SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Content validation”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 397 records · Page 22Linked to original sources

PubMed2002

Measuring consultation skills in primary care in England: evaluation and development of content of the MAAS scale.

BACKGROUND: Consultation skills are essential for general practice. Tools for measuring consultation skills in everyday practice are not well developed AIM: To examine and develop the content validity of the MAAS History-taking and Advice Checklist GP (MAAS-GP) tool which is used in The Netherlands for testing consultation skills, with simulated patients in United Kingdom general practice from the perspectives of both general practitioners and patients. DESIGN OF STUDY: Qualitative research using semi-structured interviews. SETTING: Alternate patients attending seven general practices in the north west of England. METHOD: Thematic analysis of the contents of patient and GP interviews, and of focus groups, mapping key themes to the MAAS-GP. RESULTS: There was strong agreement between patients and GPs on issues mapping to 46 out of 68 items of the MAAS-GP. Eight further MAAS-GP items were linked to issues only raised by patients and four to issues raised only by GPs. The remaining 10 items could not be related to issues raised by either. All of the issues raised by GPs could be mapped but 27 patient items could not. These were included in a revised checklist, the Liverpool MAAS (LIV-MAAS). CONCLUSION: the revised tool seems to have content validity in measuring consultation skills. Measurement of its relability is now required.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Expanded health belief model predicts diabetes self-management in college students.

An instrument was designed to determine relationships between constructs of the Expanded Health Belief Model and to identify characteristics of college students who successfully manage their diabetes. The Diabetes College Scale was developed to measure attitudes and behaviors pertinent to diabetes management and college life. It was tested for content validity, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency. Data were collected from college students using a cross-sectional design. Campus health care providers were invited via electronic mail to administer the survey to students with Type I diabetes. Ninety-eight questionnaires were mailed to interested providers, of which 86 (88%) were returned. Mean scores for attitude constructs, seven behaviors, and two outcomes were measured. Twenty-six experts established content validity. Instrument reliability was evaluated using paired t-tests, Cronbach's alpha, and correlation coefficients. Correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression analysis evaluated relationships among variables measured. Intention and emotional response were strong predictors of exercise, whereas health importance and intention were predictive of testing blood sugar. Situational factors and emotional response were substantial barriers to optimal diabetes self-care. College health care providers should address these areas in providing services to this population. Additional testing of the instrument is also recommended.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Spanish translation of the role checklist.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to create a Spanish version of the Role Checklist that is content valid and reliable and to demonstrate usefulness of a translation method. METHOD: A modified version of the translation method of Hachey, Jumoorty, and Mercier was used to translate the English Role Checklist into Spanish. The English and Spanish versions were then evaluated for test-retest reliability at a 2-week interval, using 14 bilingual college students. RESULTS: The intralanguage correlation was .907 for Part I and .798 for Part II. CONCLUSION: A content valid and reliable Spanish version of the Role Checklist was created, using replicable translation methods.

Communication Barriers↗

PubMed2004

Development of a measure to delineate the clinical trials nursing role.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To identify the significant dimensions of the clinical trials nursing role and to construct a reliable and valid survey instrument to reflect these dimensions. DESIGN: Methodologic survey. SETTING/SAMPLE: The judge panel consisted of six national nurse experts. The focus group sample was comprised of 24 clinical research nurses from the West, Northeast, and Great Lakes regions of the United States and five research nurses from Canada. The sample for instrument testing consisted of 40 oncology clinical research nurses from the Southeast. METHODS: Several strategies were used to develop the Clinical Trials Nursing Questionnaire (CTNQ): literature review, conceptualization of the subscales, development of items for each subscale, development of the tool, expert judge panel evaluation, focus group testing, administration of the tool, and psychometric analysis of the results. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES: Frequency and importance of clinical trials nursing activities. FINDINGS: Content validity was established at 0.95. The alpha reliability coefficient was 0.92 for the frequency scale and 0.95 for the importance scale. A two-week test-retest reliability of 0.88 was obtained for the frequency scale and 0.92 for the importance scale. The final CTNQ contained 12 sections with 154 items. CONCLUSIONS: The CTNQ has acceptable content validity, internal consistency, and stability reliability. This instrument is promising for the assessment of the research nurse role, and its use in further research is appropriate. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: A valid and reliable measure can be used to delineate the subspecialty of clinical trials nursing, thus providing a better understanding of how nursing professionals contribute to the cancer research enterprise.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗

PubMed2004

Information needs and prostate cancer: the development of a systematic means of identification.

OBJECTIVE: To design, from first principles, a valid and reliable scale for assessing the importance of specific items of information needed by patients with prostate cancer that would be straightforward to use in clinical settings, as despite its prevalence, there is little research focusing specifically on the information needs associated with prostate cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Several stages of consultation and modification were used to inform the development of a scale which was then piloted on 96 patients with prostate cancer. Respondents were asked to rate the importance they placed on a range of prostate cancer-related topics of information, and the extent to which they felt these information needs had been met. The construct and content validity of the instrument were established and an exploratory factor analysis used to guide restructuring of the tool. Internal consistency/reliability was calculated using Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: Using the scale showed that men with prostate cancer placed considerable importance on a broad range of information needs, most of which had been inadequately met. Age had a significant influence on the overall importance attributed to information, with younger patients having more need for information. The construct and content validity of the instrument were established. The factor analysis revealed four discrete factors which together explained > 68% of the variance, termed 'basics of prostate cancer care', 'disease management', 'physical well-being' and 'self-help'. Internal consistency/reliability was satisfactory (alpha = 0.91). CONCLUSIONS: The basis of a tool capable of ascertaining the information needs of patients with prostate cancer was developed; it may offer clinicians a valid means of ascertaining information preferences and hence potentially enhance the quality of service provided. Further research is now required to refine the tool and test the effect of its longitudinal use in clinical practice on patient satisfaction and outcome.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

Using National Medical Care Survey data to validate examination content on a performance-based clinical skills assessment for osteopathic physicians.

Patient characteristics, chief complaints, and diagnoses can be used to specify the examination content for performance-based assessments of clinical skills. The purpose of this investigation was to explore osteopathic and allopathic medical practice patterns and to provide summary statistics that can be used to delimit potential assessment content areas for a clinical skills assessment targeted at osteopathic physicians. Analyses of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey indicated that the types of patients seen by osteopathic and allopathic physicians in office-based settings are somewhat different. Furthermore, the reasons that patients seek care, and accompanying diagnostic outcomes, can vary by physician type. These differences suggest that from a content perspective, a performance-based clinical skills evaluation targeted at osteopathic physicians should be characteristically different from one designed for allopathic physicians.

Clinical Competence↗

PubMed2002

Discharge criteria from perioperative physical therapy.

OBJECTIVES: To develop valid and reliable hospital discharge criteria and a scoring system that would be used to assess when a patient should be discharged from perioperative physical therapy (PT) care. DESIGN: We developed the postoperative physiotherapy discharge scoring tool (POP-DST), a tool composed of objective criteria and a scoring system that would be used to determine when a patient should be discharged from perioperative PT. It is a composite score of the following five subcategories: mobility; breath sounds; secretion clearance; oxygen saturation; and respiratory rate. The score for the POP-DST ranges from 6 to 15, with a score of > 13 indicating readiness for discharge. We examined the content validity of the the POP-DST using focus groups and a mailed survey. To determine interrater reliability, two therapists, who were blinded to each other's scores, assessed postsurgical patients. Validity was examined by comparing the decision to discharge based on the score on the POP-DST to the decision to discharge according to the therapist's judgment. In addition, subjects who were discharged from PT were followed-up 7 to 10 days later to determine whether they had developed any subsequent respiratory problems. PATIENTS: One hundred four surgical patients were assessed to determine the reliability and validity of the POP-DST. For the ability of the test to detect postoperative complications following discharge from PT, 204 surgical patients were followed-up after discharge from PT. RESULTS: Interrater reliability was moderately high (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.76; r = 0.77). There was strong agreement between the decision to discharge the patient from PT based on the tool criteria compared to the therapist's judgment (kappa range, 0.91 to 0.96). The ability of the POP-DST to predict those patients who would not develop complications postoperatively was 94%. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the POP-DST would facilitate clinical decision making related to PT discharge planning in postsurgical populations. The instrument demonstrated strong content validity and predictive validity, as well as high levels of interobserver agreement. This tool should be considered as a work in progress until it is more fully validated.

Decision Making↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Short Functional Dependence Scale: development and pilot test in older adults with cancer.

The purpose of this study was to develop and pilot test an instrument, the Short Functional Dependence Scale (SFDS), to measure functional dependence in the older adult receiving cancer treatment. Patients from 2 oncology clinics affiliated with a teaching hospital participated in this descriptive, quantitative study. Participants consisted of older adults (N = 26; mean age 71, SD = 5; 54% female; 85% Caucasian) receiving chemotherapy intravenously for solid tumor cancer. Patients, nurses, oncologists, and social workers helped select instrument items and establish content validity. Measurements using the SFDS included baseline and follow-up visits. Data analysis included Cronbach alpha to determine internal consistency and repeated measures to evaluate SFDS scores and associated variables. Cronbach alpha ranged from 0.737 to 0.919 for the 12 items of the SFDS. Functional dependence increased with age, surgery, radiation therapy, and lower hemoglobin levels. Compared to participants with other types of cancer, participants with lung cancer were more dependent in basic activities of daily living, but participants with breast cancer had the highest degree of overall functional dependence. The SFDS has content validity and internal consistency. Pilot testing showed that the instrument performed well in differentiating the functional dependencies of patients receiving chemotherapy according to variables of interest.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2003

Preliminary development of a new individualised questionnaire measuring quality of life in older men with age-related hormonal decline: the A-RHDQoL.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing interest in hormone replacement therapy to improve health and quality of life (QoL) of older men with age-related decline in hormone levels. This paper reports the preliminary development and evaluation of the psychometric properties of a new individualised questionnaire, the A-RHDQoL, measuring perceived impact of age-related hormonal decline on QoL of older men. A-RHDQoL design was based on the HDQoL for people with growth hormone (GH) deficiency and the ADDQoL (for diabetes). METHODS: Internal consistency reliability and some aspects of validity of the A-RHDQoL were investigated in a cross-sectional survey of 128 older men (age range: 64 - 80 yrs), being screened for inclusion in a trial of GH and testosterone (T) replacement, and who completed the A-RHDQoL once. Respondents rated personally applicable life domains for importance and impact of their hormonal decline. A single overview item measured present QoL. Serum levels of Insulin-like Growth Factor-I and total T were measured. RESULTS: Of the 24 A-RHDQoL domains, 21 were rated as relevant and important for older men. All domains were perceived as negatively impacted by hormonal decline. The most negatively impacted domains were: memory (-4.54 +/- 3.02), energy (-4.44 +/- 2.49), sex life (-4.34 +/- 3.08) and physical stamina (-4.29 +/- 2.41), (maximum range -9 to +9). The shorter 21-domain A-RHDQoL had high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.935, N = 103) and applicable domains could be weighted and summed into an overall Average Weighted Impact score. The questionnaire was acceptable to the majority of respondents and content validity was good. The single overview item measuring present QoL correlated significantly with total T levels [r = 0.26, p <0.01, N = 114]. CONCLUSION: The new 21-item A-RHDQoL is an individualised questionnaire measuring perceived impact of age-related hormonal decline on the QoL of older men. The internal consistency reliability and content validity of the A-RHDQoL are established, but the measure is at an early stage of its development and its sensitivity to change and other psychometric properties need now to be evaluated in clinical trials of hormone replacement in older men.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

Development of an instrument to measure beliefs and attitudes from heart valve disease patients.

The objective of this study was to verify content validity and reliability of "CAV-Instrument" -- an instrument to measure beliefs and attitudes of heart valve disease patients concerning their illness and treatment. The instrument was analyzed by three judges (using predetermined criteria) and submitted to the pretest (n = 17 subjects). The majority of the items were evaluated as adequate regarding their pertinence, clearness and significance regarding the analyzed questions. The pretest showed the necessity for small changes in some statements, which optimized instrument comprehension by the patients. The restructured instrument was applied to 46 patients to verify internal consistency. The whole instrument and most of its scales presented satisfactory internal consistency. It is concluded that the instrument has content validity and is internally consistent, ratifying the adequacy of its application to measure the strength of association among the researched variables.

Attitude↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Reliability and validity of dyspnea sensory quality descriptors in heart failure patients treated in an emergency department.

BACKGROUND: Sensory qualities of dyspnea are known to differ by diagnosis. Less is known about whether sensory qualities vary with changes in health status in a given diagnosis. PURPOSE: The goal of this study was to evaluate the reliability, validity, and factor structure of dyspnea sensory quality descriptors in patients with heart failure (HF) treated in an emergency department (ED) and to investigate whether change in sensory quality influences HF patients to seek care in an ED. METHODS: HF patients (N = 57) treated in an ED were interviewed retrospectively. Open-ended characterizations of dyspnea at the time of the ED visit were analyzed qualitatively. A subset of subjects (n = 34) rated the intensity of 13 dyspnea descriptors (0 = not endorsed; 1= very mild; 10 = very severe) as the descriptors applied to the time at which they decided to come to the ED (Decision) and a week before the visit (Week Before). Descriptor ratings were analyzed for congruence with open-ended characterizations, endorsement frequency, internal consistency, factor structure, and correlations (by descriptor and within subjects) between the 2 time frames. RESULTS: Open-ended characterizations of dyspnea provided support for the content validity of most descriptors. Internal consistency of numerical ratings was high (alpha >0.90) in both recalled time frames. Factor analysis of descriptor ratings was unifactorial for Week Before, but suggested multiple sensory quality factors at Decision (suffocation, air hunger, effort/impedance, and, possibly, rate). Within-subject concordance and descriptor-by-descriptor correlations across time frames were mostly low, suggesting change in sensory quality from Week Before to Decision. Correlations in descriptor ratings were lowest among subjects who reported duration of dyspnea (as severe as at Decision) of 3 days or less. Subjects who recalled a duration of 6 days or more gave highly concordant ratings across both time frames. CONCLUSION: Sensory quality descriptor-based ratings were internally consistent and content valid. Low correlations in ratings of sensory quality for most subjects across recalled time frames suggest that change in sensory quality may be an aspect of perceived increases in dyspnea severity before an ED visit. Results require replication and extension with larger samples and other diagnoses.

Dyspnea↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The Pediatric Quality Appraisal Questionnaire: an instrument for evaluation of the pediatric health economics literature.

OBJECTIVES: Currently there is no tool available to adequately appraise the quality of the pediatric health economics literature. A comprehensive pediatric-specific instrument would be valuable in informing allocation decisions related to pediatric interventions and services. The goal of this study was to develop the Pediatric Quality Appraisal Questionnaire (PQAQ). METHODS: A draft instrument was constructed from published checklists and questionnaires. New questions pertaining to the pediatric population were incorporated. An expert panel reviewed the draft instrument and the proposed scoring scheme for face and content validity. A revised version was pilot tested by three independent appraisers. After addressing discrepancies in scores, a final version was created and subjected to interrater and test-retest reliability assessment. RESULTS: The 57 items in the final PQAQ were mapped onto 14 domains: economic evaluation, comparators, target population, time horizon, perspective, costs and resource use, outcomes, quality of life, analysis, discounting, incremental analysis, sensitivity analysis, conflict of interest, and conclusions. Among the 57 items, 46 have response options that are scored from 0 to 1. Interrater reliability was 0.75 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.66-0.81) and test-retest reliability was 0.92 (95% CI 0.71-0.98). CONCLUSIONS: The PQAQ is a comprehensive instrument demonstrating face and content validity and strong interrater and test-retest reliability in the appraisal of pediatric economic evaluations. This tool will be valuable to health economists, methods researchers, and policy decision makers involved in allocation decisions for pediatric health care.

Bibliometrics↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A new functional status outcome measure of dyspnea and anxiety for adults with lung disease: the dyspnea management questionnaire.

PURPOSE: To develop and psychometrically test the Dyspnea Management Questionnaire (DMQ), a new multidimensional measure of dyspnea in adults with chronic obstructive lung disease. PARTICIPANTS: Eighty-five participants were recruited with diagnoses of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, n = 73) and asthma (n = 12). The total sample was predominately female (65%) and married (34%), with 64.9% white and a mean age of 75 years (SD = 9.6, n = 76), diagnosed with pulmonary disease 4.8 years ago (SD = 4.4), 32% requiring the use of supplemental oxygen. Participants were also African American (29.9%), Asian (2.6%), and Hispanic (2.6%); n = 77. METHODS: An initial item pool of 74 items was drawn for the DMQ aided by qualitative interview data, literature review, and pilot testing with 3 adults with COPD. Several analyses were used to reduce the item pool. An interdisciplinary panel of 12 experts evaluated the content validity of the DMQ items. To evaluate test-retest reliability, respondents with stable COPD (n = 26) completed the questionnaire twice within a mean interval of 18 days (SD = 7.17). The DMQ was compared with the Medical Outcomes Study 12-Item Short-Form (SF-12) Health Survey, the Seattle Obstructive Lung Disease Questionnaire, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. RESULTS: The resulting DMQ is a 30-item scale that measures 5 conceptually derived dimensions: dyspnea intensity, dyspnea-related anxiety, fearful activity avoidance, self-efficacy for activity, and satisfaction with strategy use. It has a 7-point Likert-type scale and third Flesch-Kincaid reading grade level. A panel of 12 experts supported the content validity of the DMQ. It showed high internal consistency (alpha = .87 to .96) and test-retest reliability over 2.5 weeks (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.71 to 0.95). Dyspnea intensity, dyspnea-related anxiety, and fearful activity avoidance subscales of DMQ-30 and composite score were moderately to highly correlated with 3 Seattle Obstructive Lung Disease Questionnaire dimensions (r = 0.44-0.83), Medical Outcomes Study 12-Item Short-Form scales (r = 0.41-0.57), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety (r = -0.59 to -0.65). Two of DMQ's subscales, self-efficacy for activity and satisfaction with strategy use, correlated mildly with Seattle Obstructive Lung Disease Questionnaire (r = 0.28 and 0.27, respectively). Some very low correlations for DMQ-30's satisfaction with strategy use compared with the Medical Outcomes Study 12-Item Short-Form provided preliminary support for its divergent construct validity. The DMQ-30 discriminated adults with COPD requiring supplemental oxygen from those not requiring it. CONCLUSIONS: The DMQ addresses the need for a more comprehensive, multidimensional assessment of dyspnea, especially for anxious patients with COPD, in order to better guide the appropriate application of dyspnea management interventions and measure pulmonary rehabilitation outcomes. The DMQ can help add insights into the benefit of adjunctive therapies such as psychoeducation, controlled breathing strategies, and cognitive-behavioral approaches in pulmonary rehabilitation for anxious patients with COPD.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

A statistical support for using spectroscopic methods to validate the content uniformity of solid dosage forms.

The advent of PAT, Process Analytical Technologies, offers the possibility of large scale monitoring of tablets as they come off the press. The most rapid techniques allowing the largest sample sizes are based on reflectance spectroscopy. As these techniques sample only a portion of the tablet, it is critical to prove that sampling a portion has a larger (and, therefore, more conservative) statistical variance than sampling the entire. Once demonstrated, a partial sampling technique, for example, a Near Infrared (NIR) sensor, should be able to provide a safe bracket for content uniformity evaluation. It is the purpose of this report to support the claim that the coefficient of variance (CV) from sampling a part of a dosage form cannot be smaller than the CV from sampling the whole dosage form. This hypothesis will be supported in this study by both a statistical proof and experimental data acquired from a model tablet system.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid↗

PubMed1999

DISCERN: an instrument for judging the quality of written consumer health information on treatment choices.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a short instrument, called DISCERN, which will enable patients and information providers to judge the quality of written information about treatment choices. DISCERN will also facilitate the production of new, high quality, evidence-based consumer health information. DESIGN: An expert panel, representing a range of expertise in consumer health information, generated criteria from a random sample of information for three medical conditions with varying degrees of evidence: myocardial infarction, endometriosis, and chronic fatigue syndrome. A graft instrument, based on this analysis, was tested by the panel on a random sample of new material for the same three conditions. The panel re-drafted the instrument to take account of the results of the test. The DISCERN instrument was finally tested by a national sample of 15 information providers and 13 self help group members on a random sample of leaflets from 19 major national self help organisations. Participants also completed an 8 item questionnaire concerning the face and content validity of the instrument. RESULTS: Chance corrected agreement (weighted kappa) for the overall quality rating was kappa = 0.53 (95% CI kappa = 0.48 to kappa = 0.59) among the expert panel, kappa = 0.40 (95% CI kappa = 0.36 to kappa = 0.43) among information providers, and kappa = 0.23 (95% CI kappa = 0.19 to kappa = 0.27) among self help group members. Higher agreement levels were associated with experience of using the instrument and with professional knowledge of consumer health information. Levels of agreement varied across individual items on the instrument, reflecting the need for subjectivity in rating certain criteria. The trends in levels of agreement were similar among all groups. The final instrument consisted of 15 questions plus an overall quality rating. Responses to the questionnaire after the final testing revealed the instrument to have good face and content validity and to be generally applicable. CONCLUSIONS: DISCERN is a reliable and valid instrument for judging the quality of written consumer health information. While some subjectivity is required for rating certain criteria, the findings demonstrate that the instrument can be applied by experienced users and providers of health information to discriminate between publications of high and low quality. The instrument will also be of benefit to patients, though its use will be improved by training.

Endometritis↗

PubMed1990

[A study on the development of standardized nursing care plans for computerized nursing service].

A central issue in the development of nursing practice is to describe the phenomenon with which nursing is concerned. To identify the health problems which can be diagnosed and managed by the nurse is the first step to organize and ensure the development of nursing science. Therefore the academic world has been discussing the application of the nursing diagnosis in nursing practice as a means of improving quality of care. The objectives of this study were to develop a standardized nursing care plan for ten selected nursing diagnoses to form a database for computerized nursing service. The research approach used in the study was (1) the selection of the ten nursing diagnoses which occur most frequently on medical-surgical wards, (2) the development of a standardized nursing care plan for the ten selected nursing diagnoses, (3) application of the plan to hospitalized patients and evaluation of the content validity by the nurses, and (4) evaluation of the clinical effects after the use of the standardized nursing care plans. The subjects were 56 nurses and 395 hospitalized patients on two medical and two surgical unit. The results of this study were as follows: 1) The ten selected nursing diagnoses for the development of the standardized nursing care plans were "PAIN, SLEEP DISTURBANCE, ALTERED HEALTH MAINTENANCE, ALTERATION IN NUTRITION, ANXIETY, CONSTIPATION, ALTERED PATTERNS OF URINARY ELIMINATION, DISTURBANCE IN BODY IMAGE, POTENTIAL FOR ACTIVITY INTOLERANCE AND ACTIVITY INTOLERANCE". 2. The developed standardized nursing care plans included the nursing diagnosis, definition, defining characteristics, etiologic or related factors that contribute to the condition, recording pattern, desired outcomes and nursing orders (nursing interventions). 3. The plan was used with hospitalized patients on medical-surgical wards to test for content validity. The patient's satisfaction with the nursing care and nurses' job satisfaction were investigated to evaluate the clinical effects after the use of the standardized nursing care plans. A comparison of patient satisfaction with nursing care before and after the introduction of the standardized nursing care plans showed a statistically significant higher level of satisfaction with the standardized care plans. There was no difference in the level of job satisfaction expressed by the nursing staff before and after the standardized nursing care plans were introduced. However, when opinions about the use of the standardized nursing care plans were examined it was found that there was a positive effect on clarity in defining the nursing problems, determining nursing cost, more feasible goal setting, effective and systematic nursing records and indications for nursing research.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Humans↗

PubMed1995

[The quality of life in asthma: an evaluation of the AQLQ questionnaire for its use on a Spanish population. Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire].

The study of morbidity in asthma requires consideration not only of standard physiopathologic and function parameters, but also of the impact the disease has on the patient's life-style as he or she perceives it and evaluates it. The quantification of this factor, known as health-related quality of life (HRQL), is achieved by administering questionnaires specially designed for the purpose. We analyzed the reliability, content validity and construct validity (convergence and divergence) of one instrument, the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) designed by Marks and colleagues. This questionnaire covers 4 dimensions (breathlessness, mood, social limitation and worrying) and gives a total score. After a process of translation and back translation the AQLQ was administered to 102 adult asthmatics living in an urban center, all of whom had been stable for at least the preceding 4 weeks. The following data were recorded: age, sex, duration of disease, FEV1, medication, dyspnea, hospital visits, nighttime symptoms and severity of disease (from the patient's own point of view and according to the scale of the International Consensus Report [ICR]). The reliability study (internal consistency with Crombach's alpha coefficient and inter-item correlation analysis) gave satisfactory results in all cases (range of r = 0.39 to 0.78; alpha = 0.78 to 0.91). Content validity (factorial analysis of the main components, oblique and orthogonal rotations) was less satisfactory, although 4 factors were found; these factors adjusted relatively well to one of the proposed sub-scales and together explained 65.2% of the total variance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Quality of life assessment in individuals with lung cancer: testing the Lung Cancer Symptom Scale (LCSS).

This paper presents the continued development and multi-institutional testing of an instrument focusing on measuring the physical and functional dimensions of quality of life. It emphasises evaluation of symptoms associated with lung cancer and their effect on activity status. The Lung Cancer Symptom Scale (LCSS) is a disease- and site-specific instrument which has both a patient and an observer (health care professional) form. The patient scale required 8 min to administer and the observer scale 2 min. The readability index was second-grade level for the patient scale and ninth-grade level for the observer scale. Content validity revealed a mean of 96% agreement for all major symptoms among 52 experts surveyed (confidence interval = 86-99%, P = 0.05). 69 patients with non-small cell and 52 patients with small cell lung cancer confirmed that the symptoms matched their experiences. Interrater reliability showed consistency for all items but one among 21 raters at eight institutions; that one item was consistent for 20 of the 21 raters. Similar results were found on a 9-month interval replication. Using the Kappa statistic to estimate extent of agreement for repeated interrater reliability, almost perfect agreement was obtained (mean coefficients, 0.95-0.98). Using the same rule of agreement as for Kappa (+/- one category) intrarater agreement was 95-100% for all 21 raters. Past test re-test reliability indicated high patient reproducibility for 52 patients (r > 0.75, P < 0.01 for all items). We conclude that (1) the LCSS demonstrates good feasibility, reliability, and content validity, (2) high interrater reliability indicates utility in multicentre trials, and (3) continued testing for internal consistency, construct validity and criterion-related validity is warranted.

Adult↗