OBJECTIVES To examine the psychometric properties of the Social Support Questionnaire Duke-UNC (DUFSS) and the De Jong-Gierveld Loneliness Scale in a sample of non-institutionalized older adults. METHODS The sample consisted of 1,106 non-institutionalized older adults included in a national survey on quality of life. Both scales were analyzed according to classical test theory (acceptability,...

OBJECTIVE Somatosensory amplification refers to a person's tendency to experience somatic sensations as inappropriately intense and involves hypervigilance concerning bodily sensations. We applied the Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS) in an Internet sample of young adults (N=3031) to test whether the SSAS is Rasch scalable. METHODS We applied mixture distribution extensions of the part...

PURPOSE To assess the psychometric properties of the Cataract TyPE Specification (Spec) questionnaire using the Rasch model. SETTING Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, Australia. METHODS The 12-item Cataract TyPE Spec questionnaire was self-administered to patients drawn from the cataract surgery waiting list. The questionnaire and its 5 subscales were assessed for fit to the Rasch model. R...

Building on Wright and Masters (1982), several Rasch estimation methods are briefly described, including Marginal Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MMLE) and minimum chi-square methods. General attributes of Rasch estimation algorithms are discussed, including the handling of missing data, precision and accuracy, estimate consistency, bias and symmetry. Reasons for, and the implications of, measur...

BACKGROUND There is a growing population of children and adolescents that have survived their cancer diagnosis. Therefore, it is of great importance to perform follow-up studies with relevant, valid and sensitive measures. It is of interest both to follow changes over time and to compare results from childhood cancer survivors with those from persons without this experience, to fully understand...

OBJECTIVE To develop a questionnaire (ABILOCO-Kids) based on the Rasch measurement model that assesses locomotion ability in children with cerebral palsy. DESIGN Prospective study and questionnaire development. SUBJECTS A total of 113 children with cerebral palsy (10 (standard deviation 2.5) years old). METHODS A 41-item questionnaire was developed based on existing scales and on the clin...

PURPOSE To develop and evaluate a participant rating scale for assessing high performance teamwork skills in simulation medicine settings. METHODS In all, 107 participants in crisis resource management (CRM) training in a multidisciplinary medical simulation center generated 273 ratings of key CRM skills after participating in two or three simulation exercises. These data were analyzed using ...

Rating scales involving more than two response categories are a popular response format in measurement in education, health and business sciences. Their primary purpose lies in the increase of information and thus measurement precision. For these objectives to be met, the response scale has to provide valid scores with higher numbers reflecting more of the property to be measured. Thus, the res...

OBJECTIVE The Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaire is a global scale evaluating the impact of upper-extremity disorders. We sought to validate or challenge the unidimensional factor structure of the DASH. METHOD Secondary analysis was performed on data collected from outpatient clinics. Factor analysis was performed in two steps, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) f...