scholarly journals Differential item functioning due to gender between depression and anxiety items among Chilean adolescents

2011 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 386-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Bares ◽  
Fernando Andrade ◽  
Jorge Delva ◽  
Andrew Grogan-Kaylor ◽  
Akihito Kamata

Background: Although much is known about the higher prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders among adolescent females, less is known about the differential item endorsement due to gender in items of scales commonly used to measure anxiety and depression. Aims: We conducted a study to examine if adolescent males and females from Chile differed on how they endorsed the items of the Youth Self Report (YSR) anxious/depressed problem scale. We used data from a cross-sectional sample consisting of 925 participants (mean age = 14, SD 1.3, 49% females) of low to lower-middle socioeconomic status. Methods: A two-parameter logistic (2PL) IRT DIF model was fit. Results: Results revealed differential item functioning (DIF) by gender for six of the 13 items, with adolescent females being more likely to endorse a depression item while males were found more likely to endorse anxiety items. Conclusions: Findings suggest that items found in commonly used measures of anxiety and depression symptoms may not equally capture the true levels of these behavioural problems in adolescent males and females. Given the high levels of mental disorders in Chile and the surrounding countries, further attention should be focused on increasing the number of empirical studies examining potential gender differences in the assessment of mental health problems among Latin American populations to better aid our understanding of the phenomenology and determinants of these problems in the region.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julio César Acosta-Prado ◽  
Arnold Alejandro Tafur-Mendoza ◽  
Rodrigo Arturo Zárate-Torres ◽  
Geli Mercedes Pautt-Torres

Purpose Job satisfaction and leadership behavior are recognized by the organizational world as fundamental elements that influence the overall effectiveness of a company. However, as the first step for an adequate intervention on any of these variables, it is the evaluation. The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate two brief measures on job satisfaction and leadership behavior. Design/methodology/approach The sample was made up of 246 workers located in Bogota, Colombia. The study was an instrumental research. To collect validity evidence, the internal structure and the relationship with other variables were used. For the evaluation of equity, the differential item functioning was analyzed according to the sex of the participants. Reliability was estimated through the ordinal omega coefficient. Findings Both brief measures presented a unifactorial structure, where job satisfaction was measured by five items and leadership behavior by four items. On the other hand, only one item of leadership behavior showed differential item functioning; however, its magnitude was trivial. Also, convergent and discriminant evidence was provided for both measures, and the reliability levels were adequate. Originality/value The measures developed represents an effort to briefly measure job satisfaction and leadership behavior. Likewise, it constitutes two of the few instruments to measure job satisfaction and leadership behavior in Latin American, representing a good alternative for the measurement of the referred constructs in an organizational context.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Kourti ◽  
Efstathia Christofilou ◽  
George Kallergis

<p><strong>Objective:</strong> This study investigated symptoms of anxiety and depression in relatives of patients admitted in the Intensive Care Unit and determined whether these symptoms were associated to the seriousness of the patients’ condition.</p><p><strong>Metodology:</strong> A total of 102 patients’ relatives were surveyed<br />during the study. They were given a self-report questionnaire in order to assess demographic data, anxiety and depression symptoms. The symptoms of anxiety and depression were evaluated with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (hads). Patient’s condition was evaluated with a.p.a.ch.e ii Score.</p><p><strong>Results:</strong> More than 60% of patients’ relatives presented severe symptoms of anxiety and depression. No relation was found between symptoms of anxiety and depression of the relatives of patients and patients’ condition of health. On the<br />contrary, these feelings used to exist regardless of the seriousness of patient’s condition.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> The assessment of these patients is recommended in order serious problems of anxiety<br />and depression to be prevented. </p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 1501-1523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan W. Cody ◽  
Judiann M. Jones ◽  
Matthew J. Woodward ◽  
Catherine A. Simmons ◽  
J. Gayle Beck

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has potentially severe and long-lasting mental health consequences for survivors, including elevated symptoms and diagnoses of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The current study examined the relationship between three self-report measures of psychological distress and ratings obtained from the corresponding clinician-administered measures in women seeking assessment for mental health problems following IPV ( N = 185). PTSD symptoms were assessed using the self-report Impact of Event Scale–Revised (IES-R) and the interview-based Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). Depression symptoms were assessed using the self-report Beck Depression Inventory–II (BDI-II) and the depressive disorders sections from the clinician-administered Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule–IV (ADIS-IV). Anxiety symptoms were assessed using the self-report Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the clinician-administered GAD section from the ADIS-IV. Results indicated that psychological distress was prevalent in the sample, with 27% receiving a PTSD diagnosis, 40% diagnosed with a depressive disorder, and 55% meeting criteria for GAD. Although each self-report measure was significantly and positively correlated with its corresponding clinician-administered measure, rates of diagnostic concordance were mixed. The BDI-II showed a high degree of agreement with the ADIS-IV depression section, but the IES-R and the CAPS were discordant at classifying PTSD. The BAI had acceptable sensitivity but poor specificity in relation to the ADIS-IV GAD section. These findings suggest that multiple assessment modalities should be considered when rating symptoms and estimating the prevalence of diagnoses among survivors of IPV.


2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Poder ◽  
K Ghatavi ◽  
JD Fisk ◽  
TL Campbell ◽  
S Kisely ◽  
...  

Background Little is known about social anxiety in MS. Objective We estimated the prevalence of social anxiety symptoms and their association with demographic and clinical features in a clinic-attending sample of patients with MS. Methods Patients attending the Dalhousie MS Research Unit for regularly scheduled visits completed the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Health Utilities Index (HUI). Neurological disability was determined by ratings on the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Results A total of 251 patients completed self-report scales of anxiety and depression symptoms. In all, 245 (98%) provided sufficient data for analysis. In all, 30.6% ( n = 75) had clinically significant social anxiety symptoms as defined by a SPIN threshold score of 19. Half of those with social anxiety had general anxiety (HADSA ≥ 11) and a quarter had depression (HADSD ≥ 11). Severity of social anxiety symptoms was associated with reduced health-related quality of life and not related to neurological disability. Conclusions Social anxiety symptoms are common in persons with MS, contribute to overall morbidity, but are unrelated to the overall severity of neurologic disability. Greater awareness and routine systematic inquiry of social anxiety symptoms is an important component of comprehensive care for persons with MS.


2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Baylor ◽  
Megan J. McAuliffe ◽  
Louise E. Hughes ◽  
Kathryn Yorkston ◽  
Tim Anderson ◽  
...  

Purpose To examine the cross-cultural applicability of the Communicative Participation Item Bank (CPIB) through a comparison of respondents with Parkinson's disease (PD) from the United States and New Zealand. Method A total of 428 respondents—218 from the United States and 210 from New Zealand—completed the self-report CPIB and a series of demographic questions. Differential item functioning (DIF) analyses were conducted to examine whether response bias was present across the 2 groups. Results No items were identified as having statistically significant DIF across the U.S. and N.Z. cohorts. Conclusion The current CPIB items and scoring parameters are also suitable for use with respondents from New Zealand.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Surin Jiraniramai ◽  
Tinakon Wongpakaran ◽  
Chaisiri Angkurawaranon ◽  
Wichuda Jiraporncharoen ◽  
Nahathai Wongpakaran

Abstract Background The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is a widely used self-report questionnaire to screen depression. Its psychometric property has been tested in many populations including health care workers. We used Rasch measurement theory to examine the psychometric properties of PHQ-9 regarding item difficulty, item fit and the differences between subgroups of respondents classified by sex, age, education and alcohol user status, based on the same overall location of participants.Methods In total, 3,204 health care workers of Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital participated and were administered the PHQ-9. Rating scale Rasch measurement modeling was used to examine the psychometric properties of the PHQ-9.Results The data fitted well to the Rasch model and no violations of the assumption of unidimensionality were observed. All 9 items could form a unidimensional construct of overall depressive severity. Suicidal ideation was the least endorsed while sleep problem was the most. No disordered category and threshold of the rating response were observed. No locally dependent items were observed. No items were found to show differential item functioning across age, sex, education and alcohol consumption. The item-person Wright map showed that the PHQ-9 did not target well with the sample, and a wide gap suggesting few or no items exist to differentiate participants at a certain ability level among the PHQ-9 items.Conclusion The PHQ-9 can be used as a screening questionnaire for major depressive disorder as its psychometric property was verified based on Rasch measurement model. The findings are generally consistent with related studies in other populations. However, the PHQ-9 may be unsuitable for assessing depressive symptoms among health care workers who have low levels of depression.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Mattsson ◽  
Erik Martin Gustaf Olsson ◽  
Maria Carlsson ◽  
Birgitta Beda Kristina Johansson

BACKGROUND Physicians and nurses in cancer care easily fail to detect symptoms of psychological distress because of barriers such as lack of time, training on screening methods, and knowledge about how to diagnose anxiety and depression. National guidelines in several countries recommend routine screening for emotional distress in patients with cancer, but in many clinics, this is not implemented. By inventing screening methods that are time-efficient, such as digitalized and automatized screenings with short instruments, we can alleviate the burden on patients and staff. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to compare Web-based versions of the ultrashort electronic Visual Analogue Scale (eVAS) anxiety and eVAS depression and the short Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) with Web-based versions of the longer Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale-Self-report (MADRS-S) and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory- State (STAI-S) with regard to their ability to identify symptoms of anxiety and depression in patients with cancer. METHODS Data were obtained from a consecutive sample of patients with newly diagnosed (<6 months) breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer or with recurrence of colorectal cancer (N=558). The patients were recruited at 4 hospitals in Sweden between April 2013 and September 2015, as part of an intervention study administered via the internet. All questionnaires were completed on the Web at the baseline assessment in the intervention study. RESULTS The ultrashort and short Web-based-delivered eVAS anxiety, eVAS depression and HADS were found to have an excellent ability to discriminate between persons with and without clinical levels of symptoms of anxiety and depression compared with recommended cutoffs of the longer instruments MADRS-S and STAI-S (area under the curve: 0.88-0.94). Cutoffs of >6 on HADS anxiety and >7 hundredths (hs) on eVAS anxiety identified patients with anxiety symptoms with high accuracy. For HADS depression, at a cutoff of >5 and eVAS depression at a cutoff of >7 hs, the accuracy was very high likewise. CONCLUSIONS The use of the short and ultrashort tools, eVAS and HADS, may be a suitable initial method of Web-based screening in busy clinical settings. However, there are still a proportion of patients who lack access to the internet or the ability to use it. There is a need to find solutions for this group to find all the patients with psychological distress.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kasturi Haldar

*Abstract. *Education is an important cornerstone of economic developmentin India. Mental health critically impacts education but its comprehensiveassessment at a population level, especially in children in rural areaspresents significant challenges. Mental health problems areunder-recognized in the community and the clinic. Assessment by clinicalpractitioners requires specialized expertise which (for both logistical andcost reasons) are not amenable to scale-up. Diversity in languages,cultures and variation in levels of literacy further compounds the problem.Consequently, despite universal recognition that mental health isimportant, tools to measure its overall prevalence at scale are limited.Here we report adaptation of a robust, internationally validated, mentalhealth assessment scale, the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale(RCADS) into Hindi, the national language, spoken by the largest number ofIndians. First RCADS in Urdu1 was translated to Hindi (since spoken Urdu isclose to Hindi). In addition, iterative steps of field adaptation andtraining enabled conversion from self-report to a questionnaire-survey(qaRCADS-H) to facilitate inclusion of illiterate respondents and improvethe overall accuracy and acceptance of the tool. Pratham EducationalFoundation-ASER Center field workers administered qaRCADS-H as a homeinterview/survey in a largely agrarian village where in 2011 the Censusreported 35% illiteracy2. Over a period of three weeks, fourcollege-educated field workers with prior survey experience, targeted 115households with children of which 110 agreed, resulting in participation of130 children 10-17 years of age. Our findings are discussed in context ofscaling and sensitization needed to effectively assess mental healthprevalence in a vulnerable group in large regions of India.


2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 642-648
Author(s):  
Brian F. French ◽  
Thao T. Vo

The Washington Assessment of Risk and Needs of Students (WARNS) is a brief self-report measure designed for schools, courts, and youth service providers to identify student behaviors and contexts related to school truancy. Empirical support for WARNS item invariance between ethnic groups is lacking. This study examined differential item functioning (DIF) to ensure that items on the WARNS function similarly across groups, especially for groups where truancy rates are highest. The item response theory graded response model was used to examine DIF between Caucasian, African American, and Latinx students. DIF was identified in six items across WARNS domains. The DIF amount and magnitude likely will not influence decisions based on total scores. Implications for practice and suggestions for an ecological framework to explain the DIF results are discussed.


SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A121-A122
Author(s):  
S T Nguyen-Rodriguez ◽  
O M Buxton

Abstract Introduction Chronotype refers to a preference for morning hours (morningness) vs. evening hours (eveningness) when individuals tend to feel their best (e.g., higher energy levels). People may be classified at either end of this spectrum or along a continuum between these preferences. Among adolescents, eveningness is positively related to depression and anxiety, whereas morningness is negatively related to depression. However, less is known about the relationship of chronotype and psychological health in pre-teens and Latinx youth. The present study explored associations of morningness/eveningness with anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and perceived stress among Latinx pre-adolescents in Southern California. Methods A purposive sample of 100 Latinx children, ages 10-12 years old, completed self-report surveys in their homes or a preferred location chosen by the parent. Measures included the Morningness/Eveningness Scale for Children (higher scores indicate morning preference), Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Perceived Stress Scale (higher scores indicate higher anxiety, depression and stress, respectively). Associations were tested with Pearson correlations. Results The sample was 47% male with a mean±SD age of 10.9±0.8 years. Average score for morningness/eveningness was M=30.2±4.4 (range: 18-41), for anxiety symptoms was M=0.7±0.7 (range: 0-2.8), for depression symptoms was M=0.5±0.4 (range: 0-1.9) and for perceived stress was M=15.2±5.8 (range: 2-30). Greater morningness/eveningness scores, indicating more morningness, were associated with lower scores for anxiety symptoms (r=-.41, p&lt;.001), depressive symptoms (r=-.36, p&lt;.001) and perceived stress (r=-.33, p=.001). Conclusion As has been found for adolescents, higher morningness in Latinx pre-teens was related to less frequent anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as lower perceived stress. Youth experience a circadian phase delay during adolescence, shifting their preference toward eveningness, which may exacerbate stressors and negative mental health. Therefore, interventions to promote psychological well-being in pre-adolescents may help prevent worse psychological outcomes in Latinx children as they transition to adolescence. Support This work was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers UL1GM118979, TL4GM118980, and RL5GM118978.


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