scholarly journals Measuring appraisal during advanced cancer: Psychometric testing of the appraisal of caregiving scale

2015 ◽  
Vol 98 (5) ◽  
pp. 633-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvie D. Lambert ◽  
Hyojin Yoon ◽  
Katrina R. Ellis ◽  
Laurel Northouse
2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (26_suppl) ◽  
pp. 100-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian D. Badgwell ◽  
Loretta A. Williams ◽  
Eduardo Bruera

100 Background: Gastrointestinal obstruction (GIO) is the most common indication for palliative surgical consultation in patients with advanced cancer. The purpose of this study was to delineate the symptom burden and experience of patients with GIO. Methods: Twenty patients with advanced cancer and GIO described symptoms at the time of surgical consultation. We used content analysis of interview transcripts and symptoms were ranked by frequency and compared to a general symptom assessment survey (MD Anderson Symptom Inventory). Results: Malignancy type included colorectal (N = 9), gastric (N = 4), urothelial/renal (N = 3), and other (N = 4), while site of obstruction was small bowel in 11 (55%), gastric outlet in 3 (15%), and large bowel in 6 (30%). Thirteen patients (65%) had received chemotherapy within 6 weeks. Imaging evidence of a primary/recurrent tumor, carcinomatosis, or ascites was documented in 13 (65%), 11 (55%), and 16 (80%) patients, respectively. Thirty symptoms were identified on qualitative interviewing. MD Anderson Symptom Inventory symptoms of pain, nausea, and vomiting were frequently noted. Frequently mentioned GIO-specific symptoms included bloating, cramping, not having a bowel movement, and inability to eat. Conclusions: Qualitative research methodology can identify symptoms of importance to patients which can be used to assess improvement after treatment of GIO. Expert panel rating will be used to develop the final symptom item list prior to psychometric testing of the survey.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noboru Iwata ◽  
Akizumi Tsutsumi ◽  
Takafumi Wakita ◽  
Ryuichi Kumagai ◽  
Hiroyuki Noguchi ◽  
...  

Abstract. To investigate the effect of response alternatives/scoring procedures on the measurement properties of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) which has the four response alternatives, a polytomous item response theory (IRT) model was applied to the responses of 2,061 workers and university students (1,640 males, 421 females). Test information functions derived from the polytomous IRT analyses on the CES-D data with various scoring procedures indicated that: (1) the CES-D with its standard (0-1-2-3) scoring procedure should be useful for screening to detect subjects with “at high-risk” of depression if the θ point showing the highest information corresponds to the cut-off point, because of its extremely higher information; (2) the CES-D with the 0-1-1-2 scoring procedure could cover wider range of depressive severity, suggesting that this scoring procedure might be useful in cases where more exhaustive discrimination in symptomatology is of interest; and (3) the revised version of CES-D with replacing original positive items into negatively revised items outperformed the original version. These findings have never been demonstrated by the classical test theory analyses, and thus the utility of this kind of psychometric testing should be warranted to further investigation for the standard measures of psychological assessment.


2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Kardinal ◽  
Judith Sanders ◽  
Helen Cupper
Keyword(s):  

1959 ◽  
Vol XXXII (I) ◽  
pp. 23-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt Schubert ◽  
Hans Schröder

ABSTRACT A testosterone test using two different dosages was carried out simultaneously in 7 women suffering from metastasizing carcinoma of the mamma and in 3 normal women. In each case the urinary steroids were estimated before the beginning of the test and after administration of 50 mg and 100 mg of testosterone respectively; the interval between the single estimations being one week. The use of fractionated hydrolysis enabled a mild fission of the conjugates and the classification of the products into free steroids, glucuronosides, sulfates and unknown conjugates. The 17-ketosteroids and the testosterone were estimated by means of Girard's separation and adsorption chromatography. During the loading test with testosterone different behaviours became evident, which had not been realized before. The behaviour of the 17-ketosteroids rendered possible the differentiation of normal women from patients with cancer of the breast yet without hepatic insufficiency, and furthermore of these latter ones from those with a liver damage in addition to the cancer of the breast. The glucuronosides of the 17-ketosteroids are only depressed, when there exists a pronounced damage of the liver; the loading test making possible an extension of the range of recognizable damages. Furthermore, the behaviour of dehydroepiandrosterone (II/III), of androsterone (IV), and of aetiocholanolone (V) lends itself to this differentiation. In advanced cancer of the breast the values of II/III are invariably low, whilst IV and V often increase temporarily. The relation of IV to V may be altered in a different way. The excretion of not transformed testosterone is less in patients than in normal women and especially low in patients with liver damage.


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