed between Chinese Children Dietary Index and the majority of nutrient adequacy ratios and the mean adequacy ratio. Age, paternal educational level, and family size were correlated with Chinese Children Dietary
New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index
Charles J. Hadlock; Joshua R. Pierce
2010-01-01
We collect detailed qualitative information from financial filings to categorize financial constraints for a random sample of firms from 1995 to 2004. Using this categorization, we estimate ordered logit models predicting constraints as a function of different quantitative factors. Our findings cast serious doubt on the validity of the KZ index as a measure of financial constraints, while offering mixed evidence on the validity of other common measures of constraints. We find that firm size a...
To, Wing Ting; Vanheule, Stijn; Vanderplasschen, Wouter; Audenaert, Kurt; Vandevelde, Stijn
2014-11-12
There is an increasing interest in screening instruments to detect intellectual disability (ID) in a quick and accurate way in mental health services as well as in the criminal justice system in order to provide appropriate support for people with undetected needs caused by ID. An instrument that has been proven to be useful in both settings is the Hayes Ability Screening Index (HASI). This study assessed the validity of the Dutch version of the HASI in persons with a substance abuse problem residing in mental health services, whether or not mandated to treatment by court order. The HASI was conducted along with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III as the criterion for validity to 90 participants. Additionally, the influence of psychiatric disorder and medication use on the HASI result was examined. A significant positive relationship was found between the two instruments, demonstrating convergent validity. Using a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, the discriminative ability of the HASI with a cut-off score of 85 was found to be adequate, yielding in a good balance between sensitivity and specificity. The HASI was not distorted by the presence of the substance abuse problem or other psychiatric illnesses and medication did not influence the HASI scores in this study. These findings indicate that the HASI provides a time-efficient and resource-conscious way to detect ID in persons with a substance problem, thus addressing a critical need in mental health settings. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Vilaiyuk, Soamarat; Torok, Kathryn S.; Medsger, Thomas A.
2010-01-01
Objective. To develop and assess the psychometric properties of the Localized Scleroderma (LS) Skin Damage Index (LoSDI) and Physician Global Assessment of disease Damage (PGA-D). Methods. Damage was defined as irreversible/persistent changes (>6 months) due to previous active disease/complications of therapy. Eight rheumatologists assessed the importance of 17 variables in formulating the PGA-D/LoSDI. LS patients were evaluated by two rheumatologists using both tools to assess their psychometric properties. LoSDI was calculated by summing three scores for cutaneous features of damage [dermal atrophy (DAT), subcutaneous atrophy (SAT) and dyspigmentation (DP)] measured at 18 anatomic sites. Patient GA of disease severity (PtGA-S), Children's Dermatology Life Quality Index (CDLQI) and PGA-D were recorded at the time of each examination. Results. Thirty LS patients (112 lesions) and nine patient-visit pairs (18 lesions) were included for inter- and intra-rater reliability study. LoSDI and its domains DAT, SAT, DP and PGA-D demonstrated excellent inter- and intra-rater reliability (reliability coefficients 0.86–0.99 and 0.74–0.96, respectively). LoSDI correlated moderately with PGA-D and poorly with PtGA-S and CDLQI. PGA-D correlated moderately with PtGA-S, but poorly with CDLQI. Conclusions. To complete the LS Cutaneous Assessment Tool (LoSCAT), we developed and evaluated the psychometric properties of the LoSDI and PGA-D in addition to the LS Skin Severity Index (LoSSI). These instruments will facilitate evaluation of LS patients for individual patient management and clinical trials. LoSDI and PGA-D demonstrated excellent reliability and high validity. LoSCAT provides an improved understanding of LS natural history. Further study in a larger group of patients is needed to confirm these preliminary findings. PMID:20008472
The Addiction Severity Index: Reliability and validity in a Dutch alcoholic population
Dejong, C.A.J.; Willems, J.C.E.W.; Schippers, G.M.; Hendriks, V.M.
1995-01-01
The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) was evaluated for its psychometric qualities in a Dutch alcoholic population admitted to an addiction treatment center in the Netherlands. Its factorial structure in this population was found to be consistent with the established six factor structure of the ASI. Reliability analysis revealed that the homogeneity of the subscales was acceptable with the exception of the Alcohol Scale. The six subscales were not highly intercorrelated. The results of this stud...
A Factor Analysis of The Social Interest Index--Revised.
Zarski, John J.; And Others
1983-01-01
Factor analyzed the Social Interest Index-Revised (SII-R), which measures levels of social interest attained in each of four life task areas. Four factors (N=308) were defined, i.e., a self-significance factor, a love factor, a friendship factor, and a work factor. Results support the empirical validity of the scale. (Author/PAS)
Molica, Stefano; Giannarelli, Diana; Mirabelli, Rosanna; Levato, Luciano; Russo, Antonio; Linardi, Maria; Gentile, Massimo; Morabito, Fortunato
2016-01-01
A comprehensive prognostic index that includes clinical (i.e., age, sex, ECOG performance status), serum (i.e., ß2-microglobulin, thymidine kinase [TK]), and molecular (i.e., IGVH mutational status, del 17p, del 11q) markers developed by the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) was externally validated in a prospective, community-based cohort consisting of 338 patients with early chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) using as endpoint the time to first treatment (TTFT). Because serum TK was not available, a slightly modified version of the model based on seven instead of eight prognostic variables was used. By German index, 62.9% of patients were scored as having low-risk CLL (score 0-2), whereas 37.1% had intermediate-risk CLL (score 3-5). This stratification translated into a significant difference in the TTFT [HR = 4.21; 95% C.I. (2.71-6.53); P reliability [HR = 2.73; 95% C.I. (1.79-4.17); P German score. The c-statistic of the MDACC model was 0.65 (range, 0.53-0.78) a level below that of the German index [0.71 (range, 0.60-0.82)] and below the accepted 0.7 threshold necessary to have value at the individual patient level. Results of this external comparative validation analysis strongly support the German score as the benchmark for comparison of any novel prognostic scheme aimed at evaluating the TTFT in patients with early CLL even when a modified version which does not include TK is utilized. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.