An effective response to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incidents requires capability planning based upon an assessment of risks in which all types of possible consequences of such incidents have been taken into account. CBRN incidents can have a wide range of consequences of which psychological and social effects (possibly leading to societal unrest) are often pointed ou...

After 40 years of deriving metric values for health status or health-related quality of life, the effective quantification of subjective health outcomes is still a challenge. Here, two of the best measurement tools, the discrete choice and the Rasch model, are combined to create a new model for deriving health values. First, existing techniques to value health states are briefly discussed follo...

BACKGROUND Fatigue is a common symptom in post-polio syndrome (PPS) and can have a substantial impact on patients. There is a need for validated questionnaires to assess fatigue in PPS for use in clinical practice and research. The aim with this study was to assess the validity and reliability of the Swedish version of Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) in patients with PPS using the R...

PURPOSE To determine the validity, reliability, and measurement characteristics using factor and Rasch analysis of the Very Low Vision Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL-VLV) in persons with severe vision loss. METHODS From an initial pool of 296 tasks, 25 were shortlisted after conducting a Delphi survey with persons designated legally blind. Using further input from occupational ...

OBJECTIVE To further document the measurement properties of each domain of the OA of knee and hip quality of life (OAKHQOL) questionnaire by a Rasch analysis. METHODS The OAKHQOL self-administered questionnaire has been developed to assess health-related quality of life in lower limb OA. Patients with various degrees of severity of knee or hip OA answered the questionnaire. For each domain, t...

PURPOSE To assess and validate the subscale structure of the 28-item Impact of Visual Impairment (IVI) Scale by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Rasch analysis for use as an outcome measure. METHODS Three hundred nineteen participants completed the IVI questionnaire, and the responses then were subjected to Rasch analysis by RUMM2020 software. With the person estimates for each it...

PURPOSE To explore the psychometric properties of the Impact of Vision Impairment scale (IVI) by using Rasch analysis. METHODS Three hundred fourteen first-time referrals to low-vision clinics completed the 32-item IVI. The data were Rasch-analyzed with a partial credit model using RUMM2020 software (RUMM Laboratory, Perth, WA, Australia). The overall fit of the model, response scale, individ...

BACKGROUND The Personal Care Participation Assessment and Resource Tool (PC-PART) is a 43-item, clinician-administered assessment, designed to identify patients' unmet needs (participation restrictions) in activities of daily living (ADL) required for community life. This information is important for identifying problems that need addressing to enable, for example, discharge from inpatient sett...

Greatly influenced by the work of Rasch (1960/1980), Mokken (1971) presented a nonparametric scaling procedure that is based on the theory of invariant measurement, but draws upon less strict requirements related to the scale of measurement. Because they are theoretically and empirically related to Rasch models, Mokken’s nonparametric models have been recognized as a useful exploratory tool for...