The psychometric properties of the professionalism at work questionnaire for paramedicine students

PurposeIn the past several decades, there has been rapid advancement and improvement in Australasian paramedicine education and clinical standards. These advancements have also seen improvements in the professionalism of Australasian paramedicine. Therefore, having a valid and reliable paramedicine professionalism measure is important. This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the modified Professionalism at Work Questionnaire (PWQ) with Australasian paramedicine studentsDesign/methodology/approachData from the PWQ were analysed using a principal component analysis (PCA) followed by orthogonal varimax rotation.FindingsA total of 479 paramedicine students from three Australasian universities completed the modified PWQ. PCA of the 72-items revealed 11 factors with eigenvalues above 1.5, accounting for 50.99% of the total variance. A total of 64 items were found with loadings greater than 0.40 and were used to describe the 11 factors: Professional attitude and behaviour, communication with others, professional identity, professional development, appearance and flexibility, organisational support, comparable professional status, pride in occupation, adherence to rules, responsibility in the workforce and concerns about appropriate use of resources.Practical implicationsResults from this study suggest that the modified 64-item PWQ can be used to measure professionalism in Australasian paramedicine student cohorts. The instrument encompassed many and varied aspects of the attributes and features that have been described as being essential to being a profession. The instrument provides an important measurement tool for the paramedicine profession.Originality/valueResults from this study suggest that the modified 64-item PWQ can be used to measure professionalism in Australasian paramedicine student cohorts. The instrument encompassed many and varied aspects of the attributes and features that have been described as being essential to being a profession. The instrument provides a critical measurement tool for the paramedicine profession.

Modelling and forecasting GDP using factor model: An empirical study from Bosnia and Herzegovina

In the most developed countries the first estimations of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are available 30 days after the end of the reference quarter. In this paper, possibilities of creating an econometric model for making short-term forecasts of GDP in B&H have been explored. The database consists of more than 100 daily, monthly and quarterly time series for the period 2006q1-2016q4. The aim of this study was to estimate and validate different factor models. Due to the length limit of the series, the factor analysis included 12 time series which had a correlation coefficient with a quarterly GDP at the absolute value greater than 0.8. The principal component analysis (PCA) and the orthogonal varimax rotation of the initial solution were applied. Three principal components are extracted from the set of the series, thus together accounting for 73.34% of the total variability of the given set of series. The final choice of the model for forecasting quarterly B&H GDP was selected based on a comparative analysis of the predictive efficiency of the analysed models for the in-sample period and for the out-of-sample period. The unbiasedness and efficiency of individual forecasts were tested using the Mincer-Zarnowitz regression, while a comparison of the accuracy of forecast of two models was tested by the Diebold-Mariano test. We have examined the justification of a combination of two forecasts using the Granger-Ramanathan regression. A factor model involving three factors has shown to be the most efficient factor model for forecasting quarterly B&H GDP.

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of an Instrument to Measure the Use of Intuition in Clinical Practice by Critical Care Nurses

Background: The current study was conducted to develop and validate an instrument to measure the use of intuition in clinical practice by critical care nurses. Methods: Item generation and psychometric evaluation were developed. In the psychometric, content validity index and content validity ratio were calculated to establish initial instrument validity through the use of expert ratings, as well as, construct and criterion validity. Results: The original items reduced to 25. Using principal components analysis and orthogonal varimax rotation, three factors had an eigenvalue >1, with 60.05% variance (Factor 1: 47.9%; Factor 2: 7.56%; and Factor 3: 5.05%). The tool had an acceptable correlation to criterion of the instrument (r = .769, p < .001), a Cronbach alpha consistency of 0.953, and a stability level of r = .945 and p < .001. Conclusion: In this study, a valid and reliable instrument was developed to measure intuition.

Students' satisfaction with simulated clinical experiences: validation of an assessment scale

OBJECTIVE: validate an assessment instrument of nursing students' satisfaction with simulated clinical experiences.METHOD: a 17-item scale was applied to students from the Teaching Diploma Program in Nursing, after a set of simulated clinical experiences. Factorial analysis with orthogonal varimax rotation was used, and the internal consistency was estimated to determine the validity of the scale.RESULTS: in a sample of 181 students, we found a high correlation between practically all items and the total scale, with an Alpha coefficient of 0.914. The scale items were divided in three factors: practical dimension, realism dimension and cognitive dimension, with good internal consistency coefficients of 0.89; 0.88 and 0.73, respectively.CONCLUSION: the scale complies with the validity requisites, revealing a high potential for use in research.

Validity and reliability of a teacher's scale developed in Brazil for assessment of hyperactive: impulsive behavior and inattention in children and adolescents

This study was designed to develop and assess the internal consistency and factor structure of a teacher's scale for the assessment of hyperactive/impulsive and inattentive behavior in a sample of 221 children from different cities in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Forty-five teachers rated the children. The internal consistency of the scale was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha. An orthogonal varimax rotation that maximizes the variance of the squared loadings for each factor was used to find the simplest possible factor structure. There is no internal discrepancy in the item content of the scale. Exploratory factor analysis showed four primary factors (hyperactivity/impulsivity; inattention; social isolation; self-confidence) that are psychologically meaningful. When factor analysis was carried out there was no substantial difference from other studies when compared with the results of other western and oriental countries. It was concluded that this teacher's scale can be a useful aid to clinicians in the identification of children with hyperactivity/impulsivity and inattention problems.

The Death Distress Construct and Scale

The purpose of this research was to construct a short scale to assess the death distress construct, that is, death anxiety, death depression, and death obsession as derivatives from the already existing scales. A sample of 630 volunteer undergraduates responded to scales of death anxiety, death depression, and death obsession. A Pearson correlation matrix was computed using the 51 individual items of the three scales. A forced three-factor principal components analysis with orthogonal varimax rotation was carried out. Eight items with factor loading > 0.5 on each scale was determined. The eight items with highest factor loadings on Factor I were with “Death obsession,” whereas the Factors II and III were labeled: “Death anxiety,” and “Death depression.” Their alpha reliabilities ranged from 0.83 to 0.93, indicating high internal consistency. One week test retest reliability ranged between 0.76 and 0.91, indicating temporal stability. A single high-loaded factor of death distress was disclosed, demonstrating the discriminant validity of the death distress construct and scale. Women obtained a significantly higher mean scores on all three factors. It was concluded that the aforementioned three factors were sufficiently independent to justify their use in assessing partially distinct sub-constructs as sub-components of the generic high-order factor of death distress, with empirical and clinical implications.

Correlation Between Psychosocial Stress and Depression among Adolescents

Background:The data of various studies indicates, that stressful life events having a strong influence to the development of depression in adolescence.Aim:To study the correlation between psychosocial stress and depression among adolescents.Methods:The subjects of the study were 1026 schoolchildren (519 boys and 507 girls) of secondary schools (ninth form pupils) of one administrative region of Lithuania. Average age of adolescents was 14,8±1,12 years. The 57-item Depression scale of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory for Adolescents (MMPI-A D) and 7-item Reeder scale were used.Results:The first four factors of depression (pessimism, hostility, somatic health, tension-anxiety) after MMPI-A D scale orthogonal varimax rotation were used in data analysis. Correlative analysis was show statistically meaning correlations between depression, the pessimism factor and the all items of psychosocial stress for the girls. The boys’ tension-anxiety factor correlated statistically meaning with all items of psychosocial stress. Comparing depressive and not depressive adolescents according Reeder scale, determined that both: depressive boys (p=0,043), and depressive girls (p< 0,0001) experienced more psychosocial stress comparing with not depressive adolescents. The stepwise regression analyses differed an importance of the items “nervous tension” (p=0,011), “stress because of communication” (p=0,014) for the girls’ depression and the items “nervous tension” (p=0,011), “physical and mental exhaustion at the end of a day” (p=0,003) for the boys’ depression.Conclusions:1.Depressive boys and girls experienced more psychosocial stress comparing with not depressive adolescents.2.Psychosocial stress is important for prognosis of depression in adolescence.

Factor Structure of Perceptual-Motor Attributes in Normal Children: A Cross-Validation

The scores on 22 items of the Purdue Perceptual-motor Survey, administered to 567 normal school children of mean IQ 103 and mean age of 116 mo., were subjected to R-factor analysis by the method of principal factoring with orthogonal varimax rotation. The analysis led to the definition of 10 factors: J, ocular control; K, dynamic balance; L, visual-motor fluency; M, chalkboard; N, unilateral-bilateral coordination; O, upper-lower body differentiation; P, form perception; Q, developmental maturation; R, sex; and S, spatial body perception. The results provide cross-validation for previous studies on the perceptual-motor attributes of normal school children.

'n Ontleding van die faktorstruktuur van die Suid-Afrikaanse persoonlikheidsvraelys

In order to further clarify its factor structure the South African Personality Questionnaire is administered along with the Thurstone Temperament Schedule to a sample of 191 students. The results are factor analysed and the resulting factor matrix is rotated by means of an orthogonal (Varimax) rotation. Results indicate a factor structure consisting of five factors which are almost exact replicas of the factors found by Steyn (1974). The use of the South African Personality Questionnaire in future research is strongly recommended.Opsomming Die sielkundige diepte-dimensie as konstruk van menslike gedrag in die 4-dimensionele klassifikasieteorie van menslike gedrag (Raubenheimer, 1978) word konseptueel omskryf en afgebaken. Kognitiewe en nie-kognitiewe gedragskorrelate van verskillende kognitiewe style word ook op 'n logiese wyse aan die konstruk sielkundige diepte-oriëntasie gekoppel.

Dogmatism and Rigidity: A Factor Analysis

Following earlier theoretical suggestions by Rokeach, this paper investigated the factorial structure of the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale and the Gough-Sanford Rigidity Scale both individually and together to determine if they could be shown to tap empirically different aspects of personality. In addition with the sample of 1074, part sample analyses were done to examine the stability of factor-analytic results. Using orthogonal varimax rotation, a clear separation of Dogmatism and Rigidity was shown, in support of Rokeach's theory; the individual analyses yielded insight into the nature of the two tests' content.