Establishment of a Japanese version of the Sick, Control, One Stone, Fat, and Food (SCOFF) questionnaire for screening eating disorders in university students

Objective This study aimed to validate the Sick, Control, One stone, Fat, and Food (SCOFF) questionnaire in relation to the Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and to examine the appropriateness of a question concerning weight loss among Japanese university students. The psychometric properties of the two Japanese versions were determined among 649 Japanese college students. The original version (SCOFF-O) employed the original item 3, whereas the revised version (SCOFF-2.5) modified the item to “Have you recently lost more than 2.5 kg within three months?” Validity was tested relative to EDE-Q. Results The test–retest reliabilities of SCOFF-O and SCOFF-2.5 were 0.52 and 0.57, while the correlations of SCOFF-O and SCOFF-2.5 with EDE-Q were r = 0.53 and r = 0.56. The sensitivity and specificity of SCOFF-O were 65.2 and 89.7, and those of SCOFF-2.5 were 69.5 and 86.5, respectively. There were significant correlations between the question concerning losing 2.5 kg and the EDE-Q subscales. The Japanese version of SCOFF-2.5 is an appropriate tool for the early screening of eating disorders among Japanese university students.

Assessment of content validity and psychometric properties of VISA-A for Achilles tendinopathy

A recent COSMIN review found that the Victorian Institute of Sports Assessment–Achilles tendinopathy questionnaire (VISA-A) has flawed construct validity. The objective of the current study was to assess specifically the process of how VISA-A was constructed and validated, and whether the Danish version of VISA-A is a valid patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) for measuring the perceived impact of Achilles tendinopathy. The original item generation strategy for content validity and the process for confirming the scaling properties (construct validity) were examined. In addition, construct validity was evaluated directly using several psychometric methods (Rasch analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and multivariable linear regression) in a cohort of 318 persons with Achilles tendinopathy with symptom duration groups ranging from less than 3 months to more than 1 year of chronicity, and a group of 120 healthy persons. We found that the item generation and item reduction in the original construction of VISA-A was based on literature review and clinician consensus with little or no patient involvement. We determined that 1) VISA-A consists of ambiguous conceptual item themes and thus lacks content validity, 2) there was no thorough investigation of the psychometric properties of the original version of VISA-A, which thus lacks construct validity, and 3) rigorous direct assessment of the psychometric properties of the Danish VISA-A revealed inadequate psychometric properties. In agreement with the COSMIN study, we conclude that when used as a single score, VISA-A is not an adequate scale for measuring self-reported impact of Achilles tendinopathy.

Development of a Novel Measure of Informal Caregiver Burnout

Burnout is a concept which has permutated most settings over recent decades. However, due to its roots in occupational research there exists both theoretical and practical gaps to consider when measuring burnout within non-occupational settings, such as informal caregiving. This study developed and validated a measure of burnout for informal caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, the Informal Caregiver Burnout Inventory (ICBI). Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed. Development included a 10-step method for scale development proposed by Boateng and colleagues (2018). Expert feedback on item appropriateness and clarity was collected from 33 caregivers or related professional experts and used to modify the original item-bank. Following this, a national sample of 255 current caregivers was gathered. This survey included the ICBI, two gold-standard measures of burnout, and measures of depression and caregiver burden. Item reduction analysis was used to remove items with poor item-total and inter-domain correlations. The ICBI shows good item-agreement (Cronbach’s alpha= .88) and principles of Item Response Theory were used to measure item- and scale-wide information captured. Convergent validity was then compared against other measures of burnout using Bland-Altman Plots. Divergent validity was similarly assessed by comparing the ICBI to a depression questionnaire. Finally, the predictive validity of each burnout measure was compared to their association with burden and depression. This study suggests that the ICBI may perform adequately as an index of caregiver burnout, and thus is address a methodological and clinical gap in current efforts to understand the dynamics of caregiving.

An Examination of Different Scale Usage Correction Procedures to Enhance Cross-Cultural Data Comparability

This study aims to examine different scale usage correction procedures that are meant to enhance the cross-cultural comparability of Likert scale data. Specifically, we examined a priori study design (i.e., anchoring vignettes and overclaiming) and post hoc statistical procedures (i.e., ipsatization and extreme response style correction) in data from the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment across 64 countries. We analyzed both original item responses and corrected item scores from two targeted scales in an integrative fashion by using multilevel confirmatory factor analysis and multilevel regressions. Results indicate that mean levels and structural relations varied across the correction procedures, although the psychological meaning of the constructs examined did not change. Furthermore, scores were least affected by these procedures for females who did not repeat a grade and students with higher math achievement. We discuss the implications of our findings and offer recommendations for researchers who are considering scale usage correction procedures.

Effects of Phubbing: Relationships With Psychodemographic Variables

The aim of this research is twofold: First, to adapt the Generic Scale of Phubbing and the Generic Scale of Being Phubbed into Turkish language and culture. Second, to investigate the relationships between phubbing, being phubbed, and various psychodemographic variables including anxiety, depression, negative self, somatization, hostility, loneliness, life satisfaction, and phone use duration. The two scales were adapted to Turkish with high psychometric properties, and the original item numbers were preserved. Analysis of the associations between variables showed that (1) phubbing was associated negatively with loneliness and positively with all other variables; (2) there was a strong relationship between phubbing and phone use duration; (3) somatization, satisfaction with life, and phone use duration predicted phubbing; (4) phubbing predicted all variables except satisfaction with life; (5) being phubbed was associated negatively with loneliness and satisfaction with life and positively with all other variables; and (6) anxiety, negative self, and hostility predicted being phubbed. This study is innovative for introducing two phubbing scales to Turkish and highlighting the psychological impact of phubbing on individuals.

Cultural stability without copying

What causes cultural stability? Culture can be studied as an evolving system, and the comparison between biological and cultural evolution has inspired a productive research agenda in which cultural stability is commonly attributed to the existence of mechanisms of high-fidelity cultural transmission. Other researchers have argued that no such copying processes are necessary to explain cultural stability, and that stability can also emerge as a by-product of convergent transformation (in which an item causes the production of another item whose form tends to deviate from that of the original item in a non random way). To investigate this issue, we present a series of stochastic simulation models of cultural evolution that make no prior assumptions about the type of processes by which cultural units propagate through a population. Results show that cultural stability can emerge and be maintained by convergent transformation alone, even in the absence of any form of copying or selection process. We also show that high-fidelity copying and convergent transformation are, contrary to some previous arguments, not opposing forces, and can in fact jointly contribute to cultural stability. Finally, we analyse how convergent transformation and high-fidelity copying can have different evolutionary signatures at the level of the population, and hence how their differing effects can be distinguished in the empirical record. Our models can be read as formalisations of Cultural Attraction Theory.

Deconstructing a Double-Barreled Alternative: Evolution and Creationism

The problem of assessing opinions through surveys with double-barreled items has long been recognized, but nonfield experiments that examine their construction have been limited. Opinions about evolution based on an international multidecade Gallup survey were examined through an experimental design in which answers to the Gallup alternatives, one of which was double-barreled, were compared to those obtained when the components were separated. Random assignment of the original and deconstructed versions to 302 university students resulted in relatively few students who received the deconstructed version providing a pattern of answers that replicated the original item. The Harris organization had previously examined the Gallup survey, but the problem of deconstructing a double-barreled alternative in combination with an experimentally controlled procedure had not been demonstrated. The discussion includes a distinction between complex and compound (double-barreled) survey items and briefly examines the difference between explicit and implicit double-barreled items.

Development of a Computer Adaptive Test for Depression Based on the Dutch-Flemish Version of the PROMIS Item Bank

We developed a Dutch-Flemish version of the patient-reported outcomes measurement information system (PROMIS) adult V1.0 item bank for depression as input for computerized adaptive testing (CAT). As item bank, we used the Dutch-Flemish translation of the original PROMIS item bank (28 items) and additionally translated 28 U.S. depression items that failed to make the final U.S. item bank. Through psychometric analysis of a combined clinical and general population sample ( N = 2,010), 8 added items were removed. With the final item bank, we performed several CAT simulations to assess the efficiency of the extended (48 items) and the original item bank (28 items), using various stopping rules. Both item banks resulted in highly efficient and precise measurement of depression and showed high similarity between the CAT simulation scores and the full item bank scores. We discuss the implications of using each item bank and stopping rule for further CAT development.

A Model-Based Method for Content Validation of Automatically Generated Test Items

<p>The purpose of this study is to describe a methodology to recover the item model used to generate multiple-choice test items with a novel graph theory approach. Beginning with the generated test items and working backward to recover the original item model provides a model-based method for validating the content used to automatically generate test items. The methodology is demonstrated using items from a content area in medicine.</p>

Poisson and negative binomial item count techniques for surveys with sensitive question

Although the item count technique is useful in surveys with sensitive questions, privacy of those respondents who possess the sensitive characteristic of interest may not be well protected due to a defect in its original design. In this article, we propose two new survey designs (namely the Poisson item count technique and negative binomial item count technique) which replace several independent Bernoulli random variables required by the original item count technique with a single Poisson or negative binomial random variable, respectively. The proposed models not only provide closed form variance estimate and confidence interval within [0, 1] for the sensitive proportion, but also simplify the survey design of the original item count technique. Most importantly, the new designs do not leak respondents’ privacy. Empirical results show that the proposed techniques perform satisfactorily in the sense that it yields accurate parameter estimate and confidence interval.