Development and Validation of a Cognitive Skills Questionnaire for Adolescent Offenders: The Cognitive Skills Questionnaire for Youth (CSQ-Y)

Emotional intelligence has been extensively studied in healthcare practices worldwide. It is requisite for a reliable and valid instrument to measure the emotional intelligence of healthcare professionals in India. The Wong and Law emotional intelligence scale (WLEIS) has been a widely used tool to measure trait emotional intelligence. This study examines the validity of this scale in the healthcare context. The original 16 items WLEIS scale has been administered to 98 doctors of the Ahmedabad region of Gujarat. Two competing models, single factor and four factors have been tested against each other. Fit indices of four-factor model ( χ2 (98) = 111.61, ( p > 0.001), CMIN/df = 1.139, CFI = 0.987, SRMR = 0.059, RMSEA = 0.038 and PClose = 0.714) has excellent goodness of fit. Results of confirmatory factor analysis support the original four-factor model. The model also has acceptable reliability, convergent and discriminant validity. Further, in order to establish EI construct underneath four factors, secondary factor analysis has been performed. Standardized regression weight of only one dimension, that is, ‘Regulation of emotion’ is acceptable. All fit indices of the second-order model have an excellent fit. WLEIS is a valid instrument to measure the emotional intelligence of health professionals.

PurposePatients affected by tuberculosis have diverse unmet supportive care needs (SCN) that may seriously affect their treatment adherence. Accurately assessing patients’ SCN is important for providing efficient patient-centred care, but few instruments are suitable for use in clinical practice. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop an SCN scale for patients with tuberculosis (SCN-TB) and to evaluate its psychometrical properties.Patients and MethodsBased on the SCN framework, the SCN-TB was designed via a literature review, Delphi consultation and pilot study. Then, 550 patients from four tuberculosis specialist hospitals in Shaanxi Province were enrolled by convenience sampling to further test the validity and reliability of the SCN-TB.ResultsA total of 518 patients completed the survey. The final scale encompasses 25 items in five domains: physical, practical, psycho-emotional, social, and informational. The content validity for the scale was 0.93, with that for each item ranging from 0.80 to 1.00. Five factors that explained 80.38% of the variance were identified in exploratory factor analysis. A five-factor model was then confirmed with confirmatory factor analysis using maximum likelihood estimation with bootstrapping. The model fit indices were χ2/df=1.062 (Bollen-Stine χ2=281.382, df=265, p<0.001), CFI=0.997, RMSEA=0.016, SRMR=0.053, NFI=0.951, and GFI=0.929. All factors had acceptable convergent and discriminant validity. The Cronbach’s α, split-half, and test-retest reliability coefficients of the scale were 0.884, 0.883, and 0.854, respectively.ConclusionThe SCN-TB is a valid and reliable theory based tool for assessing the needs of patients with tuberculosis and can be applied in both clinical practice and research.

ABSTRACTBackgroundImpairment of voice and swallowing after thyroidectomy can negatively affect communication, eating and overall quality of life. The Thyroidectomy‐Related Voice and Symptom Questionnaire was developed to facilitate the early identification and monitoring of voice and swallowing outcomes in patients who have undergone thyroidectomy. While it has been translated and culturally adapted to Brazilian Portuguese, there is currently no evidence supporting its construct validity.AimTo examine the construct validity of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Thyroidectomy‐Related Voice and Symptom Questionnaire (BR‐PT‐TVSQ).Methods and ProceduresThis cross‐sectional study included 395 Brazilian individuals undergoing thyroidectomy, mainly female (95.2%), with a mean age of 41.38 ± 11.12 years. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to test the structural validity of the 20‐item BR‐PT‐TVSQ. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Convergent and discriminant validity were analysed through internal correlations.Outcomes and ResultsThe EFA suggested a three‐factor model with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.947. The CFA confirmed the three‐factor model with acceptable goodness‐of‐fit indices: Factor 1 = voice symptoms; Factor 2 = oropharyngolaryngeal symptoms and Factor 3 = cervical and thoracic discomfort. All three factors presented significant convergent validity. The discriminatory power between Factors 2 and 3 was smaller than in other comparisons.Conclusions and ImplicationsThe BR‐PT‐TVSQ provided evidence of construct validity for a three‐factor model with acceptable structure, convergent and discriminant validity. These sources of validity evidence are crucial to clinically ensure that the TVSQ‐PT‐BR structure accurately represents the investigated outcomes.WHAT THIS PAPER ADDSWhat is already known on this subjectThe Thyroidectomy‐Related Voice and Symptom Questionnaire (TVSQ) was developed to identify and monitor symptoms related to voice, swallowing and neck discomfort in patients undergoing thyroidectomy. The TVSQ has already been translated and culturally adapted into Brazilian Portuguese (BR‐PT‐TVSQ). However, the BR‐PT‐TVSQ still lacks validation for other measurement properties, including construct validity.What this paper adds to existing knowledgeThis study demonstrates that the BR‐PT‐TVSQ has construct validity, featuring three dimensions and acceptable levels of internal consistency, convergent validity and discriminant validity. These forms of validity evidence ensure that the structure of the instrument accurately represents the outcomes and dimensions being investigated, making it suitable for clinical use.What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?The BR‐PT‐TVSQ is the only tool available in Brazilian Portuguese that has verified construct validity for the early assessment of symptoms related to voice, swallowing and neck discomfort in patients undergoing thyroidectomy. This questionnaire aids in decision‐making and the rehabilitation process.

BackgroundValid and reliable instruments are needed to assess such beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge. This study aimed to translate Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire into Persian and evaluate its psychometric properties among Iranian women.MethodsIn this methodological study, the twelve-item Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire was translated into Persian and filled out by 1256 Iranian women. Face, content, convergent, and discriminant validity were evaluated and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed for construct validity evaluation. Reliability was also evaluated through calculating Cronbach’s alpha, McDonald’s omega, Average inter-item correlation, and test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient and finally, composite reliability was estimated.ResultsThree factors were extracted in factor analysis which included screening attitude, screening knowledge and perception, and screening practice. These factors explained 55.71% of the total variance of breast cancer screening beliefs. This three-factor model was confirmed in confirmatory factor analysis based on model fit indices (PCFI = 0.703, PNFI = 0.697, CMIN/DF = 2.127, RMSEA = 0.30, GFI = 0.980, AGFI = 0.998, and CFI = 0.991). Convergent and discriminant validity were also confirmed. Composite reliability and test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient were more than 0.7.ConclusionWith a three-factor structure, the Persian Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire has acceptable validity and reliability and hence, can be used to evaluate Iranian women’s breast cancer screening beliefs.

The ICD-11 compatible, Personality Inventory for DSM-5-Brief Form Plus, Modified (PID5BF+M), has recently been developed to assess the constructs of the ICD-11 and DSM-5 maladaptive trait models. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the pooled estimates of the structural validity (model fit indices, factor loadings, and internal consistency of individual scales), discriminant validity (factor intercorrelations), and criterion validity (standardized mean differences between clinical and nonclinical samples) of the PID5BF+M. A systematic search for scientific articles published between January 2013 and November 2024 was conducted in PubMed, PsycNET, and Google Scholar. The pooled estimates were calculated using the random effects method following the PRISMA guidelines. The quality of individual studies, heterogeneity, and publication bias were checked. Five high-quality reports including 21 independent samples (3056 patients and 17,361 nonpatients) were entered into the meta-analysis. The six-factor structure of the PID5BF+M was supported by the pooled estimates of model fit (RMSEA = 0.03, CFI = 0.98, TLI = 0.96, and SRMR = 0.01), moderate to very strong factor loadings (from 0.43 to 0.74), and an acceptable internal consistency (ω between 0.70 and 0.79 for all factors with a median of 0.75). The factor intercorrelations were weak to moderate (from 0.05 to 0.38) and the mean scores of most factors (except antagonism) were higher in the patients. The PID5BF+M is an applicable scale to measure maladaptive personality constructs with acceptable structural, discriminant, and criterion validity. Mental health professionals and researchers can use the scale, taking into account some methodological considerations of the present meta-analysis. The study protocol was preregistered in PROSPERO-CRD42024507164.

This study intended to develop and assess the psychometric properties of a caring behavior scale on healthcare students and providers (CBS-HSP) in a Taiwanese population. After a literature review was conducted and an expert panel was consulted for item generation, 104 items for the CBS-HSP scale were derived on a nine-point Likert scale, with 9 indicating ‘extremely important’ and 1 indicating ‘extremely unimportant.’ A pilot study was then conducted with seven hundred forty-eight healthcare students and providers in Taiwan for further data analysis. The statistic software used in the study was SPSS for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and AMOS for the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Also, to examine the psychometric properties of the scale, internal consistency, convergent validities, discriminant validities, and model fit indices were calculated in the study. The EFA results derived 31 items in four factors, with 65.742% of the total variance explained: ‘support and attentiveness’ (11 items; 48.714% of the variance explained), ‘professional knowledge and skills’ (8 items; 8.226% of the variance explained), ‘gratifying needs and responsiveness’ (7 items; 5.236% of the variance explained), and ‘confidentiality and trust’ (5 items; 3.566% of the variance explained). The Cronbach’s alphas for the four subscales and the overall scale ranged from 0.894 to 0.964. The CFA results yielded the same 31 items, with the same four factors. The CFA results demonstrated good to excellent model fit in the χ2/df ratio (1.242), GFI (0.988), CFI (0.988), TFI (0.985), and RMSEA (0.031). The Cronbach’s alphas ranged between 0.866 and 0.971; the composite alphas ranged between 0.854 and 0.964. The convergent and discriminant validities also proved the stability of the CBS-HSP scale. The research results indicated that the developed CBS-HSP appeared to be a reliable instrument to measure healthcare students’ and providers’ caring behaviors.

Purpose: The Test of Visual Perceptual Skills-Third Edition (TVPS-3) with seven subscales has been used to assess visual perception in patients with stroke. The purpose of this study was to investigate ecological validity, convergent validity, and discriminative validity of the TVPS-3 in patients with stroke.Methods: One hundred patients were assessed with the TVPS-3, two measures of activities of daily living, and two cognitive measures. To examine ecological validity, we calculated correlations (Pearson’s r) among the TVPS-3 and two measures of activities of daily living. To examine convergent validity, correlations (r) were estimated among the TVPS-3 and two cognitive measures. To examine discriminative validity, independent t-test was used to compare the two groups with different levels of disability and to detect whether there were statistically significant differences in the TVPS-3 between these groups.Results: The correlations were 0.21–0.48 among the TVPS-3 and two measures of activities of daily living. The correlations were 0.29–0.68 among the TVPS-3 and two cognitive measures. Between the two groups, the t-test results showed statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) for the overall scale and the five subscales of the TVPS-3.Conclusions: The TVPS-3 has acceptable convergent validity, ecological validity, and discriminative validity and is useful to assess the visual perception in patients with stroke.Implications for rehabilitationThe Test of Visual Perceptual Skills-Third Edition is a motor free visual perception test, which is an adequate tool for use in patients with stroke.The Test of Visual Perceptual Skills-Third Edition showed acceptable ecological validity, convergent validity, and discriminative validity in patients with stroke.

Psychometric evaluation of multidimensional pain inventory (Swedish version) in a sample of elderly people

Empowering pregnant women is a crucial process that healthcare providers should evaluate, as empowerment is a meaningful indicator that can reflect the impact of health promotion and education in antenatal care. The Empowerment Scale for Pregnant Women (ESPW) is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring empowerment. The cross-sectional study was conducted to translate and validate the psychometric properties of the ESPW among 526 pregnant women in China. The forward-backward method was used to translate the English version of the ESPW into the Chinese version. Reliability was examined with the internal consistency and test-retest coefficients. Validity was analyzed with structural, dimensionality, convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity. The Cronbach's α value of 0.97 and the intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.98 (95% confidence interval [CI], [0.96, 0.99]) demonstrated excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that five factors with eigenvalues > 1 explained 68.41% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis verified an acceptable model that fit the data exceptionally. The Chinese-translated version of the ESPW (CV-ESPW) had acceptable convergent and discriminant validity. Concurrent validity was supported by the correlation between the total scores of the CV-ESPW and the Chinese version of the Patient Perceptions of the Empowerment Scale (r = 0.64, p < 0.001). The CV-ESPW is a valid and reliable assessment tool for measuring pregnant women's empowerment in China and can potentially contribute to evaluating the effectiveness of programs that empower pregnant women.

Given the scarcity of instruments in Spanish to measure forgiveness, two studies were conducted in this population to obtain validity evidence of the Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS), an instrument that measures dispositional forgiveness of self, others, and situations. In the first study, 203 students (65% women) participated. After ensuring the linguistic adequacy and clarity of the wording of the items, a lack of congruence was found between the factors obtained in the exploratory factor analysis and the original theoretical structure of the HFS. A sample of 512 participants (63.9% women) attended the second study. This study aimed to analyze the construct validity of the HFS using confirmatory factor analysis through structural equation modelling and to explore convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity. Of the different factorial configurations tested (including the original), only a scale reduction to eight items, grouped into three factors, showed an appropriate fit. The HFS eight-item version also showed acceptable internal consistency, adequate convergent and discriminant validity, and criterion validity with respect to related variables. These findings suggest that the eight-item version of the HFS may be a valid and reliable tool for assessing forgiveness for self, others, and situations in Spanish adults.

&lt;p&gt;It has been confirmed that technology can be beneficial for students’ academic performance, including in the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). The successful administration of CALL depends greatly on the teachers’ knowledge about technology, pedagogy and content. The aim of this study is to explore the psychometric property of measure of EFL teachers’ technological, Pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK). One hundred and fifty-eight EFL teachers were invited to join this study through stratified randomization sampling technique. The research instrument was the TPACK-EFL and the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with extraction method of Maximum Likelihood and the rotation method of Promax with Kaiser Normalization, was performed to extracted factors with factor loading above .50. Seven constructs (Technological Knowledge, Pedagogical Knowledge, Content Knowledge, Technological Pedagogical Knowledge, Technological Content Knowledge, Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) were retrieved. Afterwards, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was undertaken to examine the convergent and discriminant validity of selected factors. Convergent validity was checked with Composite Reliability (CR), Average Variance Extracted (AVE), Maximum Shared Variance (MSV), and Average Shared Variance (ASV). Suggested value for CR and AVE was .6 and .5 respectively while MSV as well as ASV should be lower than AVE. Results showed that constructs of this study all met the requirement which indicated that the items had convergent validity. In terms of discriminant validity, square root of AVE was greater than inter-construct correlations which asserted the discriminant validity of this instrument. Subsequently, alternate model analysis was conducted to yield the model which fitted the best as indicated by the model fit indices and research context.&lt;/p&gt;

The nasal obstruction symptom evaluation (NOSE) scale is a valid and specific questionnaire for evaluating nasal obstruction. The present study aimed to assess the validity of the Persian version of the NOSE questionnaire. The present study is a cross-sectional study conducted from December 2018 to April 2019. In the study group, eligible individuals referred to one clinic and Firoozgar Hospital, Tehran, Iran (a tertiary referral center) were asked to complete the questionnaire once on the first visit and once 3 months after the surgery. In the control group, healthy adults (above 18 years old) were selected among staff, students, residents, or relatives of the project executors. The NOSE questionnaire has 5 questions and a quality chart. The results were compared with the short form of the 12-item GHQ-12 questionnaire that had previously been translated and validated. SPSS 20 software was used to calculate Cronbach's alpha and intra-class correlation coefficient and to examine the convergent and discriminative validities. The results obtained are consistent with the results of the primary research when developing the questionnaire and the results of studies conducted with different versions of the questionnaire in different languages and cultures. Analysis of research data showed that the Persian version of the NOSE questionnaire has acceptable internal consistency, repeatability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. The Persian version of the NOSE questionnaire has good validity and reliability.

Background: Performance remains high on the agenda of both researchers and practitioners, and rigorous measurement is central to evidence-based investigations. Several instruments have been developed to measure performance, of which one – the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ) – seems to be a scientifically rigorous instrument. Despite the growth in IWPQ validation studies, little is known about its psychometric properties in South Africa.Aim: The current study seeks to address the construct validity of the IWPQ. The objective was to evaluate the construct (i.e. convergent, discriminant and nomological) validity of the instrument.Setting: Information technology professionals were targeted in the current study, and the final sample consisted of 296 employees.Method: Latent variable modelling was performed, using both independent cluster and exploratory structural equation model frameworks, with the mean- and variance-adjusted weighted least squares estimator. The analysis was complemented with the heterotrait-monotrait method.Results: The results supported the construct validity of the instrument. Specifically, individual work performance was found to be a three-dimensional construct with acceptable convergent and discriminant validity. Job resources were also related to the three performance dimensions.Conclusion: The factor structure of the IWPQ mirrors the factor structure found in the literature. Researchers and practitioners can use this instrument in South Africa to identify determinants and consequence of individual work performance, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of performance improvement interventions.

The Test of Visual Perceptual Skills-Fourth Edition (TVPS-4), which utilizes seven subscales, comprehensively assesses visual perception. To examine the ecological, convergent, and discriminative validities of the TVPS-4 in the assessment of people with schizophrenia. Prospective and observational study. Community rehabilitation facilities. Eighty people with schizophrenia. To examine ecological validity, we estimated correlations (Pearson's r) between the TVPS-4 scores (i.e., overall scale and subscales) and the Activities of Daily Living Rating Scale-III (ADLRS-III). To examine convergent validity, we computed the correlations (r) between the TVPS-4 scores and two cognitive measures. An analysis of variance was applied to compare the TVPS-4 scores in groups with different disease severities to examine discriminative validity. Moderate to strong correlations were found between TVPS-4 scores and ADLRS-III scores (rs = .33-.61) and between TVPS-4 scores and two cognitive measures (rs = .44-.70). TVPS-4 scores could discriminate among the three groups with different severities of psychiatric illnesses (p < .05), except for two subscales (Visual Memory and Spatial Relationships). The TVPS-4 has sufficient ecological validity, good convergent validity, and acceptable discriminative validity in assessing people with schizophrenia. The Spatial Relationships subscale, which displays a strong correlation with the ADLRS-III, can reveal the status of daily living in people with schizophrenia. Two subscales showing inadequate discriminative validity should be used cautiously to discriminate people with different severities of schizophrenia. What This Article Adds: The TVPS-4 showed three sound validities (ecological, convergent, and discriminative) for assessing visual perception in people with schizophrenia.

Objectives: The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) is one of the most commonly used measures for screening, diagnosing and monitoring of depression. So far, four studies have examined some of the psychometric properties of Persian version of PHQ-9 in physical and psychiatric patients; however, some aspects of its psychometrics have not yet been adequately evaluated in the student population. Therefore, this study aims to examine more psychometric properties of the Persian version of PHQ-9 in the student population. Methods: In this descriptive study, 463 students of Guilan University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2018-19 participated who were selected using a convenience sampling method. The reliability of the Persian PHQ-9 was assessed using internal consistency and test-retest reliability for a 2-week interval. Its construct validity was evaluated by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. To evaluate its convergent validity, the second version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), the depression subscale of the 21-item Depression Anxiety Depression Inventory (DASS-21), the neuroticism subscale of NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) and the negative affect subscale of the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) were used. The openness subscale of NEO-FFI and the positive affect subscale of PANAS were also used to assess its discriminant validity. Results: Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.856 and intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.869 indicated high internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the Persian PHQ-9, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis results showed a one-factor structure, accounting for 47.59% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis results showed that all questions were related to one factor. Positive correlation of the Persian PHQ-9 score with BDI-II (r= 0.769), the neuroticism subscale of NEO-FFI (r= 0.508), the depression subscale of DASS-21 (r= 0.647) and the negative affect subscale of PANAS (r= 0.430) indicated an acceptable convergent validity, while its negative correlation with the positive affect subscale PANAS (r= -0.444) indicated its acceptable discriminant validity; however, its score had no significant relationship with the openness subscale of NEO indicates NEO-FFI (r= 0.116). Conclusion: The Persian PHQ-9 can be used in clinical and research fields to screen, diagnose, and monitor clinical and/or subclinical depression in the Iranian student population.