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PubMedDate not supplied

Lead effects on neurobehavioral development in the neonatal rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta).

Effects of lead exposure on behavioral development during the first month of postnatal life were examined in rhesus monkeys using a multi-item assessment scale developed for the evaluation of neonatal rhesus monkeys. Lead was administered daily beginning at day 8 postpartum at levels that produced blood lead levels of about 20 microg/dl by week 4 (n = 48); controls were treated identically but given vehicle only (n = 24). All monkeys were tested once a week for the first 4 weeks postpartum. The first principal component explained a substantial portion of the variance and was relatively consistent across ages for both groups. Analyses of the individual items and of both conceptually derived and empirically defined summary scores yielded no significant effects of lead. Furthermore, there were no systematic relationships between blood lead level and performance on the test. Correlation coefficients indicated more similarity across age for control monkeys than for lead-exposed monkeys suggesting that continuity of development, as measured by this test, was disrupted by lead. The relationship between outcome on these early assessments and later behavior will be explored in subsequent studies of these monkeys.

Aging↗

PubMed2001

The use of a simple Likert scale to measure quality of life in brain tumor patients.

The use of a self-administered 10-Point Likert self-assessment quality of life scale was explored in a convenience sample of patients attending a brain tumor clinic. The original scale, developed by Priestman, was modified to be more brain-tumor specific. A total of 430 patients completed the scale at 535 different points of measurement. The patients had a variety of brain tumors ranging from meningiomas to high-grade gliomas. The Total Score of the original scale and the Modified Total Score of the brain-specific version were explored in relationship to patient demographics and available clinical characteristics: age, gender, severity of tumor, location of tumor, survival rates, prior surgery, radiation, radiosurgery, and chemotherapy. We also examined the relationship between sub-scales and these variables. On a scale of 10-100, the average Total Score was 67.83, not significantly different from the Modified Score. There were no differences between bilateral, midline, or left- versus right-sided lesions. Patients with the worst prognosis in terms of tumor type were 5-6 points lower in quality of life than patients with intermediate or relatively good prognosis. In a multiple regression model, adjusted for age, the overall score was related only to tumor severity and to gender, with women having significantly poorer functional status than men by 4 points. Both the Modified and Total Scores were significantly associated with higher mortality risk, and more specifically, poor scores on well-being, mood, physical function, house/job performance, self-care, concentration, and energy all predicted higher mortality risk. We suggest that the simplicity of this instrument may make it particularly useful for longitudinal assessment of quality of life in brain tumor patients.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1999

Access to health care.

PURPOSE: To describe and analyze conceptual and operational definitions of health care access for future nursing theory, practice, and policy. Access to health care is a major health policy concern. However, the elements of access to care are not well understood. As a result, how access is addressed is often inconsistent and unclear. ORGANIZING CONSTRUCT: Walker and Avant's framework for concept analysis. SOURCES: Published literature in nursing and health services from the 1960s to the 1990s. The analysis was done in 1997 for this integrative review of nursing and nonnursing literature. METHODS: Integrative literature review in 1997. FINDINGS: Access is a complex idea defined in many ways. One of the most comprehensive definitions of access is by the World Health Organization (WHO). Multidimensional barriers and facilitators to access vary by community and country. CONCLUSIONS: Societies may define access differently at different stages of development. Scales to measure some dimensions of access are available; however, newer and better measures are needed and are being developed and tested. Data on each of the dimensions are needed for comprehensive assessment of access to health care in all countries at all stages of development.

Health Policy↗

PubMed2001

Unidimensionality of life satisfaction and its relation to social desirability: a confirmatory study of a short form of the Life Satisfaction Scale.

This study investigated construct validity of a short version of the Life Satisfaction in the Elderly Scale developed from an exploratory factor analysis in 1990 of the original version of Salamon and Conte's Life Satisfaction scale. First, a confirmatory factor analysis (maximum likelihood method) was conducted on 149 adult and elderly Italians to assess whether the latent variable of the Life Satisfaction Short Form scale was adequately represented by one factor. Analysis showed a good fit for the proposed unidimensional model, the items achieved good internal consistency on the scale, and no age differences arose in the score for the Life Satisfaction factor. Second, the correlations between the items measuring Life Satisfaction and the Eysenck 1985 Lie scale indicated that the items on the Life Satisfaction Short Form are largely independent of social desirability for younger and older adults.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Using IRT variable maps to enrich understanding of rehabilitation data.

One of the benefits of item response theory (IRT) applications in scale development is the greater transparency of resulting scores. This feature allows translation of a total score on a particular scale into a profile of probable item responses with relative ease, for example by using the variable map that often is part of IRT analysis output. Although there have been a few examples in the literature using variable maps to enrich clinical interpretation of individual functional assessment scores, this feature of IRT output has received very limited application in rehabilitation research. The present paper illustrates the application of variable maps to support more in-depth interpretation of functional assessment scores in research and clinical contexts. Two examples are presented from an outcome prediction study conducted during the standardization of a new functional assessment for elementary school students with disabilities, the School Function Assessment. Two different applications are described: creating a dichotomous outcome variable using scores from a continuous scale, and interpreting the meaning of a classification cut-off score identified through Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1996

Development of the Hearing Attitudes in Rehabilitation Questionnaire (HARQ).

A questionnaire devised by Brooks to measure attitudes towards hearing impairment and provision of a hearing aid in older people was factor analysed and subsequently enlarged and modified into a new 40 item self-report scale. The Hearing Attitudes in Rehabilitation Questionnaire (HARQ) assesses three attitudes towards hearing impairment (personal distress/inadequacy, hearing loss stigma and minimization of loss) and four attitudes towards provision of a hearing aid (hearing aid stigma, aid-not-wanted, pressure to be assessed and positive expectation). Scale development, reliability and other psychometric properties are reported. Potential uses of the scale include identification of patients who may require counselling, evaluation of audiological rehabilitation and further empirical investigations of attitudes in this area.

Adult↗

PubMed1979

Technical considerations in the evaluation of pediatric motor scales.

Guidelines are suggested for evaluating the validity and reliability of fine and gross motor scales. In the process of examining three types of validity (domain, construct, discriminant) and two types of reliability (interobserver, decision-making), it was found that there were marked deficiencies in most of the instruments currently available, particularly in the areas of discriminant validity and decision-making reliability. Each psychometric property of the scales was addressed from both scale-developer and user perspectives. An evaluative checklist is generated to assist occupational therapists who need to decide on the quality and appropriateness of a motor behavior scale for specific decision applications.

Child↗

PubMed2002

Trauma scoring.

Severity scales to characterize the nature and extent of injury are important adjuncts to trauma care systems, trauma research and many of the elements of a complete public health approach to injury. This article provides a brief overview of severity scale development over the past 30 years during which the science to support such initiatives has matured substantially. Anatomical, physiological, intensive care, composite and complex scales and models now abound and are being applied to a variety of tasks with increasing precision. Trauma registries enable the meaningful aggregation of data for the development and testing of models. Future challenges are identified as are potentially fruitful avenues of research.

Disability Evaluation↗

PubMed1986

The Thompson-Patterson Scale of Psychosocial Development: II. Investigation of its use in the assessment of preschool children.

The Thompson-Patterson Scale of Psychosocial Development (TP) is a parent interview questionnaire, each item scored on a 3 point scale and computer analyzed to yield a histogram profile consisting of 11 scale scores. Eight of these scales measure coping styles characteristic of sequential stages of psychosocial development and the remaining 3 are symptom scales. A pilot study was conducted to assess the usefulness of the TP as a diagnostic and therapeutic assessment instrument for preschoolers. The results indicated the following: i) a "healthy" profile emerged in the control group ii) a significant difference existed in the initial assessment profiles of the clinic and control groups; iii) the control group profiles were stable over the period of study; and iv) the profiles of the clinic group showed a movement towards health with treatment that reflected changes in the clinical status of the children. The promising results of this preliminary study suggest there is value in further investigation of the TP scale as an instrument for the dynamic developmental assessment of preschool children.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1994

HIV education practices and training needs of middle school and high school teachers.

A statewide, cross-sectional survey was conducted among Texas secondary school teachers to determine the scope of HIV education provided and training needs. Among 269 participants, 199 (75%) taught HIV education. Investigator developed scales measured instructional emphasis, preparation adequacy, desire for future training, comfort, instructional effectiveness, social support, and instructional barriers. Alpha levels indicated high levels of internal consistency on all scales. Considerable variations were noted in instructional emphasis among 18 content areas related to HIV education. Lessons were predominantly self-developed. Most teachers were self-taught with no formal training, relied primarily on traditional teacher-centered instructional methods, felt uncomfortable and ineffective using peer leaders and role plays, wanted additional training in all subject areas, and perceived others to be supportive. Comparisons between groups indicated middle school teachers spent less instructional time on HIV education, reported more instructional barriers, less support from district personnel, a poorer fit (coordination) of HIV education with other subjects, less adequate preparation, and less responsibility and effectiveness. High school teachers were more prone to want additional training. Differences in responses to individual scale items, major instructional barriers, and recommendations for teacher training are provided.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Measuring meaning in life following cancer.

Meaning in life is a multi-faceted construct that has been conceptualized in diverse ways. It refers broadly to the value and purpose of life, important life goals, and for some, spirituality. We developed a measure of meaning in life derived from this conceptualization and designed to be a synthesis of relevant theoretical and empirical traditions. Two samples, all cancer patients, provided data for scale development and psychometric study. From exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses the Meaning in Life Scale (MiLS) emerged, and includes four aspects: Harmony and Peace, Life Perspective, Purpose and Goals, Confusion and Lessened Meaning, and Benefits of Spirituality. Supporting data for reliability (internal consistency, test-retest) and construct validity (convergent, discriminant, individual differences) are provided. The MiLS offers a theoretically based and psychometrically sound assessment of meaning in life suitable for use with cancer patients.

Adult↗

PubMed1977

The Watson and the Hovey MMPI scales: do they measure organicity or "functional" psychopathology?

Both the Hovey MMPI Scale of Organicity and the Watson MMPI Sc-O Scale, developed to differentiate schizophrenics from organics, demonstrated substantial association with psychopathology as measured by the MMPI regular clinical and validity scales. These findings occurred with both penitentiary inmates and psychiatric patients. For the Sc-O Scale the correlations with the regular MMPI Scales for the patients tended to be higher than for the prisoners, presumably because of the greater psychopathology present in the former. With the psychiatric patients there was actually a significant inverse relationship between the organicity direction of Sc-O and Hovey Scales, a finding that had been reported in a previous study. The inference from these findings was that MMPI-based organicity scales probably have seriously limited utility, especially in differentiation between organicity and "functional" psychopathology.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Development of a functional ability scale for children and young people with myalgic encephalopathy (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

The numerous symptoms and unpredictable pattern of myalgic encephalopathy (ME) make it difficult to describe, especially for children. It was left to carers to guess what the child could achieve each day, often leading to over/underestimates. A functional ability scale was needed, which measured from 0 to 100 percent able and that children and young people themselves designed. A new scale was developed from the Moss Ability Scale using the critique of 251 children and young people from the Association of Young People with ME (AYME). Responding to the shift in emphasis towards patients taking an active role in their own care, it was felt these young people would know whether the scale measured what it had set out to measure, and were asked questions on the face and content validity of the scale. There was a 99 percent agreement between the young people that the final scale was 'workable' or better.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2003

A cross-sport athletic performance rating scale.

An Athletic Performance Rating Scale, developed for comparing the characteristics of successful athletes across sports, was used by 17 coaches to rate 74 men and 83 women on 17 varsity collegiate teams. A 5-factor scale measuring Self-motivation, Self-confidence, Emotional Stability, Athletic Ability, and Character was developed using principal components analysis.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Reliability and stability of a dream recall frequency scale.

Dream recall frequency varies widely between people as well as within individuals. To explore the relationship between dream recall frequency and trait variables such as personality dimensions, a measure of stable interindividual differences is necessary. In the present study (N = 198 patients with sleep disorders; 115 women, 83 men; M age = 45.8 +/- 15.3 yr.) a high retest reliability of the 7-point Dream Recall Frequency scale developed by Schredl in 2002a was found. If the participants' focus was not directed explicitly towards dream recall when the scale was presented within a general sleep questionnaire, the hitherto-reported increase of dream recall due to measuring dream recall frequency did not occur. In conclusion, the present scale is well suited for measuring interindividual differences in dream recall frequency reliably.

Dreams↗

PubMed2000

Examination of factor structure for the consumers' responses to the Value Consciousness Scale.

The psychometric properties of the Value Consciousness Scale developed by Lichtenstein, Netemeyer, and Burton in 1990 were examined in a retail grocery study (N = 497). Original assessment of scale properties was undertaken using two convenience samples in a nonretail setting and additional scale performance has been documented by the scale authors. This study furthers previous research by (1) examining performance on the items in the retail grocery setting and (2) utilizing an appropriately rigorous sampling procedure. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the Value Consciousness Scale does not exhibit unidimensional properties, and one must be cautious if this scale is used in applications of market segmentation until further clarification can be provided.

Consumer Behavior↗

PubMed2001

Correlation between level of self-regulation in the newborn infant and developmental status at two years of age.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the level of self-regulation in the newborn baby (a) predicts later cognitive and social development, (b) correlates to duration of breastfeeding and (c) has an impact on sleeping rhythm and the infant's autonomic behaviour. The study involved 38 full-term infants of optimal health who were assessed at an age of 3 d using a screening instrument measuring neonatal self-regulation, low, ordinary and high. The instrument, a conditional global scale, developed on the basis of the items in the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale, identifies three levels of self-regulation. Thirty-six of the infants participated in a follow-up study at 2 y of age, when they were tested with Griffiths' Mental Developmental Scales and one of the parents was interviewed about length of breastfeeding, sleeping habits and the infant's autonomic behaviour. The results showed that the level of self-regulation was correlated to 3 out of 5 variables (Personal-Social development, Hearing & Speech and Eye & Hand Coordination) in the Griffiths test. The results also indicated differences in sleeping rhythm as well as in breastfeeding patterns between the three groups. Furthermore, the study indicated gender-based differences in the level of neonatal self-regulation and confirmed previous findings of gender-based differences in achieved developmental level at 2 y of age assessed with Griffths' Mental Developmental Scales. CONCLUSION: The findings in this study indicate that infants with a low level of self-regulation are at risk for poorer social and cognitive development as well as regulatory disorders.

Breast Feeding↗

PubMed2003

Modeling of scale-down effects on the hydrodynamics of expanded bed adsorption columns.

Expanded-bed adsorption (EBA) is a technique for primary recovery of proteins starting from unclarified broths. This process combines centrifugation, concentration, filtration, and initial capturing of the proteins in a single step. An expanded bed (EB) is comparable to a packed bed in terms of separation performance but its hydrodynamics are that of a fluidized bed. Downstream process development involving EBA is normally carried out in small columns to minimize time and costs. Our purpose here is to characterize the hydrodynamics of expanded beds of different diameters, to develop scaling parameters that can be reliably used to predict separation efficiency of larger EBA columns. A hydrodynamic model has been developed which takes into account the radial liquid velocity profile in the column. The scale-down effect can be characterized in terms of apparent axial dispersion, D(axl,app), and plate number, N(EB), adapted for expanded bed. The model is in good agreement with experimental results obtained from 1- and 5-cm column diameters with buffer solutions of different viscosities. The model and the experiments show an increase of apparent axial dispersion with an increase in column diameter. Furthermore, the apparent axial dispersion is affected by an increase in liquid velocity and viscosity. Supported by visual observations and predictions from the model, it was concluded that operating conditions (liquid viscosity and superficial velocity) resulting in a bed-void fraction between 0.7 and 0.75 would provide the optimal separation efficiency in terms of N(EB).

Adsorption↗