The Influence of Depression on Biased Diagnosis of Premenstrual Syndrome and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder by the PSST Inventory

The diagnosis of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) poses a challenge for clinicians due to the overdiagnosis of retrospective methods and overlapping symptoms with depression. The present study utilized an Item Response Theory analysis to examine the predictive utility of the Premenstrual Symptom Screening Tool (PSST) in women with and without depression. Two hundred and fifteen women aged 20–35 completed the PSST, a daily symptom calendar, SCID-I, and CES-D for two consecutive menstrual cycles. PSST items: fatigue, depressed mood, feeling overwhelmed, anxiety/tension, and decreased interest in everyday activities were the best predictors of PMS. Unlike the daily symptom ratings, the PSST over-diagnosed PMS/PMDD in the depressed group but not in the group of women without PMS/PMDD. While diagnosing premenstrual disorders, clinicians should be aware that a retrospective diagnosis with PSST can be more sensitive to mood disorders and cycle phases than a prospective diagnosis with a daily symptoms calendar.

Romanian Short Version of the Burnout Assessment Tool: Psychometric Properties

The Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) represents a new measure of burnout that addresses the shortcomings of previous instruments. This study investigates the psychometric properties of the Romanian short version of the BAT. The sample consisted of 648 employees that completed the short version of the BAT. Of this sample, 117 employees also completed measures for other well-being indicators, job demands, job resources, personality, and organizational outcomes. According to our findings, there are strong correlations between the four core (exhaustion, emotional impairment, cognitive impairment, and mental distance) and two secondary (psychological distress and psychosomatic complaints) burnout symptoms. The scales presented appropriate reliability indicators. Results also support the convergent, discriminant, and construct validities. The Item Response Theory analysis showed a good coverage of the latent trait and the confirmatory factor analyses revealed appropriate fit indices. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

IRTGUI: An R Package for Unidimensional item response theory Analysis With a Graphical User Interface

In the last decade, many R packages were published to perform item response theory (IRT) analysis. Some researchers and practitioners have difficulty in using these functional tools because of their insufficient coding skills. The IRTGUI package provides these researchers a user-friendly GUI where they can perform unidimensional IRT analysis without coding skills. Using the IRTGUI package, person and item parameters, model and item fit indices can be obtained. Dimensionality and local independence assumptions can be tested. With the IRTGUI package, users can generate dichotomous data sets with customizable conditions. Also, Wright Maps, item characteristics and information curves can be graphically displayed. All outputs can be easily downloaded by users.

Psychometric evaluation of the Clinical Outcome in Routine Evaluation – General Population: Czech version

Objectives. This study aimed to assess psychometric properties, such as reliability, construct validity, and cut-off scores, for the Czech version of the Clinical Outcome in Routine Evaluation – General Population (GP-CORE) questionnaire, a tool usable for repeated measurement of psychological distress within routine clinical settings. Participants and setting. Two general populations and one clinical sample were used with N values of 420, 394, and 345, respectively. Hypotheses. One of the competing theoretical factor solutions will demonstrate the best fit. Statistical analysis. To examine the factor structure of the GP-CORE, a confirmatory multidimensional item response theory analysis (graded response model) was employed. Results. The best fitting model was a bifactor solution representing one content domain of overall distress and two item wording domains (positively and negatively worded items). Clinical cut-off scores were determined to be 1.85 (men) and 1.90 (women). Study limitations. The GP-CORE can be used as an unidimensional measure of overall distress, but users have to be aware of the influence of positive vs. negative item wording on the responses.

Validation of the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ-R) Among Adolescents in Chile

Bullying is a phenomenon that affects children and adolescents worldwide, and it has major consequences for all participants involved in these situations. In Chile, researchers have validated several instruments used to investigate aggression between peers and school violence, but there is a lack of validation of instruments to investigate bullying. The purpose of this study was to provide evidence of the validity and reliability of the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire—Revised version (OBVQ-R) in the Chilean context. The participants were 2,775 students from schools of low, medium, and high socioeconomic status. OBVQ-R is a self-report questionnaire with 42 items, which has been used in different countries, and has adequate psychometric properties to assess the prevalence of victimization and aggression and various forms of bullying worldwide. Results confirmed the two-factor structure of the OBVQ-R (victimization and perpetration subscales) and good reliability (ω = 0.81 and ω = 0.75, respectively). These dimensions seem to be correlated. Comparison between OBVQ-R with the School Violence between Peers Questionnaire and the Internet Experiences Questionnaire showed some degree of agreement. The Item Response Theory analysis showed that the item about verbal bullying, in both subscales, had the lowest-severity parameters, meaning that these forms of bullying were the most prevalent. The higher-severity parameter in the victimization scale was the cyberbullying item, and the sexual bullying item showed higher severity in the perpetration subscale. The differential item functioning analysis by gender showed a trend in which boys responded with lower-severity parameters than girls. In the victimization scale, the exception was the item about spreading rumors, and in the perpetration subscale, it was the item about racial bullying. We have provided evidence of the validation of OBVQ-R among school-age children and adolescents in Chile. This study is part of a trial registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02898324.