Validation Assessment of a Pain Interference Questionnaire among Student Pharmacists

Validation studies of pain interference instruments used among student pharmacists are rare yet essential for understanding their appropriate use and interpretation in pharmacy education and practice. This study conducted validation and reliability assessments of a five-item Pain Interference Scale previously administered to student pharmacists. Construct validity was assessed using Rasch analysis. Unidimensionality was measured using: point-biserial measure correlations; percent of raw variance explained by items; difference between expected; variance modeled by items; and Rasch model fit. To assess scale functioning, response frequency distribution, observed average and sample expected logit distribution, Andrich logit distribution, item separation, and item reliability were assessed. Visual examination of the Item-Person Map determined content validity. Items explained 64.2% of data raw variance. The difference between raw variance modeled and observed was 0.6. Point-biserial measure correlations were >0.77. Item mean-square infits were 0.7–1.3 while outfit measures were 0.72–1.16. There were >10 responses per response category, response frequency and Andrich thresholds progressively advanced, and observed average and sample expected logits advanced monotonically, Andrich logits = −2.33–1.69, item separation = 2.61, and item reliability = 0.87. Item probability curves indicated response categories were minimally yet adequately distinct. Cronbach’s alpha = 0.93. The Item-Person Map had a ceiling effect indicating content gaps. In conclusion, the pain interference instrument has acceptable construct validity yet contains content gaps. Additional difficult items should be added to the instrument to better capture pain interference among student pharmacists.

Assess reliability of a tourism transport network considering limited-budget and late arrivals

Tourism transport is becoming a crucial part of the tourism industry. Determining the reliability of tourism transport networks is required by travel agencies and other practitioners. However, much of recent reliability assessments cannot utilize directly for tourism transport networks. Moreover, there exists a lack of passengers-oriented reliability evaluation that involves the impacts of latency. Therefore, this study assesses reliability regarding carrying the required number of passengers to their destination under budget and time constraints when considering late arrivals. For reliability assessment, an algorithm, which combines the concept of the minimal path adding a searching procedure with the Recursive Sum of Disjoint Products method, is proposed. An illustrative example is adopted to provide travel agencies with an intuitive visualization of the proposed algorithm. Reliability analysis suggests improving the performance of tourism transport networks.

Sociodemographic Factors’ Influence on the Consumption and Assessment of COVID-19 Related Information–An International Web-Based Survey

Information flows can affect people’s apprehension of the pan- demic and related behaviors. The aim is to explore how people access and assess COVID-19 information and whether sociodemographic factors are associated with these processes. Quantitative data from 928 persons from 29 countries who participated in an international web-based survey was ana- lyzed with descriptive and analytic statistics. Television, newspapers and social media were common sources to search for certain types of COVID-19 information. Age, educational level, employment status and sex were as- sociated with differences in terms of reported sources, types, and reliability assessments of retrieved information. Sex and education levels were associ- ated with differences pertaining to main sources and kinds of information searched. Younger respondents reported more frequent uses of social media than older respondents. Older respondents assessed information from tra- ditional media as more reliable information from social media. The current results show trends about where and how information is accessed and assessed during the pandemic. Some associations with sociodemographic factors were found, but the study’s cross-sectional design prevents causal inferences. Further research on consumption patterns of COVID-19 infor- mation and its effects on consumers is motivated, as this may in turn affect people’s attitudes and behavior relating to the pandemic.

ANALYSIS OF YOUTUBE VIDEOS ON PULMONARY REHABILITATION IN COVID-19

Introduction: YouTube is a popular social media platform frequently searched by online users for retrieving health-related information. Pulmonary rehabilitation programs have an important place in the COVID-19 treatment protocols. The aim of this study was to evaluate COVID-19 pulmonary rehabilitation videos on YouTube. Methods: A total of 180 videos tagged with the search terms “COVID-19 pulmonary rehabilitation”, “COVID-19 pulmonary exercise” and “COVID-19 pulmonary physiotherapy” were retrieved. Of these, 63 videos met the study inclusion criteria. The Global Quality Scale (GQS) and the modified DISCERN tool were performed for quality and reliability assessments. Duration of video, upload date, number of views, likes, dislikes, and comments were recorded. Video sources were determined. Results: Of the total 63 videos, 22 (34.9%) were classified in the high-quality group, 19 (30.2%) intermediate quality group, and 22 (34.9%) low quality group. The main sources of the high-quality videos were universities and physicians. Others, patients, independent users and health related websites produced high rates of low-quality videos. No significant difference was detected in views, likes, dislikes, and comments per day between the quality groups (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Numbers of high, intermediate and low-quality videos were very close to each other. It is necessary to consider the video sources in order to find videos that contains accurate information. Video parameters other than sources should not be considered as quality indicators.

Instrument Development: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Confidence in Palliative Care Concepts Held by Trauma and Neuroscience Intensive Care Nurses

Background and PurposeUnique pressures impact trauma intensive care unit (TICU) nurses in their provision of care for severely injured patients. When it becomes clinically obvious that these patients may not survive, TICU nurses must continue life-saving measures while at the same time consider a palliative care consultation. In order to facilitate this referral, TICU nurses need to have the appropriate knowledge, attitude, and confidence in doing so. The purpose of this study is to refine an instrument that aims to support this process.MethodsA convenience sample of 42 respondents completed the Knowledge, Attitudinal, and Experiential Survey on Advance Directive (KAESAD).ResultsDomains with the highest Cronbach’s alpha value were “professional attitudes” (α = .995) and “clinical experiences” (α = .999).ConclusionsReliability assessments suggest that most domains of the instrument have strong internal consistency, and with a larger sample size, future studies may elucidate how nurse educators can use this instrument to target areas for continuing education.