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Biomedical subjects

D V Cicchetti

Publications and source records attributed to D V Cicchetti.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Developing criteria for establishing interrater reliability of specific items: applications to assessment of adaptive behavior.

A set of criteria based upon biostatistical considerations for determining the interrater reliability of specific adaptive behavior items in a given setting was presented. The advantages and limitations of extant statistical assessment procedures were discussed. Also, a set of guidelines for differentiating type of adaptive behavior that are statistically reliable from those that are reliable in a clinical or practical sense was delineated. Data sets were presented throughout in order to illustrate the advantages of recommended statistical procedures over other available ones.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1979

Comparative reliability of categorical and analogue rating scales in the assessment of psychiatric symptomatology.

The reliability of 26 items from the ninth edition of the Present State Examination (PSE) was assessed using both the conventional categorical scales and separately constructed analogue scales. Reliability was also calculated when the analogue responses were rescaled down to 2, 3 and 4 categories. The levels of inter-rater agreement obtained were comparable to those achieved in previous studies of PSE reliability, although as expected the levels of agreement on audiotapes were greater than those for independent interviews performed on the same day. These levels were not significantly affected by any of the changes in scale format, but there were apparent differences in reliability depending on the statistics used. In selecting or constructing a psychiatric rating scale, the question of reliability should not influence the choice of a categorical or continuous scale, or the number of scored points in the scale.

Psychiatric Status Rating Scales↗
PubMed1978

Behavior rating inventory for moderately, severely, and profoundly retarded persons.

The reliability and validity of the behavior of a sample of institutionalized mentally retarded children, with total IQs between 2 and 53, were assessed by a new scale measuring the following areas; communication, self-help, physical skills, self-control, and social behavior. Clinically and statistically acceptable levels of interrater agreement were found. With respect to validity: (a) several factors loaded very highly on items consistent with the a priori labeling of subscales; (b) two of the factors (cognitive and psychomotor development) could account for about 75% of the explained variance in ward placement levels (multiple R = .86); and (c) individual items on the Behavior Rating Inventory for the Retarded correlated highly with independently derived measures of the actual behavior these items represented. The major advantages of this scale over existing ones include its clearly demonstrated validity and relative ease of administration and scoring.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Sleep in mammals: ecological and constitutional correlates.

The interrelationships between sleep, ecological, and constitutional variables were assessed statistically for 39 mammalian species. Slow-wave sleep is negatively associated with a factor related to body size, which suggests that large amounts of this sleep phase are disadvantageous in large species. Paradoxical sleep is associated with a factor related to predatory danger, which suggests that large amounts of this sleep phase are disadvantageous in prey species.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

The initial psychotherapy interview: a content analysis of the verbal responses of novice and experienced therapists.

This study tested and confirmed the clinical impressions that (a) the novice psychotherapist may focus so much upon the exact words and nonverbal behavior patterns of his client (the process of making "concrete" statements) that he may lose sight of the larger picture that his client may be revealing at any given moment during the interview; (b) the experienced psychotherapist, on the other hand, seems to be responding to the words of the patient at a level of abstraction that attempts to integrate and understand the messages that the patient is trying to convey about himself; and (c) this latter process is reflected in the making of relatively more "abstract" comments than is true of the novice. Ss were 24 first-year psychiatric residents and 19 staff psychologists and psychiatrists at a veterans hospital and a medical school. The learning theory implications of these findings is discussed.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1976

Assessing inter-rater reliability for rating scales: resolving some basic issues.

This paper extends the recent work of Hall (1974) by presenting the minimal sample sizes and the specific linear agreement weights required for assessing the reliability of rating scales commonly used in neuropsychiatric and other clinico-medical settings. The weights are shown to vary as a function of (a) whether or not the rating scale contains a point of 'absence', and (b) the number of ordinal points on the scale.

Humans↗
PubMed1976

A statistical analysis of reviewer agreement and bias in evaluating medical abstracts.

Observer variability affects virtually all aspects of clinical medicine and investigation. One important aspect, not previously examined, is the selection of abstracts for presentation at national medical meetings. In the present study, 109 abstracts, submitted to the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, were evaluated by three "blind" reviewers for originality, design-execution, importance, and overall scientific merit. Of the 77 abstracts rated for all parameters by all observers, interobserver agreement ranged between 81 and 88%. However, corresponding intraclass correlations varied between 0.16 (approaching statistical significance) and 0.37 (p < 0.01). Specific tests of systematic differences in scoring revealed statistically significant levels of observer bias on most of the abstract components. Moreover, the mean differences in interobserver ratings were quite small compared to the standard deviations of these differences. These results emphasize the importance of evaluating the simple percentage of rater agreement within the broader context of observer variability and systematic bias.

Abstracting and Indexing↗