Development and validation of a premenstrual symptom screening tool for working women in relation to absenteeism.

The importance of English debate in fostering critical thinking and the role of self-efficacy in enhancing confidence and performance in this domain are widely acknowledged. However, a significant gap exists in the literature regarding the measurement of self-efficacy specifically within English debate. This research seeks to fill this gap by developing and validating an English Debate Self-Efficacy Scale (EDSS). Using a sample of 1,259 participants from an independent college in Hebei Province, China, the study divided participants into two groups: 613 for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and 646 for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), with convenience sampling as the chosen methodology. EFA revealed three core dimensions of debate-related self-efficacy: Language proficiency (Cronbach's Alpha = .894), Debating skills (Cronbach's Alpha = .861), and Team collaboration (Cronbach's Alpha = .831). Subsequent CFA validation with an independent sample confirmed the scale's structure, demonstrating strong structural, convergent, and discriminant validity. Additionally, significant correlations between the English Debate Self-Efficacy Scale and the English Proficiency Self-Efficacy Scale supported the scale's criterion validity. These findings underscore the scale's potential as a reliable tool for assessing self-efficacy in English debate contexts, offering valuable insights for research, teaching, and training in educational settings. Limitations related to sample representativeness and research design were also discussed, providing a foundation for future studies to expand upon. In conclusion, the English Debate Self-Efficacy Scale (EDSS) is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring self-efficacy in the context of English debate.

We aimed to develop a new screening tool for premenstrual syndrome (PMS) to be used in the workplace. In October 2021, we recruited 3,239 working women with menstruation via an internet research company and asked 47 questions about PMS-related symptoms. Of the participants, 331 women had experienced PMS (10%), and 393 women had taken sick leave because of PMS-associated symptoms. Explanatory factor analyses with maximum likelihood and Promax rotation identified four domains with 27 items, including "Autonomic dysfunction symptoms'' (13 items, Cronbach’s α = 0.93), "Psychiatric symptoms" (6 items, Cronbach’s α = 0.94), "Lack of work efficiency" (5 items, Cronbach’s α = 0.93), and “Abdominal symptoms” (3 items, Cronbach’s α = 0.95). Using a split-half sample for the confirmatory factor analysis, moderately fit model indices for the four-factor solution were confirmed. We also confirmed the developed scale’s criterion validity using existing PMS screening criteria and its concurrent validity through high correlation coefficients with Copenhagen Burnout Inventory scores. The receiver operating characteristic curve yielded a good predictive ability for work absenteeism, including a sensitivity of 78%, a specificity of 57%, and an area under the curve of 0.735. A highly reliable and valid new scale for PMS was developed with efficacy for screening for work absenteeism.

Is there a Gulf War syndrome?

Somatic symptoms often co-occur with psychological symptoms but this overlap is poorly understood. Some aspects of this overlap differ in the South Asian context, but it is not clear whether this is a reporting effect or an underlying difference in experienced illness. Home interviews were administered to 4,024 twins randomly selected from a population-based twin register in the Colombo district of Sri Lanka (the CoTASS study). These included assessments of psychological, somatic and fatigue symptoms. The data were analyzed using factor analytic and quantitative genetic approaches. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the symptoms from the three scales represented three separate dimensions, rather than all tapping into a single dimension. However, familial correlations among the data were most consistent with a common pathway model. This implies that a portion of the underlying vulnerability is common across psychological, fatigue and somatic symptoms. There were sex differences in the etiology of this model, with shared environmental and genetic influences playing different roles in men and women. There is a complex etiological relationship between psychological, fatigue and somatic symptoms. This is similar in Sri Lanka to Western countries, but there may be a greater influence from the family environment, suggesting that care needs to be taken when generalizing research findings between countries. People who complain of certain fatigue or somatic symptoms may well also have psychological symptoms, or may have genetic or environmental vulnerabilities to such problems.

In the Arab countries, there has not been yet a specific validated Arabic questionnaire that can assess the psychological antecedents of COVID-19 vaccine among the general population. This study, therefore, aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and validate the 5C scale into the Arabic language. The 5C scale was translated into Arabic by two independent bilingual co-authors, and then translated back into English. After reconciling translation disparities, the final Arabic questionnaire was disseminated into four randomly selected Arabic countries (Egypt, Libya, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia). Data from 350 Arabic speaking adults (aged ≥18 years) were included in the final analysis. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach's alpha. Construct validity was determined by concurrent, convergent, discriminant, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Age of participants ranged between 18 to 73 years; 57.14% were females, 37.43% from Egypt, 36.86%, from UAE, 30% were healthcare workers, and 42.8% had the intention to get COVID-19 vaccines. The 5 sub-scales of the questionnaire met the criterion of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha ≥0.7). The predictors of intention to get COVID-19 vaccines (concurrent validity) were young age and the 5C sub-scales. Convergent validity was identified by the significant inter-item and item-mean score of the sub-scale correlation (P<0.001). Discriminant validity was reported as inter-factor correlation matrix (<0.7). Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin sampling adequacy measure was 0.80 and Bartlett's sphericity test was highly significant (P<0.001). Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the 15 items of the questionnaire could be summarized into five factors. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that the hypothesized five-factor model of the 15-item questionnaire was satisfied with adequate psychometric properties and fit with observed data (RMSEA = 0.060, GFI = 0.924, CFI = 0.957, TLI = 0.937, SRMR = 0.076 & NFI = 906). The Arabic version of the 5C scale is a valid and reliable tool to assess the psychological antecedents of COVID-19 vaccine among Arab population.

Loneliness has a significant impact on mental and physical health across different stages of development, with particularly evident effects during adolescence. During this period, young individuals undergo substantial social and emotional transformations, making loneliness a global concern. This study aimed to analyze the psychometric properties of the UCLA-R Loneliness Scale in Ecuadorian adolescents through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, assess its internal consistency, and examine factorial invariance across genders. The sample consisted of 718 school-aged adolescents (288 males and 430 females) aged 14-17 years (M = 15.72, SD = 0.747), selected through probabilistic sampling. A sociodemographic ad hoc questionnaire and the Spanish version of the 20-item UCLA-R Loneliness Scale were administered. The sample was randomly divided into two equivalent subsamples (n = 359) to separately perform an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The EFA was conducted using principal axis factoring, oblique rotation, and polychoric correlations. The CFA evaluated one-factor, two-factor, and three-factor models, employing fit indices such as CFI, TLI, RMSEA, and SRMR. Internal consistency was estimated using Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega coefficients. Additionally, factorial invariance analyses by gender were performed, along with a univariate ANOVA to examine potential gender differences. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) results indicated the presence of two factors, whose structure explains 40.8% of the total variance, with 19 items. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed that the bifactor model with 19 items exhibited a superior fit compared to the unidimensional and three-factor models with 20 items, with fit indices falling within acceptable to excellent ranges (CFI = .936, TLI = .927, RMSEA = .050, SRMR = .048). Additionally, the bifactor model demonstrated measurement invariance across genders. Regarding internal consistency, the scale demonstrated a Cronbach's alpha of.876 and an omega coefficient of.83, confirming its reliability. It is concluded that the 19-item UCLA-R Loneliness Scale is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing perceived loneliness in Ecuadorian adolescents, regardless of gender. Future research could replicate these findings in other regions and cultural contexts to validate its use on a larger scale.

Nurses are the most important health care personnel for medication safety. A scale to measure nurse medication competency, such as the Medication Safety Competence Scale (MSCS), would move research forward. Preliminary items were developed through a literature review and in-depth interviews. Content validity was established by ten experts. Nurses (n = 607) participated in a survey to evaluate the validity and reliability of the scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and correlation analyses were conducted to assess construct, concurrent, and criterion validity. The 36 items and 6 factors were derived with the exploratory factor analysis, which accounted for 63.2% of the variance. The confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the hypothesized factor structure was a good fit. Criterion and discriminant validity were present. The internal consistency of the MSCS was .97, and the test-retest reliability was .78. The MSCS is a valid and reliable instrument to measure nurses' medication safety competence.

BackgroundMenopausal disorders include obscure symptomatology that greatly reduce work productivity among female workers. Quantifying the impact of menopause-related symptoms on work productivity is very difficult because no such guidelines exist to date. We aimed to develop a scale of overall health status for working women in the perimenopausal period.MethodsIn September, 2021, we conducted an Internet web survey which included 3,645 female workers aged 45–56 years in perimenopausal period. We asked the participants to answer 76 items relevant to menopausal symptomatology, that were created for this study and performed exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses for the scale development. Cronbach’s alpha, receiver operating characteristic analysis, and logistic regression analysis were used to verify the developed scale.ResultsApproximately 85% participants did not have menstruation or disrupted cycles. Explanatory factor analysis using the maximum likelihood method and Promax rotation identified 21 items with a four-factor structure: psychological symptoms (8 items, α = 0.96); physiological symptoms (6 items, alpha = 0.87); sleep difficulty (4 items, alpha = 0.92); human relationship (3 items, alpha = 0.92). Confirmatory factor analyses found excellent model fit for the four-factor model (RMSR = 0.079; TLI = 0.929; CFI = 0.938). Criterion and concurrent validity were confirmed with high correlation coefficients between each of the four factors, previously validated menopausal symptom questionnaire, and Copenhagen Burnout Inventory scales, respectively (all ps < 0.0001). The developed scale was able to predict absenteeism with 78% sensitivity, 58% specificity, and an AUC of 0.727 (95%CI: 0.696–0.757). Higher scores of each factor as well as total score of the scale were more likely to be associated with work absence experience due to menopause-related symptoms even after adjusting for Copenhagen Burnout Inventory subscales (all ps < 0.0001).ConclusionWe found that the developed scale has high validity and reliability and could be a significant indicator of absenteeism for working women in perimenopausal period.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1265/ehpm.23-00239.

In Oncology, little is known about dignity-related distress and the issues that influence the sense of dignity for patients. We validated the Patient Dignity Inventory (PDI) questionnaire in Italian patients on oncological active treatments. After the translation procedures, the PDI was administered to 266 patients along with other questionnaires to assess the psychometric properties of the Italian version of PDI. Factor structure was tested by both explorative and confirmatory factor analyses. Concurrent validity was tested through convergent and divergent validity with validated questionnaires inquiring about physical and psychological symptoms, and religiosity. The test/retest reliability was assessed through the concordance coefficient of Linn (two-week interval, 80 patients). The explorative analysis suggested one factor only loading highly on all the 25 items (>.45) and explaining the 48% variance; confirmative analysis and Cronbach alpha (0.96) confirmed the adequacy of the one-factor model. In the 2-week test-retest study, a concordance coefficient of 0.73 (95% CI, 0.64-0.83) was found. High correlations of problems with dignity were found with both physical and psychological symptoms (0.52 and 0.64 rho coefficient, respectively), and a moderate inverse correlation with spiritual well being (-.40). The dignity construct, as measured by PDI, proved to be orthogonal to that of religiosity (-.02). The Italian version of PDI is a valid and reliable tool to evaluate the dignity related-distress in out-patients with solid and hematological cancers, on active oncological treatments, in non advanced stages of the disease.

In Oncology, little is known about dignity-related distress and the issues that influence the sense of dignity for patients. We validated the Patient Dignity Inventory (PDI) questionnaire in Italian patients on oncological active treatments. After the translation procedures, the PDI was administered to 266 patients along with other questionnaires to assess the psychometric properties of the Italian version of PDI. Factor structure was tested by both explorative and confirmatory factor analyses. Concurrent validity was tested through convergent and divergent validity with validated questionnaires inquiring about physical and psychological symptoms, and religiosity. The test/retest reliability was assessed through the concordance coefficient of Linn (two-week interval, 80 patients). The explorative analysis suggested one factor only loading highly on all the 25 items (>.45) and explaining the 48% variance; confirmative analysis and Cronbach alpha (0.96) confirmed the adequacy of the one-factor model. In the 2-week test-retest study, a concordance coefficient of 0.73 (95% CI, 0.64-0.83) was found. High correlations of problems with dignity were found with both physical and psychological symptoms (0.52 and 0.64 rho coefficient, respectively), and a moderate inverse correlation with spiritual well being (-.40). The dignity construct, as measured by PDI, proved to be orthogonal to that of religiosity (-.02). The Italian version of PDI is a valid and reliable tool to evaluate the dignity related-distress in out-patients with solid and hematological cancers, on active oncological treatments, in non advanced stages of the disease.

1601P - Patient Dignity Inventory (PDI) Questionnaire: The Validation Study in Italian Patients with Solid and Haematological Cancers on Active Oncological Treatments

Background: Collective violence is a significant social issue that impacts individuals' and groups' mental and physical health, social relationships, and educational levels. However, there is currently no valid and reliable scale to measure the acceptance of collective violence among adolescents. Objectives: This study aimed to validate the Multidimensional Scale of Acceptance of Collective Violence (MSACV). Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to validate the MSACV among teenagers in Tehran in 2022. The sample included 840 teenagers selected through random cluster sampling. Data were collected electronically using MSACV and the Aggression Scale (AS), with the questionnaire link sent to participants' mobile phones. Content validity, concurrent validity, and factor analysis methods were used to assess scale validity. Scale reliability was evaluated through internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and split-half reliability. Results: The content validity ratio (CVR) values ranged from 68% to 91%, and the Content Validity Index (CVI) values ranged from 70% to 94% for the relevant, clarity, and simplicity indices. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed that the MSACV questionnaire had 7 factors, explaining a total variance of 58.97%. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) also supported the 7-factor structure of the MSACV questionnaire. The concurrent validity of MSACV with AS was positive and significant (P &lt; 0.001). Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the overall scale was 0.91, and subscales ranged from 0.70 to 0.94. Test-retest reliability was 0.86, and split-half reliability was 0.74. Conclusions: This study's findings demonstrate that the MSACV is a valid and reliable scale for measuring the acceptance of collective violence among adolescents. This scale can assist researchers and interventionists in the prevention and treatment of collective violence.

Background: Given the importance of quality of life, especially in women with breast cancer, it is essential to have a valid scale to measure their quality of life. Objectives: Therefore, we conducted a study to examine the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the quality of life questionnaire for women with breast cancer within the cultural context of Iranian society. Methods: This methodological study was conducted on 404 women with breast cancer, aged 20 to 60 years, from September 2021 to April 2022 in three cities in Iran. After translating the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-C30 (version 3) into Farsi and obtaining experts' opinions, the content, construct, convergent, and discriminant validity, as well as the reliability of the scale, were assessed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The construct validity of the scale was investigated through exploratory factor analysis. Results: Through exploratory factor analysis of this scale, a version with 24 questions was confirmed, identifying five dimensions: Psychological symptoms, daily activities, physical problems, physical activity, and social support. Four items were removed due to factor loadings less than 0.3 and the presence of commonalities. In this study, Cronbach's alpha, McDonald's omega, CR, MaxR, and convergent validity coefficients for each factor were greater than 0.7. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the Persian version of the quality of life questionnaire is a valid and reliable scale within the cultural context of Iranian society, with potential applications in clinical environments.

This study attempted to develop a scale that measures the level of patients' recognition of the nurses' care, based on Watson's caring theory, and confirmed its reliability and validity. The items were developed through a literature review and an expert content validity test. The questionnaires were administered to 285 inpatients of internal medicine and surgical units at two general hospitals. Construct validity was tested using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and reliability was tested using Cronbach's alpha. This process resulted in a preliminary scale composed of 34 items; We used item analysis and five exploratory factor analyses, and consequently selected 14 items composed of three factors (respect, genuineness, and relationality). The confirmatory factor analysis verified the model fit and convergent and discriminant validity of the final items; criterion validity was confirmed with the positive correlation with the measurement scale of the patient-perceived quality of nursing . The overall scale reliability had a Cronbach's alpha of .92, which indicated internal consistency and reliability. The developed scale showed content, construct, and criterion validity, and reliability, as well as convergent validity for each item and discriminant validity between the factors. This makes it suitable for use in a diverse range of future studies on nurse communication using structural equation models.

This study focused on the direct and indirect effect (via sleep duration) of computer use on psychological and somatic symptoms among boys and girls (N = 6112) in 3 different age cohorts (11, 13, and 15-years old) from the 2013/2014 health behaviour in school-aged children (HBSC) study done in Sweden. Structural equation modeling (with SPSS AMOS 22) was used (specifying separate multigroup models for each age group). The mediating effect of sleep duration was tested for significance using a Bootstrap estimation. Across the age groups, the direct effect of computer use was found to be a significant risk factor for psychological and somatic symptoms among both girls and boys (all the P values < 0.05), as the associations between computer use was only partly mediated by sleep duration. Additionally, the magnitude of the effects for the association between computer use and both psychological and somatic symptoms was quite similar among boys and girls across different age cohorts, but tended to be more pronounced among 13-year old girls. In particular, the direct and indirect effect computer use on psychological symptoms was significantly stronger among girls in this age cohort (all the P values < 0.05). Even though the cross-sectional design of the study prevented causal conclusions, the development of strategies to reduce children and adolescents’ computer screen time and the need to focus on mechanisms relating ICT use to somatic and psychological symptoms were emphasized.