Validation Studies of the Group Development Questionnaire

To assess the face, content, construct, and concurrent validity of the PHACON Sinonasal Surgery Simulator (SNSS). Prospective cohort study. A total of 12 otolaryngology residents were recruited to perform sinonasal surgery on the simulator followed by cadaveric heads. Resident performances were recorded and de-identified. Face and content validities were evaluated based on 5-point Likert scale questionnaires. The recordings were evaluated by extramural expert rhinologists based on a validated Global Rating Scale (GRS). These results were analyzed and compared to assess construct and concurrent validity. The appearance of anatomic structures was rated as realistic by 75% of all participants, while only 30% and 41.7% rated the mucosal and bony tissues as realistic, respectively. A total of 91.7% of participants found the model useful for teaching anatomy, while 66.7% said it was useful for teaching operative technique. Construct validity was confirmed by showing significant differences in performance between the novice and experienced groups. Concurrent validity was confirmed by showing significant correlation between performance on the model and gold standard (i.e. cadaver head). This study demonstrates the face, content, concurrent, and construct validity of a 3D-printed SNSS. Although this model has the potential to be a valuable tool in endoscopic sinus surgery training for otolaryngology residents, improvements are required with respect to the quality of simulated mucosal tissue as well as the simulated anatomy of the fronto-ethmoid compartment Level of Evidence: NA Laryngoscope, 2019.

BackgroundThe fall risk questionnaire (FRQ) is a proficient older adult’s fall risk level assessment scale. It assists in identifying individuals at risk, developing prevention mechanisms early, and reducing the chance of injury. It is evidenced that age, literacies, and distinct cultural background determine the validity and reliability of the scale. Nevertheless, there is no valid and reliable fall risk measurement scale for Ethiopian older adults so far. Therefore, the overarching aim of this study is to translate, cross-culturally adapt, and evaluate the validity and reliability of the fall risk questionnaire in the Amharic language.MethodsThe translated and cross-culturally adapted FRQ was pre-tested through cognitive interview to provide an Amharic version of FRQ (FRQ-AM), and then its content validity was assessed. The construct validity and reliability of the FRQ-AM were scrutinized by a community-based study with a total of 340 older adults selected by systematic random sampling technique. Epi-Info 7 and SPSS version 25 were applied for the data entry and analysis, respectively. The principal component analysis method, Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO), Bartlett’s test, and factor loading were checked as pre-requisites for factor analysis. The construct validity was examined by average variance extracted (AVE), factor loading, and composite reliability (CR). Chronbach’s alpha and CR were included to evaluate the reliability.ResultThe results of KMO, Bartlet’s test, and factor loading were 0.705, p < 0.005, and > 0.5, respectively. The principal component analysis with varimax rotation yields four domains, which together explain 50.491% of the total variance. The Chrobach’s alpha and CR were 0.56 and 0.78, respectively. The value of AVE, factor loading, and CR of all factors were > 0.5, which shows that convergent validity was evidenced. The square root of AVEs was above the inter-factor correlation value, which indicates that discriminant validity was met.ConclusionThe rigorous translation process, pre-testing, content, and construct validity demonstrated that the Amharic FRQ is a valid and reliable tool to assess fall risk level in this population. Clinicians and researchers can utilize this tool for the advancement of fall screening and research purposes.

BackgroundWeb-based health behavior change interventions may be more effective if they offer autonomy-supportive communication facilitating the internalization of motivation for health behavior change. Yet, at this moment no validated tools exist to assess user-perceived autonomy-support of such interventions.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to develop and validate the virtual climate care questionnaire (VCCQ), a measure of perceived autonomy-support in a virtual care setting.MethodsItems were developed based on existing questionnaires and expert consultation and were pretested among experts and target populations. The virtual climate care questionnaire was administered in relation to Web-based interventions aimed at reducing consumption of alcohol (Study 1; N=230) or cannabis (Study 2; N=228). Item properties, structural validity, and reliability were examined with item-response and classical test theory methods, and convergent and divergent validity via correlations with relevant concepts.ResultsIn Study 1, 20 of 23 items formed a one-dimensional scale (alpha=.97; omega=.97; H=.66; mean 4.9 [SD 1.0]; range 1-7) that met the assumptions of monotonicity and invariant item ordering. In Study 2, 16 items fitted these criteria (alpha=.92; H=.45; omega=.93; mean 4.2 [SD 1.1]; range 1-7). Only 15 items remained in the questionnaire in both studies, thus we proceeded to the analyses of the questionnaire’s reliability and construct validity with a 15-item version of the virtual climate care questionnaire. Convergent validity of the resulting 15-item virtual climate care questionnaire was confirmed by positive associations with autonomous motivation (Study 1: r=.66, P<.001; Study 2: r=.37, P<.001) and perceived competence for reducing alcohol intake (Study 1: r=.52, P<.001). Divergent validity could only be confirmed by the nonsignificant association with perceived competence for learning (Study 2: r=.05, P=.48).ConclusionsThe virtual climate care questionnaire accurately assessed participants’ perceived autonomy-support offered by two Web-based health behavior change interventions. Overall, the scale showed the expected properties and relationships with relevant concepts, and the studies presented suggest this first version of the virtual climate care questionnaire to be reasonably valid and reliable. As a result, the current version may cautiously be used in future research and practice to measure perceived support for autonomy within a virtual care climate. Future research efforts are required that focus on further investigating the virtual climate care questionnaire's divergent validity, on determining the virtual climate care questionnaire’s validity and reliability when used in the context of Web-based interventions aimed at improving nonaddictive or other health behaviors, and on developing and validating a short form virtual climate care questionnaire.

Propriétés métrologiques des questionnaires de connaissances et de pratiques des professionnels de santé concernant les patients ayant des conduites d’alcoolisation pathologique

Background:Reliability and validity are the key concepts in measurement processes. Young internet addiction test (YIAT) is regarded as a valid and reliable questionnaire in English speaking countries for diagnosis of Internet-related behavior disorders.Objectives:This study aimed at validating the Persian version of YIAT in the Iranian society.Patients and Methods:A pilot and a cross-sectional study were conducted on 28 and 254 students of Qom University of Medical Sciences, respectively, in order to validate the Persian version of YIAT. Forward and backward translations were conducted to develop a Persian version of the scale. Reliability was measured by test-retest, Cronbach’s alpha and interclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Face, content and construct validity were approved by the importance score index, content validity ratio (CVR), content validity index (CVI), correlation matrix and factor analysis. The SPSS software was used for data analysis.Results:The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.917 (CI 95%; 0.901 - 0.931). The average of scale-level CVI was calculated to be 0.74; the CVI index for each item was higher than 0.83 and the average of CVI index was equal to 0.89. Factor analysis extracted three factors including personal activities disorder (PAD), emotional and mood disorder (EMD) and social activities disorder (SAD), with more than 55.8% of total variances. The ICC for different factors of Persian version of Young Questionnaire including PAD, EMD and for SAD was r = 0.884; CI 95%; 0.861 - 0.904, r = 0.766; CI 95%; 0.718 - 0.808 and r = 0.745; CI 95%; 0.686 - 0.795, respectively.Conclusions:Our study showed that the Persian version of YIAT is good and usable on Iranian people. The reliability of the instrument was very good. Moreover, the validity of the Persian translated version of the scale was sufficient. In addition, the reliability and validity of the three extracted factors of YIAT were evaluated and were acceptable.

Development, translation, and validation of a bilingual questionnaire on unused medications in homes

The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the Fatigue Scale-Children (FS-C-C). Cancer-related fatigue is one of the most distressing and prevalent symptoms reported by paediatric oncology patients during and after their cancer treatment. A reliable and valid instrument to measure fatigue is essential to the successful clinical care of paediatric oncology patients in Taiwan who experience this troubling symptom. A total of 108 paediatric oncology Taiwanese patients who were aged 7-12 years participated in this cross-sectional, instrumentation study. The FS-C was translated into Chinese by using an established translation/back-translation method. The psychometric testing of the FS-C-C included internal consistency, content validity, construct validity, convergent validity, criterion-related validity and known-group validity. The FS-C-C achieved an acceptable internal consistency coefficient. Content validity was moderately high (content validity indices ranged from 83-100%). Confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor model as an acceptable model fit (the goodness-of-fit index and adjusted goodness-of-fit index both were greater than 0.9; normed fit index, 0.89; root-mean-square residual, 0.15). Although the results did not support the known-group hypothesis, the convergent validity, concurrent validity and predictive validity of the FS-C-C were supported by significant associations with the PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale, the Anxious/Depressed subscale of the Child Behaviour Checklist and the generic and disease-specific scores on the Quality of Life for Children with Cancer instrument, respectively. Our newly developed FS-C-C is a reliable and valid instrument for the measurement of cancer-related fatigue intensity in Taiwanese children. The FS-C-C could provide useful information to guide clinical practice in assessing and managing cancer-related fatigue in childhood cancer patients in Taiwan.

Development and validation of a questionnaire for the assessment of bowel and lower urinary tract symptoms in women

To develop a simple but sensitive instrument to evaluate and document symptoms of both bowel and urinary dysfunction in women. A 22-item questionnaire covering a range of bowel and urinary symptoms was developed and underwent rigorous psychometric testing. The gynaecology departments of three hospitals, a urogynaecology clinic, a functional bowel clinic and a general practice. Six hundred and thirty women, comprising four groups: 1. women awaiting hysterectomy (n = 379), 2. women following hysterectomy (n = 45), 3. women referred with functional bowel and/or urinary symptoms (n = 65), 4. asymptomatic controls (n = 141). The content, construct and criterion validity, internal consistency, reliability and responsiveness of the questionnaire were measured. RESULTS Peer and patient reports and missing data patterns supported face and content validity. Factor analysis showed a clinically relevant four-factor structure with low content replication able to distinguish between patient groups, indicating good internal structure. Comparison with clinical, anorectal physiological, videoproctographic, transit time and urodynamic test results provide provisional indication of criterion validity. Key domain question analysis and Cronbach's alphas showed internal consistency. Kappa values demonstrated good test-retest reliability and key question correlation over time proved responsiveness. Our findings support the suitability, clinical validity, reliability and responsiveness of a simple questionnaire, which is sensitive to the constraints of clinical practice. The authors recommend its use in health care evaluation research assessing the effects of pelvic surgery and as a useful tool in comparing treatment efficacy.

The purpose of this study was to assess the content, construct, and discriminative validity and responsiveness of the Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) in patients with thumb carpometacarpal arthritis. Data were collected at Xpert Clinics, comprising 34 outpatient hand surgery and hand therapy clinics in the Netherlands. We included 267 patients for content validity and 323 patients for construct validity and responsiveness. The PSFS items were classified into the International Classification of Function Core Set for Hand Conditions to assess content validity. We used hypothesis testing to investigate the construct validity and responsiveness. The Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire was used as a comparator instrument. The standardized response mean was calculated to evaluate the magnitude of change. For discriminative validity, we used independent t tests to discriminate between satisfied and dissatisfied patients. We classified 98% of the PSFS items in the International Classification of Function "activities" and "participation" domains, indicating good content validity. Two of six hypotheses for construct validity and three of six hypotheses for responsiveness were confirmed. The standardized response mean for the PSFS was 0.57 (0.46-0.68) and 0.47 (0.35-0.58) for the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire total score. The mean PSFS score showed good discriminative validity because it could distinguish between satisfied and dissatisfied patients at the 3-month follow-up. The PSFS scores showed good content and discriminative validity in patients with first carpometacarpal arthritis. Hypothesis testing for responsiveness and construct validity indicates that the PSFS measures a unique construct different from the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire. The PSFS may be a useful scale for measuring the patient-specific status of individuals with thumb carpometacarpal arthritis.

Purpose To investigate the construct-concurrent validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the European Child Environment Questionnaire (ECEQ-T) in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Methods Mean age 9.53 ± 4.45 years 306 children with CP and their parents participated in the study. While construct validity was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis, concurrent validity was investigated using the correlation between ECEQ-T and Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) with Spearman’s correlation analysis. For test–retest reliability, ECEQ-T was administered twice to 65 parents with an interval of two weeks. Cronbach’s alpha (α) and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) were used for reliability. Results Construct validity (RMSEA > 0.080; GFI ≥ 0.90) and concurrent validity (r: −0.533 to −0.293; p < 0.05) were confirmed as acceptable. Eight items were dropped out as they did not fit the model and finally ECEQ-T contains 54 items in three domains. High Cronbach’s α and ICC values were found (Cronbach α PE: 0.960/ICCPE: 0.959, Cronbach α SS: 0.955/ICCSS: 0.954), Cronbach α A: 0.822/ICCA: 0.802, Cronbach α T: 0.957/ICCT: 0.955). Conclusion ECEQ-T has demonstrated good psychometric properties and can be used as a reliable and valid measure to assess environmental factors. We believe that ECEQ-T is a useful and detailed questionnaire to determine barriers-facilitators for increasing activity and participation in Turkish children with CP. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION The Turkish version of ECEQ has acceptable construct validity and moderate concurrent validity for evaluating environmental factors in children with cerebral palsy. The Turkish version of ECEQ provides valuable information, which could be helpful to guide public health services and government policies in order to optimize the participation of children with CP. Environmental factors may play an important role in activity and participation in children with cerebral palsy. Turkish version of the ECEQ can be used for evaluating the environmental factors to determine barriers of activity and participation.

Given that a medical practice exists for patients, it is worth determining the degree of patient satisfaction with regard to the medical practice's quality of care. Considering the importance of noticing patient satisfaction and its influence on clinical care, intense evaluation of a questionnaire's validity and reliability is essential. The purpose of this study was to establish a valid and reliable self-administered scale to measure patient satisfaction with fewer questions than previous scales applicable in medical settings in Japan. A qualitative method was used to develop and revise content-valid question items of the questionnaire. Factor analysis revealed five subscales among 12 items: "overall satisfaction", "complete examination", "patient centeredness", "examination time", and "whole person care". A test of internal consistency was also assessed. The concurrent validity was assessed to evaluate the association between the score of the current questionnaire and that of the visual analogue scale or other questionnaire. Agreement between two sets of score, scores just after consultation and 30-50 min after that, was assessed to evaluate the test-retest reliability of each question item. The results revealed satisfactory validity, including the content and concurrent validity, internal consistency (Cronback alpha = 0.77-0.85), and the test-retest reliability of our questionnaire (Kappa score = 0.61-0.71). In conclusion, we have developed a short-form self-administered patient satisfaction questionnaire applicable in Japan, with acceptable validity and reliability. This questionnaire may contribute to conducting further studies related to patient subjective responses to encounters in Japanese medical settings, and evaluating and improving the clinical interview skills of medical students or trainees in medical education.

BackgroundIt has been claimed that Nordic register data are a “goldmine” for research. However, one limitation is the lack of information on working conditions. Job exposure matrices (JEMs) are one solution to this problem. Thus, the three aims of this study were (i) to investigate the reliability of an occupation-based psychosocial JEM, i.e., a Job Strain Index (job strain or JSI abbreviated), (ii) to examine the construct and criterion-related validity of this measure of job strain (iii) and assesses the concurrent and the predictive validity of an occupation-based Job Strain Index for use in analyses of Norwegian register data.MethodThe study utilized five waves of the nationwide Norway Survey of Living Conditions in the Work Environment with a total sample of 43,977 individuals and register data with a total sample of 1,589,535 individuals. Job strain was composed of items belonging to the two dimensions of Karasek’s DC model, job demands and job control (1979). The reliability of the JSI and its dimensions and components were investigated by measuring the degree of agreement (Cohen’s kappa), sensitivity, specificity, and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha). Construct validity was assessed by confirmatory factor analysis, and criterion-related validity was measured by concurrent validity and predictive validity. The selected concurrent criteria were self-reported survey information on long-term sick absence, anxiety, depression, and sleeping difficulty. The predictive criteria were register information on receipt of disability benefits, mortality, and long-term sick leave.ResultsAgreement between individual and occupation-based job strain and components was fair to poor. The sensitivity and specificity of occupation-based job strain and its components varied from acceptable to low. The consistency of the items comprising job demand and job control was clearly acceptable. Regarding concurrent validity, significant associations between (both individual and occupational) job strain, and long-term sick leave and sleeping difficulty were observed for both genders. Occupation-based job strain indicated an elevated risk for anxiety and depression among men, but not among women. As for predictive reliability, significant associations between occupation-based job strain and all three health outcomes were observed for both men and women.ConclusionOur occupation-based JSI serves as a reliable and valid indicator of psychosocial job exposure that can be used in analyses of Norwegian register data where individual information on such conditions is missing.

The Tube 3 Module Designed for Practicing Vesicourethral Anastomosis in a Virtual Reality Robotic Simulator: Determination of Face, Content, and Construct Validity

Purpose This study aimed to develop a Czech version of The Leisure Time Physical Activity Questionnaire for People with Disabilities (LTPAQ-D-CZ) and evaluate its construct validity using accelerometer-based measurements and reliability in manual wheelchair users (MWU). Methods The LTPAQ-D was translated into Czech using a standardized forward-backward translation process. Content validity was assessed through a focus group of six MWU who reviewed wording, clarity, and relevance. Test-retest reliability was evaluated over a 7-day interval in 23 MWU. For construct validity, 55 MWU wore an ActiGraph wGT3X-BT accelerometer continuously for seven days and completed a leisure time activity log, a sociodemographic questionnaire, and the LTPAQ-D-CZ. Results The translation and validation process resulted in the LTPAQ-D-CZ. Significant positive correlations were observed between the LTPAQ-D-CZ and accelerometer-derived light, moderate, vigorous, moderate-to-vigorous, and total leisure time physical activity (rS = 0.306–0.659). Statistically significant differences were observed only for vigorous activity (Z = 3.61, p < 0.001) and strength training (Z = 2.89, p = 0.004). Test-retest reliability for total physical activity was high (ICC = 0.924, p < 0.001). Conclusions The LTPAQ-D-CZ demonstrated good validity and excellent test-retest reliability, supporting its use as a valid tool for measuring leisure time physical activity in MWU.