The Attitudes to Disability Scale (ADS): development and psychometric properties

Background This paper describes the development of an Attitudes to Disability Scale for use with adults with physical or intellectual disabilities (ID). The aim of the research was to design a scale that could be used to assess the personal attitudes of individuals with either physical or ID. Method The measure was derived following standard WHOQOL methodology as part of an international trial. In the pilot phase of the study, 12 centres from around the world carried out focus groups with people with physical disabilities, people with ID, with their carers, and with relevant professionals in order to identify themes relevant for attitudes to disability. Items generated from the focus groups were then tested in a pilot study with 1400 respondents from 15 different centres worldwide, with items being tested and reduced using both classical and modern psychometric methods. A field trial study was then carried out with 3772 respondents, again with the use of both classical and modern psychometric methods. Results The outcome of the second round of data collection and analysis is a 16‐item scale that can be used for assessment of attitudes to disability in physically or intellectually disabled people and in healthy respondents. Conclusions The Attitudes to Disability Scale is a new psychometrically sound scale that can be used to assess attitudes in both physically and intellectually disabled groups. The scale is also available in both personal and general forms and in a number of different language versions.     

Clinical measurement of addictions

Introduction and Aims. To conduct a systematic review of instruments for the clinical measurement of addictive behaviours and to determine whether substance addictive behaviours (SAB) and non‐substance addictive behaviours (NSAB) are similarly conceptualised in clinical research. Design and Methods. The analytic strategy employed comprised three steps: (i) major search engines were used to take stock of available clinical instruments for assessing addictive behaviours; (ii) an analysis grid was developed and validated, covering 21 parameters under four heuristic categories: dependence, temperament, social handicap and cognitive behaviour; and (iii) all instruments were analysed and compared via the grid. Results. The search yielded 157 questionnaires covering 14 addictive behaviours. The analysis grid allowed rating all questionnaire items on one parameter only; very good interrater agreement was maintained throughout. The categories most evaluated by the questionnaires were dependence and cognitive behaviour; temperament and social handicap were much less frequently considered. Patterns were generally similar in terms of categories, whether questionnaires concerned SAB or NSAB; however, differences within categories indicated a greater frequency of psychologically oriented parameters for NSAB. Conclusions. The measurement of addictive behaviours appears clinically cohesive, as determined by a validated analysis grid applied to an exhaustive set of questionnaires identified through a systematic literature review.[Cloutier R, Lesage A, Landry M, Kairouz S, Ménard J‐M. Clinical measurement of addictions. Drug Alcohol Rev 2012;31:33–39]     

癌症疲乏量表中文版的信效度

目的:分析癌症疲乏量表(CFS)中文版的信度和效度。方法:通过正向翻译、综合、回译、专家评议和预调查5个步骤对CFS进行跨文化调适,修订成中文版。采用方便取样,对187名癌症患者施测CFS中文版进行项目分析、内部一致性检验、探索性因素分析和癌因性疲乏总体状况分析。1周后对其中42名患者重测CFS中文版,评价重测信度。结果:量表共15个条目,包括躯体、情感和认知3个维度。各维度与总量表的内部一致性Cronbachα系数在0.63～0.86,重测信度为0.55～0.77。探索性因素分析得到3个因素,共解释了59.04%的累计方差贡献率,各条目载荷均>0.40。结论:癌症疲乏量表中文版具有较好的信度和效度,符合心理测量学要求。     

Development of the two-stage rapid estimate of adult literacy in dentistry

Stucky BD, Lee JY, Lee S‐YD, Rozier RG. Development of the Two‐Stage Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2011; 39: 474–480. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S Abstract – Objective: This work proposes a revision of the 30 item Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry (REALD‐30), into a more efficient and easier‐to‐use two‐stage scale. Methods: Using a sample of 1405 individuals (primarily women) enrolled in a Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the present work utilizes principles of item response theory and multi‐stage testing to revise the REALD‐30 into a two‐stage test of oral health literacy, named Two‐Stage REALD or TS‐REALD, which maximizes score precision at various levels of participant ability. Results: Based on the participant’s score on the five‐item first‐stage (i.e., routing test), one of three potential stage‐two tests is administered: a four‐item Low Literacy test, a six‐item Average Literacy test, or a three‐item High Literacy test. Conclusions: The reliability of scores for the TS‐REALD is >0.85 for a wide range of ability. The TS‐REALD was found to be predictive of perceived impact of oral conditions on well‐being, after controlling for educational level, overall health, dental health, and a general health literacy measure. While containing approximately one‐third of the items on the original scale, the TS‐REALD was found to maintain similar psychometric qualities.     

A psychometric evaluation of measures of spirituality validated in culturally diverse palliative care populations

Context

Despite the need to accurately measure spiritual outcomes in diverse palliative care populations, little attention has been paid to the properties of the tools currently in use.

Objectives

This systematic review aimed to appraise the psychometric properties, multifaith appropriateness, and completion time of spiritual outcome measures validated in multicultural advanced cancer, HIV, or palliative care populations.

Methods

Eight databases were searched to identify relevant validation and research studies. A comprehensive search strategy included search terms in three categories: palliative care, spirituality, and outcome measurement. Inclusion criteria were: validated in advanced cancer, HIV, or palliative care populations and in an ethnically diverse context. Included tools were evaluated with respect to psychometric properties (validity, reproducibility, responsiveness, and interpretability), multifaith appropriateness, and time to complete.

Results

A total of 191 articles were identified, yielding 85 tools. Twenty-six tools (representing four families of measures and five individual tools) met the inclusion criteria. Twenty-four tools demonstrated good content validity and 12 demonstrated adequate internal consistency. Only eight tools demonstrated adequate construct validity, usually because specific hypotheses were not stated and tested. Seven tools demonstrated adequate test-retest reliability; two tools showed adequate responsiveness, and two met the interpretability criterion. Data on the religious faith of the population of validation were available for 11 tools; of these, eight were tested in multifaith populations.

Conclusion

Results suggest that, at present, the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire, the Measuring the Quality of Life of Seriously Ill Patients Questionnaire, and the Palliative Outcome Scale are the most appropriate multidimensional measures containing spiritual items for use in multicultural palliative care populations. However, none of these measures score perfectly on all psychometric criteria, and their multifaith appropriateness requires further testing.     

The Cambridge Mindreading (CAM) Face-Voice Battery: Testing Complex Emotion Recognition in Adults with and without Asperger Syndrome

Adults with Asperger Syndrome (AS) can recognise simple emotions and pass basic theory of mind tasks, but have difficulties recognising more complex emotions and mental states. This study describes a new battery of tasks, testing recognition of 20 complex emotions and mental states from faces and voices. The battery was given to males and females with AS and matched controls. Results showed the AS group performed worse than controls overall, on emotion recognition from faces and voices and on 12/20 specific emotions. Females recognised faces better than males regardless of diagnosis, and males with AS had more difficulties recognising emotions from faces than from voices. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to social functioning in AS.     

Beliefs about worry in community-dwelling older adults

This study examines the association between several kinds of beliefs about worry and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) severity in a sample of older individuals recruited from a community setting (N=142, mean age=71.0 years, SD=6.0, range=55-88). Beliefs about worry were assessed with a 17-item scale designed for older adults, including three dimensions: Positive Beliefs, Negative Beliefs, and Responsibility. All three dimensions distinguished between people endorsing GAD symptoms and those without GAD symptoms, and only Negative Beliefs had a significant independent weight when regressed on GAD severity, even after controlling for level of trait worry. Results of this study suggest that negative beliefs appear to be strongly related to pathological worry in older adults. These results are consistent with empirical findings in younger adults and potentially support the use of particular interventions in clinical work with older adults with GAD.     

Reliability and Comparability of Psychosis Patients’ Retrospective Reports of Childhood Abuse

An increasing number of studies are demonstrating an association between childhood abuse and psychosis. However, the majority of these rely on retrospective self-reports in adulthood that may be unduly influenced by current psychopathology. We therefore set out to explore the reliability and comparability of first-presentation psychosis patients’ reports of childhood abuse. Psychosis case subjects were drawn from the Aetiology and Ethnicity of Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses (ÆSOP) epidemiological study and completed the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire to elicit abusive experiences that occurred prior to 16 years of age. High levels of concurrent validity were demonstrated with the Parental Bonding Instrument (antipathy: r_s = 0.350–0.737, P < .001; neglect: r_s = 0.688–0.715, P < .001), and good convergent validity was shown with clinical case notes (sexual abuse: κ = 0.526, P < .001; physical abuse: κ = 0.394, P < .001). Psychosis patients’ reports were also reasonably stable over a 7-year period (sexual abuse: κ = 0.590, P < .01; physical abuse: κ = 0.634, P < .001; antipathy: κ = 0.492, P < .01; neglect: κ = 0.432, P < .05). Additionally, their reports of childhood abuse were not associated with current severity of psychotic symptoms (sexual abuse: U = 1768.5, P = .998; physical abuse: U = 2167.5, P = .815; antipathy: U = 2216.5, P = .988; neglect: U = 1906.0, P = .835) or depressed mood (sexual abuse: χ² = 0.634, P = .277; physical abuse: χ² = 0.159, P = .419; antipathy: χ² = 0.868, P = .229; neglect: χ² = 0.639, P = .274). These findings provide justification for the use in future studies of retrospective reports of childhood abuse obtained from individuals with psychotic disorders.