Validity and reliability of a self-administered health history questionnaire.

A self-administered, health history questionnaire devised for routine use in a general medical clinic is completed without the assistance of clinic personnel and used, unedited, by the providers. The reliability and validity of the responses of 23 patients to this questionnaire were tested statistically. In our setting, more than 90 percent of the patients referred for care are capable of completing the questionnaire. The 23 patients averaged 32 minutes to complete the questionnaire. An average of 34 minutes of encounter time is required to obtain the same historical data by interview. Test-retest reliability of patients' responses to the questionnaire was 90 percent. More than 92 percent of the patients' written responses to health history items agreed with the data obtained in a blinded fashion by internists in the traditional interview. The questionnaire accurately obtains items of history frequently missing from the recorded ambulabory care data base, and in some instances obtains items of history more effectively than the interviewing physician. The study results showed a low incidence of false positive (1.8 percent) and false negative (2.8 percent) responses to questionnaire items.     

Validity and reliability of a work history questionnaire derived from the Job Content Questionnaire

Job design risk factors for hypertension and heart disease have often been assessed by the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ). Job characteristics are typically assessed only once, however, which can result in misclassification and bias results toward the null. Newer approaches, which assess job characteristics over a working life, are hampered by the need to ask numerous questions about each job, increasing survey length and potentially reducing response rates. Participants in the Work Site Blood Pressure Study, a prospective study of psychosocial factors and ambulatory blood pressure, completed the JCQ about their current jobs. At later dates, 213 employed men, a subset of the original cohort, retrospectively completed the Work History Questionnaire (WHQ), a short version of the JCQ, for each past job. The WHQ exhibited moderate validity for assessing past job characteristics, a weak association with systolic blood pressure, and expected patterns of change over time. Thus, it may be a valuable tool for measuring the health effects of historical job characteristics, which often change over time.     

Validity and reliability of a short questionnaire for assessing the impact of cooking skills interventions

Background: Food skills programmes are widely used as a means to improve confidence in food preparation, the use of basic food skills and food selections amongst low income communities. However, the impact of such interventions are rarely evaluated as a result of a lack of validated assessment tools appropriate for use within this target group. Methods: A two‐page questionnaire utilising a closed‐question format was designed based on key domains known to be influenced by cooking skills programmes. Content validity was assessed by a panel of public health experts and face validity by individuals, typical of those who may attend cooking skills classes. Internal and repeat reliability were assessed with groups of adults attending community‐based classes. The feasibility of using the tool in community settings was also assessed. Results: The draft questionnaire was amended as appropriate subsequent to content and face validity testing. Cronbach’s alpha for confidence and knowledge sections was 0.86 and 0.84, respectively, indicating good internal consistency. Spearman correlation coefficients for repeat reliability testing between time 1 and time 2 for each item were in the range 0.46–0.91 (all significant at P < 0.001), indicating that the questionnaire elicited stable responses for repeated use. Feasibility testing highlighted the need for detailed instructions for course tutors on how to distribute and check questionnaires for completion. Conclusions: This tool provides a standardised method of evaluating cooking skills interventions that could be utilised in the development and evaluation of multicentre cooking skills interventions.     

修正版心理脆弱量表汉化后的信效度评价

目的 对修正版MVQ进行信效度评价,为大学生心理脆弱性评估提供一种新的简便的测量工具。方法 采用多阶段分层整群随机取样法,抽取辽宁省锦州市、沈阳市、大连市1 217例大学生进行调查,应用SPSS20.0和AMOS22.0软件对数据进行统计分析。结果 条目的内容效度指数（I - CVI）为0.830～1.000、量表的内容效度指数（S - CVI）为0.971;探索性因子分析表明MVQ包含身心症状、精神症状、人际问题3个公因子,累积方差贡献率为75.736%,各条目的共同度为0.646～0.848。验证性因子分析显示:CMIN/DF = 2.796,CFI = 0947,GFI = 0.920,AGFI = 0.902,IFI = 0.947,RMSEA = 0.055,TLI = 0.940,PGFI = 0.749,RMR = 0.051。除RMR外,均达到适配标准。条目与总分Pearson相关系数为0.417～0.716,量表总的Cronbach'α系数为0.920,身心症状维度,精神症状维度及人际问题维度的Cronbach'ａ系数分别为0.942、0.944、0.871,分半信度为0.744,重测信度为0.935。结论 修正版的心理脆弱量表（MVQ）信效度良好,可用于评价我国大学生的心理脆弱状况。     

Validity and reliability of the effort-reward imbalance questionnaire in a sample of 673 Italian teachers

Purpose  

This study explores the explicative potential of effort-reward imbalance Model to unveil the dimensions involved in teacher stress process and analyses the psychometric characteristics of the Italian version of the ERI Questionnaire (Siegrist, J Occup Health Psychol 1:27–43, 1996) with respect to a homogeneous occupational group: Italian school teachers.     

The development of a comprehensive, institution-based patient risk evaluation program: II. Validity and reliability of questionnaire data

The accuracy of historical information derived from self-administered questionnaires must be confirmed. We report the results of studies conducted to assess the reliability and validity of data collected from a comprehensive cancer risk factor questionnaire developed at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. A comparison of the basic demographic data of a randomly selected sample of 80 respondents and 70 nonrespondents revealed no fundamental ethnic or socioeconomic differences. We verified self-reported past illnesses, surgical procedures, and cancers by reviewing 72 patient charts, using stringent diagnostic criteria for verification. We noted substantial agreement between self-reported and documented illnesses and operations. With the exception of nine patients who misclassified metastatic disease, the verification of primary cancers was excellent. We determined reliability by interviewing 50 of these patients by telephone. Questions with a dichotomous outcome (e.g., smoking status) were reliably answered; however, those requiring quantification (e.g., amount of alcohol consumed) were less accurately reported on interview. While we recognize the limitations of self-administered questionnaires, we believe this program will develop into a comprehensive, standardized, easily accessible patient risk factor data base.     

Validity and reliability of Persian version of chronic liver disease questionnaire (CLDQ)

Purpose

The aim of this study is to test the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ) in Iranian candidates for liver transplantation.

Method

One hundred and fifty-five consecutive adult patients awaiting liver transplantation completed the Persian version of CLDQ and the short-form health survey (SF-36). The etiology of cirrhosis, Child Pugh classification and Model for End stage Liver Disease (MELD) scores were taken from medical records.

Results

The scaling success rate for convergent validity was 100% for all domains, and the success rate for item discriminant validity was 95.8% (139/145). The internal consistency (Cronbach ??) for the domains ranged from 0.65 to 0.89. Multitrait?Cmultimethod correlation matrix and factor analysis revealed that the CLDQ and SF-36 measure different constructs of quality of life.

Conclusion

The Persian version of the CLDQ, a disease-specific questionnaire for measuring health-related quality of life, is accepted by liver transplantation candidates with adequate reliability and validity. There is no significant correlation of Child Pugh classification and MELD score with quality of life.     

Reporting errors in time-to-pregnancy data collected with a short questionnaire. Impact on power and estimation of fecundability ratios

Few tools exist in reproductive epidemiology for studying adverse effects on fertility. Data on time to pregnancy (the number of menstrual cycles required to conceive) can be used to estimate fecundability ratios, a sensitive endpoint for identifying factors associated with reduced fertility. Time-to-pregnancy data can be collected in detailed interviews. The accuracy of data collected on brief, self-administered questionnaires is not known. In a study of occupational exposures to dental assistants conducted in 1987-1988, 523 women provided time-to-pregnancy data both on a short, mailed questionnaire and in a detailed telephone interview. The correlation between the two measures was 0.82. Assuming that the detailed data were accurate, reporting errors in data from the short form were distributed nondifferentially with respect to most covariates of interest in fecundability analyses. Simulation studies were conducted to estimate bias and loss of power from the misclassification. Bias was toward the null. Substantial power was lost in detecting weak exposures. However, exposures that reduce fecundability by 50 percent (equivalent to adding about three cycles to the median time to pregnancy) could still be detected with 80 percent power in samples of about 100 women (half of them exposed to a possible toxin). The authors conclude that time-to-pregnancy data collected with a few self-administered questions can be useful in a variety of epidemiologic studies, including occupational and environmental surveillance programs.     

Validity of exposure data derived from a structured questionnaire.

It is often convenient to obtain occupational exposure information directly from employees. However, there is little published evidence on the validity of such data. Information from a short, pre-coded, structured questionnaire, administered by non-expert interviewers, was compared with information derived from management in five factories in the printing and plastics industries in England in 1986. Values of sensitivity ranged from 24% to 85% for eight different exposures, and specificity was at least 67% for seven of the eight agents. Those exposures which were described in chemically specific terms tended to have relatively higher specificities but lower sensitivities. Male workers' reports tended to have higher sensitivity but lower specificity compared with those of female workers. Workers who had been employed in the company for more than 10 years were no more accurate than their colleagues. Subjects who reported a phase of subfertility or at least one miscarriage did not have a higher proportion of false positives than the population as a whole, indicating an absence of reporting bias. Major improvements are highly desirable, especially to reduce underreporting of exposures. The use of workers' own names for agents may improve reporting.     

Validity of a questionnaire for assessing occupational activities

The objective of this article is to assess the validity of data on occupational activities obtained by a questionnaire, 152 employees from 16 jobs were interviewed independently about activities in their work, using a structured questionnaire. For 11 of the jobs, two further workers were observed during a typical shift, and their activities recorded. The agreement of reporting between subjects doing the same job and with observation was assessed. There was good agreement between subjects and with observation for most of the activities examined when the activities were classified dichotomously. However, frequency of heavy lifting was reported inconsistently. Questionnaires are able to distinguish major differences in physical activity that occur between jobs in the general population, but do not allow more detailed quantification of activities. Am. J. Ind. Med. 31:422–426, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Validity and reliability of an omega-3 fatty acid food frequency questionnaire for first-generation Midwestern Latinas

This study tested the hypothesis that a culturally developed omega-3 (n-3) fatty acid food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) could be an accurate instrument to capture n-3 fatty acid food intakes of first-generation Midwestern Latinas. The goal of the study was to assess validity and test-retest reliability of an FFQ to estimate total n-3 fatty acid (total n-3), α-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) intakes. An n-3 FFQ was developed and pilot tested. Two FFQs and 3 nonconsecutive 24-hour recalls were collected from 162 participants. Pearson correlation and paired t test were used to test the hypothesis. Correlation of the 2 FFQs was 0.71 for total n-3, 0.65 for ALA, 0.74 for EPA, and 0.54 for DHA (P < .01). The means of the 2 FFQs and of the 24-hour recalls were not significantly different for total n-3 and ALA (P > .05), but were significantly different for EPA and DHA. The n-3 FFQ had acceptable reliability, validated only total n-3 and ALA, and provided relevant findings about the n-3 eating habits of Midwestern Latinas.     

Validity and reliability of a self-administered food frequency questionnaire for the JPHC study: The assessment of amino acid intake

Background

The Japanese database of food amino acid composition was revised in 2010 after a 24-year interval. To examine the impact of the 2010 revision compared with that of the 1986 revision, we evaluated the validity and reliability of amino acid intakes assessed using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ).

Validity of questionnaire information on frequency of coitus

A total of 91 women provided reproductive histories, including usual frequency of coitus, at their enrollment into prospective studies conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, in 1984-1986. Those data were compared with coital data recorded during study participation. Overall, women reported a significantly higher frequency of coitus on the interviewer-administered questionnaire than they recorded daily, by an average of 0.8 episodes per week. The size of this difference did not vary significantly for subgroups of women defined by demographic and other covariates. Excluding days of menses from the prospective records reduced the difference by 25%. The authors attribute the overestimate on the questionnaire to a tendency to report a coital frequency that might exist in the absence of travel, illness, and other transient factors that are likely to decrease frequency. This nondifferential information bias is unlikely to produce misleading comparisons or erroneous associations in epidemiologic studies of reproduction.