Total Hip Arthroplasty: Psychometric Validation of the Italian Version of Forgotten Joint Score (FJS-12)

Background: Patient’s satisfaction after surgery was traditionally assessed by pre, and post-surgical scores and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) scales. Patients treated by Total hip arthroplasty (THA) usually perform well; therefore, it is useful to have a PROMs’ scale with a low ceiling effect as the Forgotten Joint Score-12 (FJS-12). PROMs have to be validated in the local language to be used. This study aims to perform a psychometric validation of the Italian version of FJS-12 in a group of consecutive patients treated by THA.Methods: Each patient completed both the Italian version of FJS-12 and Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) in preoperative evaluation, after two weeks and 1 month, 3 months and 6 months postoperative follow-up. The reliability, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and measurement error were evaluated.Results: 53 patients were included. Cronbach’s α between 0.6 and 0.9 indicated good internal consistency for the FJS-12. The test-retest reliability was acceptable. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the FJS-12 and WOMAC was 0.238 (P=0.087) at baseline, r = 0.637 (P < 0.001) at 1 month, r = 0.490 (P < 0.001) at 3 months and r = 0.572 (P < 0.001) at 6 months. The ceiling effect was above the acceptable range (15%) for FJS-12 in 1 month (26.4%) and WOMAC in 6 months follow-up (24.5%).Conclusions: An excellent test-retest reliability, a good internal consistency, and a good validity by medium-high correlation with the WOMAC were assessed for FJS-12. However, the responsiveness for the FJS-12 score was not assessed.

Cultural Adaptation and Testing of the Italian Version of the Edmonton Functional Assessment Tool-2 (EFAT2-I)

Background Physiotherapy in Palliative Care (PC) is effective in the management of a series of respiratory, circulatory and motor symptoms, and often has a positive impact on the patient's mood. The Edmonton Functional Assessment Tool (EFAT) is the only existing validated tool specifically designed for functional assessment in PC, and its use has been recommended in clinical practice. To date, no Italian version of the tool has been validated. The aim of this study was to translate, cross-culturally adapt, and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the EFAT2. Method After receiving formal permission from the author, Beaton guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation were followed, namely: (1) forward translation; (2) a multidisciplinary focus group (including 4 physiotherapists, 1 physician, 3 nurses, 1 occupational therapist, 1 psychologist) to assess semantic, idiomatic, experiential, and conceptual equivalence; (3) backward translation. The Content Validity Index (CVI) was used to assess content validity of the tool. Construct and concurrent validity were also evaluated. To evaluate the reliability of the EFAT2-I, reliability was measured using Cronbach alfa, item-total correlation, and Cohen's Kappa. Results 119 patients admitted to a Palliative Care Unit (Italy) agreed to participate in the study. The EFAT2-I mean score was 11.3, ranging from 0 to 30. Very good CVI scores were achieved, both in terms of single item validity (I-CVI) and of whole scale validity (S-CVI). Positive results were obtained from construct, concurrent validity assessment and measures of reliability. Discussion The EFAT2-I showed good psychometric properties and can be used as a rehabilitation assessment tool in palliative care settings. The validation of the Italian version will allow comparison of different centres and palliative care facilities on national and international levels.

Treatment of Plurilectalism in Ousmane Sembène’s Camp de Thiaroye and Campo Thiaroye: Between Omission and Adaptation

The focus of the present study is the comparison between the feature film Camp de Thiaroye (1987) and its Italian version (IV) (1988), from the point of view of a phenomenon treated in the screenplay: plurilingualism and linguistic variations. Comparison of the dialogues of the original version (OV) and the IV shows the omission of some languages in the OV, subtitled in the IV instead. Also, the ‘français tiralleur’ speech was well adapted in the IV, suggesting a better adherence of the IV to the political-aesthetic programme of Sembène.

Translation and Validation of Italian Version of Index of Dental Anxiety and Fear (IDAF-4C+): A Cross-Sectional Study

Dental anxiety (DA) is defined as unreasonable apprehension toward dental procedures. About 4–20% of the worldwide adult population presents DA, with peaks of 30% in the younger population. Managing patients with dental anxiety and fear with a reliable and valid instrument is necessary to understand the multidimensional dimensions of dental fear. This work aimed to validate the Index of Dental Anxiety and Fear (IDAF-4C+) into Italian. Two hundred and eighty dental students attending an Italian university were enrolled. The IDAF-4C+ was translated by experts and a native English translator, blinded to the original version. The Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) was used to assess the validity of IDAF-4C+. Spearman correlation coefficients and Exploratory Factorial Analysis (EFA) were used. Reliability was evaluated by Cronbach’s alpha. The reliability of the Italian version of IDAF-4C+ was good (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88). Correlation between IDAF-4C+ and MDAS ranged between 0.42 to 0.68. From EFA, one factor explained 58.76% of the common variance. Women showed a higher level of dental fear. The Italian IDAF-4C+ is a valid and reliable tool to assess DA in any clinical context. This instrument allows for a proper understanding and management of DA, and therefore a better patient oral health-related quality of life and compliance with the dentist’s instructions.

How to Measure Propensity to Take Risks in the Italian Context: The Italian Validation of the Risk Propensity Scale

Risk propensity is a multifaced construct that influences many aspects of life, such as decision making. In the present study, the psychometric characteristics of the Risk Propensity Scale (RPS) have been explored for the first time in an Italian sample. The RPS is a 7 item self-report questionnaire measuring people’s tendency to take risks. The English RPS has been translated following the forward–backwards translation method, and it was filled out by 199 participants. Since its dimensionality has never been explored before, its factor structure has been analysed with exploratory factor analysis that confirmed the one-factor structure of the questionnaire and the retention of all the items. The Italian version of the RPS has high internal consistency (Cronbach alphas .78), and almost all the items were positively and significantly correlated. The convergent and discriminant validity, analysed by considering the associations with decision-making styles and an implicit measure of risk propensity, were satisfactory. Overall, the Italian version of the RPS is a valid and quick questionnaire useful to measure propensity to take risks in the Italian context.

Italian Validation of the Scale of Psychological Abuse in Intimate Partner Violence (EAPA-P)

Psychological and emotional forms of violence often represent a danger alarm and an important risk factor for other forms of intimate partner violence (IPV). Measuring psychological violence raises several issues of conceptualization and definition, which lead to the development of several assessment instruments; among them, the Scale of Psychological Abuse in Intimate Partner Violence (EAPA-P) showed good psychometric proprieties in a Spanish population and is used to identify which strategies are acted out to engage in psychological violence. The aim of the present study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of EAPA-P among a group of Italian-speaking women (N = 343), thus evaluating its psychometric characteristics. Based on the English translation of the original Spanish version, an 11-item form of the EAPA-P was obtained, validity has been assessed through measures of emotion dysregulation, interpersonal guilt, conflict among partners and depression, anxiety, and stress symptomatology. Moreover, differences among groups were conducted to identify the capacity of the Italian version of EAPA-P to discriminate among women reporting experiencing psychological violence (N = 179), and who don’t (N = 150). Results showed an excellent internal validity, good correlations, and a good discriminatory ability of the scale. Strengths, limitations, and practical implications of the study have been discussed according to recent literature.

Mentalized affectivity in a nutshell: Validation of the Italian version of the Brief-Mentalized Affectivity Scale (B-MAS)

The term “mentalized affectivity” describes the ability to reflect on, process, modulate and express emotions through the prism of autobiographical memory. It represents a bridge concept that integrates previous contributions on emotion regulation and mentalization, offering a quite unique perspective on affective and reflective functioning. The overall aim of this study was to validate the Brief-Mentalized Affectivity Scale (B-MAS), a 12-items self-report instrument, on the Italian population. We tested both the factorial validity of the instrument and its reliability and convergent validity with other similar constructs. We also obtained normative data for the Italian population, broken down by gender. Participants (n = 389) were recruited through snowball sampling. Data was collected through an online survey. Besides the Brief-Mentalized Affectivity Scale, the survey included an ad hoc schedule with questions investigating socio-demographic characteristics, and self-report measures of empathy and reflective functioning. Statistical analysis has shown a three-component (Identifying, Processing, and Expressing emotions) hierarchical structure underlying mentalized affectivity, mirroring the model already proposed in the original validation of the instrument. Moreover, the B-MAS showed good psychometric properties for what regards both reliability and convergent validity. The results of our study highlight the good operationalization and robust empirical foundation of the construct, revealing that the B-MAS is a promising instrument to assess mentalized affectivity. Its brevity makes it particularly valuable both in clinical and research contexts, and the normative data provided in this study will allow an easy comparison with the scores obtained by other samples (clinical and non-clinical).