Psychometric Properties

The aim of this study was to systematically review the psychometric properties, interpretability and feasibility of self-report pain intensity measures for children and adolescents for use in clinical trials evaluating pain treatments. Databases were searched for selfreport measures of single-item ratings of pain intensity for children aged 3-18 years. A total of 34 single-item self-report measures were found. The measures' psychometric properties, interpretability and feasibility, were evaluated independently by two investigators according to a set of psychometric criteria. Six single-item measures met the a priori criteria and were included in the final analysis. While these six scales were determined as psychometrically sound and show evidence of responsivity, they had varying degrees of interpretability and feasibility. No single scale was found to be optimal for use with all types of pain or across the developmental age span. Specific recommendations regarding the most psychometrically sound and feasible measures based on age/developmental level and type of pain are discussed. Future research is needed to strengthen the measurement of pain in clinical trials with children. Ó

En el estudio se analizaron las propiedades psicométricas de una escala para medir afrontamiento de estudiantes universitarios a ciberagresiones. Se seleccionó de forma no probabilística a 346 estudiantes de educación superior, 85.8% mujeres (M=20.74, DE=3.33 años) y 14.2% hombres (M=20.84, DE=2.30 años) de una universidad pública del sur de Sonora (México). Se llevó a cabo el análisis factorial exploratorio y confirmatorio, así como de fiabilidad con los coeficientes de Alfa de Cronbach, Omega de McDonald y el análisis de la varianza media extractada. Los resultados arrojaron un modelo de medida sustentable del afrontamiento a la ciberagresión integrado por tres factores: búsqueda de apoyo social, solución técnica evasiva y solución técnica proactiva. Se concluye que la escala cuenta con las propiedades psicométricas necesarias para su empleo en la medición del constructo entre estudiantes universitarios.

The present study aimed to explore the psychometric properties of the Coach-Athlete Relationship
Questionnaire (CART-Q) in the Chinese language. Based on the 3+1Cs of the coach-athlete
relationship conceptual model (Jowett, 2007a), the CART-Q aims to measure three interpersonal
psychological constructs, namely: closeness, commitment, and complementarity from a direct
perspective and a meta-perspective (see Jowett, 2009). This study examined the factorial validity
of both direct and meta-perspective versions of the translated CART-Q in the Chinese language
with a sample of 246 elite Chinese athletes by using confirmatory factor analysis. Its concurrent
validity was also examined via a three-step mediation analysis using structural equation modelling.
Overall, findings provided tenable support for the validity and reliability of the two CART-Q
versions within the Chinese coach-athlete relationship context. The possibility of subtle cultural
variations in the multidimensional conception of coach-athlete relationships are discussed alongside
implications for theory, research, and practice.

Keywords: chinese athletes, coach-athlete relationships, CART-Q, validity, reliability

Background: The development of a brief valid tool to screen for depression in patients with advanced cancer is important. This paper reports data on the psychometric properties of the Brief Edinburgh Depression Scale. Method: Two hundred and forty six patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria completed the 10-item EDS and Present State Examination. Results: Factor extraction revealed 6 items from the ten item EDS. The most valid cut off for defining a case, using the PSE diagnosis as the "gold-standard", was a score of 6 out of 18 on the Brief Edinburgh Depression Scale which gave a sensitivity of 72% and specificity of 83% with a PPV of 65.1% and NPV of 87.1%. Conclusions: The six item EDS is a brief and sensitive method of screening for depression in advanced cancer patientsthis novel use of the Edinburgh depression scale may have a significant impact on the assessment and thus management of this distressing symptom.

In this study, measures of irrational beliefs based on the principles of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) were reviewed and contrasted based on psychometric characteristics and quality of guidelines for interpretation. The use of measures of irrational beliefs is an important component of the assessment of presenting problems in psychotherapy and may inform clinical decision making. Additionally, these measures are a helpful way to identify change in irrational beliefs and to measure the effectiveness of specific interventions to facilitate such change. While there are a number of measures of beliefs, there is considerable variability in their psychometric properties and utility for assessment. The majority of the tests are not produced by a publishing company, nor do they provide test manuals. The reliability and validity evidence presented in the publications varies considerably as do the size and quality of standardization samples, which impacts upon the ability to draw normative conclusions. Analyses demonstrated that most measures of irrational beliefs do not provide the evidence needed to adequately address the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (Standards; American Educational Research Association [AERA], American Psychological Association [APA], National Council on Measurement in Education [NCME] 1999). Discussion of the implications of this review for the development of future measures of irrational thinking by researchers as well as recommendations in the test selection process for an REBT practitioner is offered.

Major aim of current study is to examine psychometric properties of self-esteem implicit association test. Special goals to examine the test-retest reliability, internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity. Our population was the students of Shahid Beheshti University and 300 undergraduate and graduate students were selected through purposive sampling. Also 50 students from faculty of Education and psychology were selected in order to examine test- retest reliability. Results showed that test- retest reliability and internal consistency was 0.52 and 0.63 respectively. Also convergent validity with name-letter test and discriminant validity with Rosenberg explicit self-esteem both obtained 0.06. The results of current study, consistent with previous research, indicating that self-esteem IAT has an appropriate reliability and internal consistency, impoverished convergent validity and acceptable discriminant validity. These results can be interpreted. نﺎﮔژاو

This article describes the construction of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI), and 5 studies that examined its psychometric properties. Factor analysis indicated 11 distinct factors: Winning, Emotional Control, Risk-Taking, Violence, Dominance, Playboy, Self-Reliance, Primacy of Work, Power Over Women, Disdain for Homosexuals, and Pursuit of Status. Results from Studies 2-5 indicated that the CMNI had strong internal consistency estimates and good differential validity comparing men with women and groups of men on healthrelated questions; all of the CMNI subscales were significantly and positively related to other masculinity-related measures, with several subscales being related significantly and positively to psychological distress, social dominance, aggression, and the desire to be more muscular, and significantly and negatively to attitudes toward psychological help seeking and social desirability; and CMNI scores had high test-retest estimates for a 2-3 week period.

Health Organization (WHO) defines the concept of HRQoL as an individual's perception of his position in life in the context of his culture and value systems, and in relation to his objectives, expectations, norms and anxieties. It is a very broad concept, which is influenced in a complex manner by the physical health of the person, his psychological state, level of dependence, social relations and his relation with the essential elements of his environment . HRQoL is of tremendous importance, both for the patient and for his family [2]. HRQoL is an approach that makes it possible to obtain the patient's personal viewpoint, as well as information about the

Noncompliance with neuroleptic treatment is a major barrier to delivery of effective treatment for schizophrenia outpatients. This article describes the development of a standardized measure for the assessment of attitudinal and behavioral factors influencing patient compliance with neuroleptic treatment. The Rating of Medication Influences (ROMI) scale was developed as part of a longitudinal study of neuroleptic noncompliance in schizophrenia and administered to 115 discharged schizophrenia outpatients. Analyses of the following were conducted to assess the scale's psychometric properties: (1) interrater reliability, (2) internal consistency, (3) principal components, (4) correlation with other subjective measures, and (5) correlation with independent family reports. Most (95%) of the ROMI patient-report items were reliable, whereas rater-judgment items were not reliable. The rater section was dropped. A principal components analysis of the reliable patient-report items yielded three subscales related to compliance (Prevention, Influence of Others, and Medication Affinity) and five subscales related to noncompliance (Denial/ Dysphoria, Logistical Problems, Rejection of Label, Family Influence, and Negative Therapeutic Alliance). There were significant correlations between these subscales, and independently obtained family-report ROMI items were significant. The Denial/ Dysphoria subscale correlated strongly with two other published measures of dysphoric response to neuroleptics, whereas the other noncompliance sub-scales did not The ROMI is a reliable and valid instrument that can be used to assess the patient's subjective reasons for medication compliance and noncompliance. The subscale findings suggest that the ROMI provides a more comprehensive data base for patient-reported compliance attitudes than the other available subjective measures. Indications for use of the ROMI and other subjective measures of neuroleptic response are reviewed.

Palliative care aims at improving the patient’s quality of life. The assessment of this quality of life (QoL) is crucial for the evaluation of palliative care outcome. Many patients require hospital admissions for symptom control during their cancer journey and most of them die in hospitals, although they would like to stay at home until the end of their lives. In 1986, the European Organization for Research and Treatment (EORTC) initiated a research programme to develop an integrated, modular approach for evaluating the quality of life of patients participating in international clinical trials. This questionnaire measures cancer patients’ physical, psychological and social functions and was used in a wide range of clinical cancer trials with large numbers of research groups and also in various other non-trial studies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties, especially the reliability, validity and applicability of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in a German sample of t...

Theories regarding susceptibility to emotional contagion, which address the ease of "catching" the emotions expressed by others, have recently received growing interest in the field of social psychology and health. Despite the theoretical and empirical importance, reliable and valid instruments to assess emotional contagion in men and women from cultures outside the English-speaking world are not well developed. The present study examines the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Greek adaptation of the Emotional Contagion Scale (ECS), and is a first attempt to test its measurement invariance across gender and culture groups (Greece and Sweden). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of competing models supports a five-factor model that includes the five basic emotions of anger, fear, sadness, happiness, and love. Using multiple-group CFA and a sequence of nested tests, configural invariance and partial metric and partial scalar invariance across gender and culture groups of the five-factor model were demonstrated. The results show that meaningful comparisons of ECS can be made across men and women from different cultures and support the hypothesis that susceptibility to emotional contagion operates at a differential emotions level.

The purpose of this study was to develop a Portuguese version of the Epilepsy Surgery Inventory (ESI-55) and to assess its psychometric properties. Sixty patients with temporal lobe epilepsy related to unilateral mesial temporal sclerosis who underwent presurgical evaluation at the Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) formed the sample for this study. The psychometric properties of the ESI-55 included: reliability, validity, and responsiveness. Internal consistency was high in all domains (Cronbach's a ranging from 0.76 for Social Function to 0.88 for Physical Function) except Overall Quality of Life (a = 0.45). Test-retest reliability after 1 week was good, with the intraclass correlation coefficient ranging from 0.79 (Energy/Fatigue) to 0.92 (Role Limitations due to Emotional Problems). Interrater reliability ranged from 0.84 (Cognitive Function) to 0.94 (Role Limitations due to Physical Problems). For construct validity, we verified a high correlation between the ESI-55 and Health Assessment Questionnaire-8 for the Physical Function domain (Pearson linear correlation = À0.84), and a moderate correlation for the Pain domain (P = À0.58), but for the other subscales no correlation was detected. Beck Depression Inventory and ESI-55 domains were highly statistically correlated (ANOVA: P < 0.005), but there was no association of the Cognitive Function and Role Limitations due to Memory Problems subscales with neuropsychological evaluation (Pearson coefficient: P > 0.05). With respect to demographic characteristics, a statistically significant correlation was observed for the variable educational level (Student t, P < 0.005) and ESI-55 scores. There was a high correlation between seizure frequency and ESI-55 domains for clinical variables (ANOVA, P < 0.005). Surgical treatment in this series improved health-related quality of life in the seizure-free group in three domains-Health Perception (1.24), Emotional Well-Being (1.32), and Energy/Fatigue (1.48)-as reflected by the standard response mean and the effect size of the sample. Our results support the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the ESI-55 as a measure of health-related quality of life.

The purpose of the study was to compare the psychometric properties of four established pain scales in a population of hospitalized older adults (mean age, 76 years) with varying levels of cognitive impairment. Patients made ratings of current pain three times/day for 7 days. They also made retrospective daily, weekly, and biweekly ratings of usual, worst, and least pain levels over a 14-day period. Ratings were made on four different scales, varying in numeric and verbal demands: a ®ve-point verbal rating scale, a seven-point faces pain scale, a horizontal 21-point (0±100) box scale, and two vertical 21-point (0±20) box scales (measuring pain intensity and pain unpleasantness). The accuracy, reliability, construct validity, postdictive validity, and bias susceptibility of each scale were evaluated. The horizontal 21-point box scale emerged as the best scale with respect to both psychometrics and validity, regardless of mental status. Pain intensity did not vary as a function of mental status. Retrospective estimates of pain varied by mental status: a combination of usual/worst pain was best for cognitively impaired patients, while a combination of usual/least pain was best for unimpaired patients. These ®ndings support the use of the 21-point box scale for pain assessment in older patients, including those with mild-to-moderate cognitive impairment. They also support the ability of older, cognitively impaired patients to rate pain reliably and validly.

This study tested the reliability and validity of Goal-Attainment Scaling (GAS) in assessing outcome in Mann's Time-Limited Psychotherapy (TLP). Judges constructed GAS scales for 33 patients on five dimensions: severity of symptoms, self-esteem, same-sex friendships, romantic relationships, and work performance. Patients in the treatment group received 12 sessions of TLP, whereas controls were in a waiting list for the same period of time (12 weeks) before starting time-limited psychotherapy. Judges rated all patients on GAS before beginning therapy, at termination, and follow-up. Mean interrater reliability of scores between pairs of judges was r ϭ .88. Convergent validity of the GAS was confirmed by moderate to high correlations with the Health-Sickness Rating Scale (r ϭ .70, p Ͻ .001), the Target Complaints Scale (r ϭ .50, p Ͻ .01), and the Brief Symptom Inventory (r ϭ .38, p Ͻ .05). The findings are discussed and recommendations are made for the reliable and valid use of the GAS in psychotherapy outcome research.

This study used a community sample of 954 participants (475 girls and 479 boys; aged between 10.9 and 17.3 years and from the city of Barcelona) and a risk group of 78 participants (35 men and 43 women; derived from the community sample) that have exceeded ≥95 percentile ...

Objective. Th e present study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of a Persian version of the Female Sexual Distress Scale-Revised (P-FSDS-R) among a sample of healthy Iranian women. Methods. A total of 562 healthy Iranian women completed a battery of questionnaires, including the P-FSDS-R, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS), Positive and Negative Aff ect Scales (PANAS) and Locke-Wallace-Marital Adjustment Test (LWMAT). Th e factor structure and the convergent and divergent validity of the P-FSDS-R were examined, using exploratory and confi rmatory factor analysis and Pearson product-moment correlations, respectively. To examine the discriminant validity of the P-FSDS-R, data collected from 562 healthy participants were compared with data from 108 women with sexual problems who completed the P-FSDS-R measure. Results. Th e results of exploratory and confi rma-tory factor analyses indicate that the P-FSDS-R is conceptualized within a one-factor model. Th e results also indicate that the P-FSDS-R has good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Signifi cant correlations in the predicted directions between the P-FSDS-R scores and the scores of DASS, PANAS and LWMAT support both the convergent and divergent validity of the FSDS-R. Th e results also indicate that the scores of the P-FSDS-R tests signifi cantly diff erentiated women with and without sexual problems. Conclusions. In general, these fi ndings support the reliability and the validity of the P-FSDS-R among Iranian women.

Objective: To develop and psychometrically test a brief patient-report instrument for measuring Shared Decision Making (SDM) in clinical encounters. Methods: We revised an existing instrument (Shared Decision Making Questionnaire; SDM-Q), including the generation of new items and changing the response format. A 9-item version (SDM-Q-9) was developed and tested in a German primary care sample of 2351 patients via face validity ratings, investigation of acceptance, as well as factor and reliability analysis. Findings were cross-validated in a randomly selected subsample. Results: The SDM-Q-9 showed face validity and high acceptance. Factor analysis revealed a clearly onedimensional nature of the underlying construct. Both item difficulties and discrimination indices proved to be appropriate. Internal consistency yielded a Cronbach's a of 0.938 in the test sample.

The belief that rigidity across relationships is related to greater symptoms and poorer functioning commonly informs the practice of many psychodynamic and interpersonal therapists. Using a profile correlation approach, we tested this hypothesis in a sample of 250 clients and 90 undergraduate control participants. Symptoms and functioning were assessed with the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP), Global Assessment of Functioning scale, and Brief Symptom Inventory. A revised version of the empirically-derived Central Relationship Questionnaire (CRQ) was used to measure interpersonal patterns. Revisions were made to the CRQ to increase the interpersonal dimensions it captured, reduce its length, and model a higher-order factor structure. The psychometric properties of the revised CRQ were found to be adequate. Rigidity as measured with the CRQ was not related to rigidity measured with the IIP (amplitude) and did not differ significantly among individuals with different interpersonal problems or DSM-IV diagnoses. Contrary to theory, however, greater rigidity across relationships was related to fewer symptoms and interpersonal problems. These relations did not appear due to the valence or the extremeness of the interpersonal patterns used in the estimation of rigidity.

Background: This study aimed to test the preliminary psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Assessment Pain Scale (MAPS), a clinical instrument developed for assessing postoperative pain in critically ill preverbal children. Methods: The MAPS was developed using pain indicators observed in postoperative critically ill infants. Content validity was established by a panel of experts. The scale was tested for validity and reliability in 43 postoperative children aged 0-31 months admitted to the pediatric intensive care units of two tertiary referral hospitals. Pain was measured concurrently by three independent assessors using the MAPS, the Face, Leg, Activity, Cry, and Consolability scale (FLACC) and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) to assess concurrent and convergent validity. Results: Internal consistency was moderate (r ¼ 0.68). Interrater reliability of the MAPS was good (j: 0.68-0.84) for all categories and moderate for breathing pattern (j ¼ 0.54). Excellent interrater reliability was shown for total MAPS (intraclass correlation 0.91). Agreement measurements between MAPS and FLACC, and MAPS and VAS showed that the risk of measurement error was small. Conclusion: Although initial psychometric testing of the MAPS shows promising results, the tool requires further psychometric testing, including responsiveness to analgesic effect (currently in progress).

Studies focusing on the readiness of persons to change have burgeoned in recent years. Assessing readiness for change is viewed as important for interventions aimed at promoting health behaviors, such as smoking cessation and substance abuse programs. This study is the first to examine readiness for change, as conceived by Prochaska and his colleagues, among a sample of persons with severe mental illness who were about to participate in a vocational rehabilitation program. We examined the reliability, validity, and other psychometric properties of the Change Assessment Scale and its ability to predict attrition and actual change.

BACKGROUND: The Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) utility instrument was psychometrically developed for the general population. This study aimed to explore its potential as an osteoarthritis (OA) outcome measure. METHODS: WOMAC, Lequesne index, SF-36, Visual analogue scales and the AQoL were administered to 222 people with OA. The ability of each questionnaire to detect differences between groups was based

The Disgust Scale (DS; is the most widely used instrument for assessing disgust propensity (i.e., individual tendency to experience disgust). Yet, psychometric evaluations of the DS are scarce while the literature shows that the reliability of its subscales are unacceptably low. Recently, it was suggested to reduce the number of subscales . This study is a first exploration of this reduced three-factor solution in an independent sample. In study I, we examined whether a three-factor solution improves psychometric properties of the DS. Students from Maastricht University (N = 535) and the University of Groningen (N = 432) completed the DS. In study II, the DS was revised by dropping redundant items and revising its scoring format. The DS-R was administered to students from the University of Groningen (N = 472) and Ghent University (N = 41) to study its psychometric properties. The revisions improved the psychometric features of the DS, and showed that the DS-R is a valid and reliable index to establish core disgust, animal-reminder disgust, and contamination.

The Emotional Intelligence (EI) Scale devised by is widely used in EI research. There have been criticisms of this scale, mainly related to its preponderance of forward-keyed items; differing results on its factor structure also exist. We investigated the effect on the scale's psychometric properties of reversing some items and adding some new items. The short form of the Bar-On EQ-i was completed by the same group of participants, comprising 500 Canadian undergraduates. The use of item reversals and additional items was found not to improve the EI scale's internal reliability. In contrast to previous studies, only three factors could be identified for the new 41-item scale: Optimism/Mood Regulation, Utilisation of Emotions and Appraisal of Emotions. Overall EI measured using the 41-item scale and the short EQ-i were highly correlated, whilst correlations between the subscales of the two tests were theoretically interpretable. #

Background/Aims: Neurodegenerative disorders (ND) have a major impact on quality of life (QoL) and place a substantial burden on patients, their families and carers; they are the second leading cause of disability. The objective of this study was to examine QoL in persons ...

In this paper the refinement and psychometric properties of the Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) are described. Results from a sociodemographically diverse birth cohort sample of 1,235 parents of children between the ages of 12 and 36 months are presented. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesized Internalizing, Externalizing, Regulatory, and Competence domains as well as the 17 individual scales that comprise the ITSEA. Findings for 3 additional indices useful in identifying significant psychopathology are presented. Subgroup analyses revealed structural invariance and expected mean level differences across both child sex and 6-month age bands. Child sex differences emerged for some problem and most competence scales, with boys rated as higher on Activity/Impulsivity and girls rated higher on Anxiety and most Competence scales. All competence scores increased across age groups. Problem behaviors showed a more mixed developmental pattern. Test-ret...

Introduction Obesity is a major health problem with an increasing risk of mortality, associated with comorbidities and high rates of dropout. Research demonstrated that pathological eating behaviors could help to phenotype obese patients thus tailoring clinical interventions. Therefore, our aim was to develop (study 1), validate (study 2), and test in a clinical setting (study 3) the Eating Behaviors Assessment for Obesity (EBA-O). Method Study 1 included the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and McDonald's ω in a general population sample (N = 471). Study 2 foresaw the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and convergent validity in 169 participants with obesity. Study 3 tested the capability of the EBA-O to characterize eating behaviors in a clinical sample of 74 patients with obesity. Results Study 1. EFA identified five factors (i.e., food addiction, night eating, binge eating, sweet eating, and prandial hyperphagia), explaining 68.3% of the variance. The final EBA-O consisted of 18 items. McDonald's ω ranged between 0.80 (hyperphagia) and 0.92 (binge eating), indicating very good reliability. Study 2. A second-order five-factor model, through CFA, showed adequate fit: relative chi-square (χ 2 /df) = 1.95, CFI = 0.93, TLI = 0.92, RMSEA = 0.075, and SRMR = 0.06, thus suggesting the appropriateness of the EBA-O model. Significant correlations with psychopathological questionnaires demonstrated the convergent validity. Study 3. Significant associations between EBA-O factors and emotional-related eating behaviors emerged. Conclusion The EBA-O demonstrated to be a reliable and easy-to-use clinical tool to identify pathological eating behaviors in obesity, particularly useful for non-experts in eating disorders. Level of evidence Level V, descriptive research.

Few treatment outcome studies of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) have employed Behavioral Avoidance Tests (BATs) to assess changes in symptomatology, probably because of the difficulty of constructing such tests for a disorder which has widely varying symptoms. The few studies that have examined the psychometric properties of BATs for OCD have found mixed evidence for validity but good treatment sensitivity. The present study presents psychometric findings for a multi-step/ multi-task BAT that assessed percentage of steps completed, subjective anxiety, global avoidance, and rituals. This measure was used with 50 clients diagnosed with OCD whose symptoms varied widely. The BAT demonstrated good convergent and divergent validity, as well as treatment sensitivity according to effect size calculations. A composite score combining steps, anxiety level, avoidance and rituals also performed well in psychometric tests. Strategies to reduce the complexity of scoring are presented, along with examples of several BAT tasks to enable researchers to employ this behavioral measure.

Adherence to prescribed medications, among individuals with cardiovascular disease, has long been considered important in terms of disease management, mortality reduction and achievement of optimal health. However, in Thailand, minimal research in this area of concern has been undertaken. Thus, the purposes of this study, using a cross-sectional research design, were to examine in Thais with cardiovascular disease: a) the correlations among select psychosocial demographic characteristics (i.e. age, gender, marital status and education), presence of co-morbidities, medications taken daily and medication adherence; and, b) the best predictors (psychosocial demographic characteristics [i.e. age, gender, marital status and education], presence of co-morbidities, and medication taken daily) of medication adherence. Subjects included 160 randomly selected patients, with cardiovascular disease, from one primary care setting in Thailand. Study instruments included a researcherdeveloped psychosocial demographic characteristics questionnaire and the Thai version of the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale. Data were evaluated using descriptive statistics, Pearson's, Gamma and Phi-Cramer's V correlations, and hierarchical multiple regression The results revealed a significant negative correlation between the presence of co-morbidities and medication adherence. No other significant correlations were found among the variables. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed the presence of co-morbidities, secondary education and male gender together explained 16.3 % of the variance in predicting medication adherence. The findings may prove helpful in the development of intervention guidelines regarding medication adherence for patients who have cardiovascular disease and are being cared for in a primary care setting.

This article evaluates and extends the psychometric properties of the Self and Other Scale (SOS). The scale is designed to measure two types of threat to self construction, namely, an insecurity threat (fear of exclusion) and an engulfment threat (fear of intrusion). Previous analysis of the SOS has been based on nonclinical student populations with a narrow age range. The present study addresses this limitation by examining the psychometric properties of the scale with an adult nonclinical population (N ‫ס‬ 150) covering the life span and with varied socioeconomic status. Results are compared with those of the previous study. Statistical analysis supports the construct validity and the reliability of the scale. Clinical implications of the scale are explored.

The purpose of this study was to contrast the psychometric properties (stability, test-retest reliability, construct, and concurrent validity) of three different tools used for evaluating videofluoroscopy swallowing studies (VFSS): (1) rating the presence or absence of a swallowing disorder, (2) the Bethlehem Assessment Scale (BAS), and (3) biomechanical measures. These three tools were applied to the same three examinations of two different consistencies (liquid and semisolid), taken from 40 VFSSs of patients with head and neck (H&N) cancer. Stability of swallowing across three swallows was a concern for three measures with the liquid consistency and nine measures with the semisolid consistency. Test-retest reliability was found to vary considerably for the two consistencies (liquids, 0.53-1.00; semisolids, 0.45-1.00). Examination of construct validity of the BAS and biomechanical measures indicated that six factors represented swallowing function, but different factors represented swallowing under liquid and semisolid conditions. Concurrent validity of the presence/absence of disorder variables was less than adequate. These results are discussed in the following contexts:

The heterogeneity of the clinical presentation of panic disorder (PD) has prompted researchers to describe different subtypes of PD, on the basis of the observed predominant symptoms constellation. Starting from a dimensional approach to panic disorder, an instrument to assess lifetime panic-agoraphobic spectrum (PAS) available in interview or self-report form (SCI-PAS, PAS-SR) was developed which proved to have sound psychometric properties and the ability to predict delayed response to treatment in patients with mood disorders. However, the structure of the instrument was defined a priori and an examination of its empirical structure is still lacking. Aim of the present report is to analyse the factor structure of the PAS taking advantage of a large database of subjects with panic disorders (N = 630) assessed in the framework of different studies. Using a classical exploratory factor analysis based on a tetrachoric correlation matrix and oblique rotation, 10 factors were extracted, accounting overall for 66.3% of the variance of the questionnaire: panic symptoms, agoraphobia, claustrophobia, separation anxiety, fear of losing control, drug sensitivity and phobia, medical reassurance, rescue object, loss sensitivity, reassurance from family members. The first two factors comprise the DSM-IV criteria for panic disorder and agoraphobia. The other factors had received limited empirical support to date. We submit that these symptoms profiles might be clinically relevant for tailoring drug treatments or psychotherapeutic approaches to specific needs. Future perspectives might include the use of these factors to select homogeneous subgroups of patients for brain-imaging studies and to contribute to elucidating the causes and pathophysiology of panic disorder at molecular level.