PURPOSE To assess the internal reliability, construct and concurrent validity and responsiveness of the Northwick Park Therapy Dependency Assessment (NPTDA) scale. METHOD A cohort of 2505 neurorehabilitation patients submitted to the UK Rehabilitation Outcomes Collaborative database. Cronbach's coefficient-α was used to assess internal reliability and factor analysis (FA) to assess construct ...

BACKGROUND Among older people in developed countries, social isolation leading to solitary death has become a public health issue of vital importance. Such isolation could be prevented by monitoring at-risk individuals at the neighborhood level and by implementing supportive networks at the community level. However, a means of measuring community confidence in these measures has not been establ...

OBJECTIVE Type D personality predicts poor prognosis in coronary heart disease (CHD) but little is known about Type D in non-Western cultures. We examined the (a) validity of the Type D construct and its assessment with the DS14 scale in the Chinese culture, (b) prevalence of Type D, and (c) gender vs. Type D discrepancies in depression/anxiety, among Chinese patients with CHD. METHOD Patient...

OBJECTIVE To test the Chinese version of the SCI Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale (C-ESES) in stroke patients and evaluate its validity and reliability. BACKGROUND Physical inactivity is a well established and changeable risk factor for stroke, and regular exercise of 3-7 days per week is essential for stroke survivors and the general population. Though regular exercise is beneficial, it has been...

CONTEXT Outcomes assessment is an integral part of ensuring quality in athletic training, but few generic instruments have been specifically designed to measure disablement in the physically active. OBJECTIVE To assess the psychometric properties of the Disablement in the Physically Active Scale (DPA), a patient-report, generic outcomes instrument. DESIGN Observational study. SETTING We c...

BACKGROUND The aim was to develop and validate the quality of life scale for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients, the QOL-NPC (version 2), a specific instrument to measure quality of life for NPC patients. METHODS The QOL-NPC was developed and validated according to standard procedures. The patients were assessed using the QOL-NPC, FACT-G, and FACT-H&N. Classical test theory was used to e...

Quality of Nursing Work Life (QNWL) serves as a predictor of a nurse's intent to leave and hospital nurse turnover. However, QNWL measurement tools that have been validated for use in China are lacking. The present study evaluated the construct validity of the QNWL scale in China. A cross-sectional study was conducted conveniently from June 2012 to January 2013 at five hospitals in Guangzhou, w...

OBJECTIVE Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the hypothesis that the components of the metabolic syndrome are manifestations of a single common factor. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Three different datasets were used to test and validate the model. The Spanish and Mauritian studies included 207 men and 203 women and 1,411 men and 1,650 women, respectively. A third analytical da...

BACKGROUND While there are number of frameworks which focus on supporting the implementation of evidence based approaches, few psychometrically valid measures exist to assess constructs within these frameworks. This study aimed to develop and psychometrically assess a scale measuring each domain of the Theoretical Domains Framework for use in assessing the implementation of dietary guidelines w...

OBJECTIVE The pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is probably multifactorial with dysfunction at different levels of the brain-gut axis. The aim of this study was to evaluate an existing biobehavioral model of IBS symptom generation in a large group of patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS In 104 IBS patients, we assessed symptom severity by a symptom diary, visceral hypersensitivity usin...