Evaluation Of Predictive Validity Research Articles

Factorial Support and Measurement Invariance of the College Eating and Drinking Behavior Scale

Systematic measurement of simultaneous disordered eating patterns and alcohol consumption enables practitioners to identify harmful behaviors and evaluate behavior change. Despite instruments existing which measure these behaviors, few are tested for gender/ethnicity invariance or against measures for disordered eating behaviors and harmful alcohol consumption, rendering limited empirical support for utility. The College Eating and Drinking Behaviors Scale (CEDBS) is a three-factor, self-report measure. The purpose of this study was to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis, invariance testing, and evaluation of predictive validity. Participants included 583 traditional college students from two Southern universities who reported past 30-day alcohol consumption. Results supported the three-factor structure, and evidence of predictive validity indicates that the CEDBS measures disordered eating and alcohol misuse behaviors within the context of food and alcohol disturbance. Findings suggested the CEDBS performs similarly across genders and some ethnicities.

Case study of a method of development of a selection process for community health workers in sub-Saharan Africa

BackgroundChoosing who should be recruited as a community health worker (CHW) is an important task, for their future performance partly depends on their ability to learn the required knowledge and skills, and their personal attributes. Developing a fair and effective selection process for CHWs is a challenging task, and reports of attempts to do so are rare. This paper describes a five-stage process of development and initial testing of a CHW selection process in two CHW programmes, one in Malawi and one in Ghana, highlighting the lessons learned at each stage and offering recommendations to other CHW programme providers seeking to develop their own selection processes.Case presentationThe five stages of selection process development were as follows: (1) review an existing selection process, (2) conduct a job analysis, (3) elicit stakeholder opinions, (4) co-design the selection process and (5) test the selection process. Good practice in selection process development from the human resource literature and the principles of co-design were considered throughout. Validity, reliability, fairness, acceptability and feasibility—the determinants of selection process utility—were considered as appropriate during stages 1 to 4 and used to guide the testing in stage 5. The selection methods used by each local team were a written test and a short interview.ConclusionsWorking with stakeholders, including CHWs, helped to ensure the acceptability of the selection processes developed. Expectations of intensiveness—in particular the number of interviewers—needed to be managed as resources for selection are limited, and CHWs reported that any form of interview may be stressful. Testing highlighted the importance of piloting with CHWs to ensure clarity of wording of questions, interviewer training to maximise inter-rater reliability and the provision of guidance to applicants in advance of any selection events. Trade-offs between the different components of selection process utility are also likely to be required. Further refinements and evaluation of predictive validity (i.e. a sixth stage of development) would be recommended before roll-out.

Identifying relapse prevention elements during psychological treatment of depression: Development of an observer-based rating instrument

BackgroundAlthough observer-rated instruments assessing therapist's adherence to relapse-preventive treatments are available, they do not adequately cover specific relapse-preventive elements that focus on implementation of strategies after terminating treatment. This study describes the development of the KERI-D (Kodierbogen zur Erfassung Rückfallprophylaktischer Interventionen bei Depression/Coding System to Assess Interventions of Relapse Prevention in Depression). The KERI-D is a new observer-based rating tool for acute or continuation/maintenance-phase sessions and assesses relapse-prevention elements including implementation into patient's daily routines. MethodsThe development of the KERI-D included iterative steps referring to theoretical, clinical and empirical sources. It consists of 19 content items within four categories (self-care, early warning signs, triggering events/situations, termination of therapy) and one global item. For empirical analyses, videotaped psychotherapy sessions of 36 psychotherapies were rated by three independent observers and analyzed for their psychometric properties. ResultsMost items showed moderate to good inter-rater reliability (median ICC = .80) and retest reliability (median ICC = .93). Principal-axis factor analysis revealed three subscales, and first evidence of content validity was demonstrated. No associations with clinical follow-up data were found. LimitationsAnalysis was limited to a relatively small sample of selected psychotherapy sessions. Evaluation of predictive validity is a desirable next step to further examine applicability and scope of the instrument. ConclusionsThe KERI-D is the first observer-based rating instrument measuring specific relapse-prevention strategies in psychotherapy for depression. It may help to identify elements that prove effective in reducing relapse/recurrence in the long-term and thereby help to optimize effect duration of depression treatment.