KR-20 Reliability Coefficient Research Articles

Turkish Adaptation of the Frailty Index for Elders: A Methodologic Study.

Background and Purpose: Frailty is an important problem in the aging process and can be prevented or delayed when detected at an early stage. Therefore, appropriate measurement tools are needed to determine frailty. The study aimed to adapt the Frailty Index for Elders (FIFE) into Turkish.Methods: Data were collected from 300 older individuals between January and April 2023. Rasch analysis was used to evaluate the construct validity. The KR-20 reliability coefficient of the factor items was evaluated and interpreted for internal consistency.Results: The reliability coefficient of the scale was .98, item separation (item separation index) was 7.62, and item reliability was .98. The content validity, based on the opinions of seven experts, was found as .85. In general, the relationship between the total scores of the individuals in the first application and the scores of the individuals in the second application was .92.Conclusions: It was concluded that the seven-item single-factor FIFE was a valid and reliable tool to measure the frailty of older individuals living in Turkey.

Turkish adaptation of the Fall Prevention Knowledge Test

Purpose: This study aims to test the Turkish validity and reliability of the Fall Prevention Knowledge Test assessing the knowledge level of nurses in the clinical setting regarding fall prevention. 
 Materials and Methods: This study was carried out with nurses working at a university hospital between 16 February and 31 March 2022. The study group consisted of 250 nurses, who had been working as nurses for at least six months and voluntarily agreed to participate in the study. The study data was collected by using The Nurse Information Form and Fall Prevention Knowledge Test. Content validity, item difficulty and item discrimination indices, KR-20 coefficient, and intra-class correlation coefficient were used in the data analyses. 
 Results: It was determined that 75.2% of the nurses participating in the study were female, 50.8% were married, and 75.6% had a bachelor’s degree. The mean age of the nurses participating in the present study was 29.22±6.55 years, the mean work experience was 6.84±6.60 years, and the mean weekly working hours were 44.10±6.76 hours. It was found that 96.8% of the nurses knew about the risk of fall, and 96.0% knew about fall prevention practices. The content validity index of the test was found to be 0.836 and the KR-20 reliability coefficient for the scale was calculated to be 0.713.
 Conclusions: The Fall Prevention Knowledge Test (11 items) is a valid and reliable test for measuring the knowledge level of nurses working in hospitals in Türkiye.

Development of a knowledge test about scientists for secondary school students

This study aims to develop a knowledge test to assess secondary school students' awareness of scientists. After determining the topics that the questions in the test would measure, 50 multiple-choice questions were prepared and presented to six experts in the field. Following the experts' feedback, the number of questions in the test was reduced to 44 due to issues related to question clarity, alignment with the curriculum, and cognitive appropriateness. The 44-question test underwent item analysis. The prepared test was subjected to a preliminary pilot application with 222 secondary school students. As a result of the preliminary pilot application, two questions with discrimination indices of 0.19 or lower were removed, and the final version of the test was arranged to consist of 42 questions for the pilot application. The pilot application was conducted with 211 secondary school students. In this application, secondary school students were administered the Knowledge Test of Scientists consisting of 42 questions, and item analysis was performed again. Two questions with discrimination indices of 0.19 or lower were removed from the pilot application. As a result of the pilot application, the Knowledge Test of Scientists had a KR-20 reliability coefficient of 0.94, and the Spearman Brown two-half test correlation coefficient was calculated as 0.92. The final version of the scale was arranged to consist of 40 items. These results demonstrate that the test is highly reliable, meaning that the test results accurately reflect the measured attribute and are replicable.

Developing an Achievement Test on the Subject of ‘Circulatory System’ for Sixth Graders

This study aims to develop a test to measure sixth grade students’ success in ‘Circulatory System’. For this purpose, a draft test containing 22 questions was prepared by the researchers. And then, the draft test was submitted to expert opinion and examined in terms of language and content. Following expert opinions, the 22 multiple-choice questions were administered to 128 seventh graders attended to two different secondary schools. Item analysis was performed in the data and thus, two questions were removed from the draft test. According to the findings, the overall item difficulty value of the 20-question final test was calculated as 0.654, and the item discrimination value was calculated as 0.54. KR-20 reliability coefficient of the test was 0.71. Seven of the questions are at the remembering level. Additionally, there were eight questions at the understanding level and five questions at the analysis level according to Bloom’ revised taxonomy.

The Development of a Concept Test for “Pure Matter and Mixtures” Unit

The purpose of this study was to create a concept test with established reliability and validity to show seventh-grade students’ conceptual comprehension of the science course’s “Pure Matter and Mixtures” unit. The survey model, which is one of the quantitative research methodologies, was used to perform the research. The research group comprises 7th (n=272) and 8th (n=282) grade pupils studying in Ankara province’s Çankaya and Yenimahalle districts throughout the autumn and spring semesters of the 2021-2022 academic year. The first stage of the test questions was multiple-choice with four possibilities, and the second stage was open-ended with the rationale for the question written. Expert comments were sought to guarantee the test’s face and content validity. The hypothesis testing approach was employed to assess construct validity, and the test was found to be construct-valid. As a consequence of the analysis performed before the pilot deployment for the 35-question exam, 9 questions were deleted from the test, yielding a 26-question test. The discrimination of question 21 was discovered to be 0,27 as a result of the test’s actual implementation. The decision was made to delete this question from the tests, and the test was completed with 25 questions. The actual implementation resulted in a KR-20 reliability coefficient of 0,83, a mean item difficulty of 0,56, and a mean item discrimination of 0,49. In light of the results of the present research, a high discrimination, medium difficulty, and reliable concept exam consisting of 25 questions was developed to measure conceptual understanding as well as misconceptions.

Development an Achievement Test on the Subject of “Basic Compounds in the Structure of Living Things”

The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable achievement test on the subject of ‘Basic Compounds in the Structure of Living Things’. During the preparation of the draft form of the test, a 32 item-question pool was created by the researchers in the light of the relevant literature. Then, these questions were presented to expert opinion in terms of language, intelligibility and content. This draft test with 32 multiple choice questions, was applied to 252 students studying at three different high schools. Item difficulty and item discrimination indices were calculated for the data obtained. After the item analysis, seven questions were removed from the test. Thus, the average item difficulty of the 25-question achievement test was calculated as 0.44, and the average item discrimination was 0.44. The KR-20 reliability coefficient of the test was calculated as 0.75. This result shows that the test is of medium difficulty and excellent discriminative reliability. In addition, according to the revised Bloom taxonomy, seven of the questions in the test are at the level of remembering, fifteen at the level of understanding, two at the level of application and one at the level of evaluation.

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY STUDY OF SCHULTZ TEST OF EMOTION PROCESSING – PRELIMINARY VERSION (STEP-P) FOR 3-5-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN

This study was conducted for the validity and reliability study of the Schultz Test of Emotion Processing – Preliminary Version (STEP-P) for 3-5-year-old children. The study was designed in the general survey model, one of quantitative research. The study group consists of 310 children in the 3-5 age group attending kindergartens affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in Konya City Centre in the 2019-2020 academic year. Schultz Test of Emotion Processing – Preliminary Version (STEP-P) and General Information Form were used to collect the research data. Content validity (expert opinion) and construct validity (confirmative factor analysis) were examined for validity studies of the test. KR-20 reliability coefficient was calculated for the reliability of the measurements in terms of internal consistency. The Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated when the normality assumption was met, and the Spearman correlation coefficient was calculated when the normality assumption was not met for independent inter-observer agreement and test-retest reliability. The analyses showed that the Schultz Test of Emotion Processing – Preliminary Version (STEP-P) is a valid and reliable test for 3-5 year old children.

Developing a Diabetes Knowledge Scale for Adults and its Psychometric Properties

Objective: This study was conducted to develop and test the psychometric properties of a “Diabetes Knowledge Scale for Adults.” 
 Methods: The sample for this research of methodological design consisted of 500 individuals, ages 18-90, who had presented at a state hospital in Istanbul during the period October 2018-April 2019 with or without a diagnosis of diabetes. Data for the study were collected with a “Sociodemographic Characteristics Descriptive Questionnaire” and the “Diabetes Knowledge Scale for Adults (DKSA).” The validity of the scale was evaluated with the content validity index and construct validity testing (exploratory, confirmatory factor analyses). Its reliability was assessed with KR-20 internal consistency analysis, item-total correlation testing, the item discrimination, item difficulty indexes, and test-retest analysis. 
 Results: The content validity index for the 28-item scale was found to be 0.92. The exploratory factor analysis revealed five subscales that explained 62.15% of scale variance. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis, GFI= 0.88 CFI= 0.93, AGFI= 0.86, SRMR= 0.01 and χ²/ df = 2.43, confirmed a good and acceptable level of goodness of fit for the scale. The scale’s KR-20 reliability coefficient was 0.94, item-total correlations were above .45 and the correlation between the test-retests administered two weeks apart was found to be r=0.99 
 Conclusion: DKSA is a valid and reliable scale that can be used to determine the knowledge level of between the ages of 18-90 adults about diabetes.

6th grade science ability test validity and reliability research

"The aim of this research is to develop a test to determine the Science ability of 6th grade students. For this purpose, taking into consideration the 6th grade Science course outcomes; ability test was developed and validity and reliability studies were conducted. In the study, the steps of determining the purpose of the test, determining the properties to be measured, writing the items, reviewing the items, preparing the trial form, applying the trial form, scoring the test, item analysis and selection, and the final form of the test were followed, respectively. The study group of the research consists of 295 students studying in two different schools. According to the findings, item difficulty indexes of the questions in the developed ability test ranged between 0.26 and 0.80, while item discrimination indexes varied between 0.32 and 0.68. Item-total correlations of questions take values between 0.27 and 0.51. While the overall difficulty coefficient of the questions in the test was 0.53, the discrimination index was calculated as 0.47. The KR-20 reliability coefficient calculated for the reliability of the test was 0.84, and the split-half value was 0.71. It can be said that the ability test developed in line with all these results is valid and reliable."

A Study of Developing an Achievement Test for Identifying Primary School Students at Risk of Mathematics Learning Disability

This study aims to develop a valid and reliable achievement test to identify students with mathematics learning difficulties (dyscalculia) and at-risk students. In addition, a test to measure third-grade primary students' success in learning natural numbers and operations with natural numbers sub learning areas is aimed to be developed. Critical learning outcomes were determined for students with a risk of learning disabilities in mathematics and 47 questions were created in line with these outcomes. The questions were evaluated by presenting them, along with the expert evaluation form, to three experts from. The test was administered to 171 students attending. Then, both the item difficulty and item discrimination indices were calculated as part of the item analysis, and accordingly, 21 questions were included in the main test. The KR-20 reliability coefficient of the test was calculated as 0.93, and the Spearman-Brown value for the split halves was calculated as 0.86.

Investigating the Effect of Concept Teaching Strategy on Academic Success

This study examined the effect of concept teaching on students’ learning level of concepts through concept teaching strategy; hence, a quasi-experimental design with pretest–posttest measurements and experimental and control groups was employed. An achievement test was created by the researcher to determine the experimental and control groups; this test was administered to 129 students studying in Grade 3, and the KR20 reliability coefficient was found to be .846. The pretest data were analyzed by independent groups’ t-test. As a result of the analysis, two groups that were identical to each other were randomly assigned as experimental and control groups. While the concepts such as governor, district governor, mayor, and headman, which are the concepts determined from the life science curriculum, were taught to the experimental group with the help of concept teaching strategy, a program-based teaching was conducted for the control group. After 5 weeks of application, a posttest was administered to the experimental and control groups. As a result of the dependent group t-test, a significant increase in the posttest scores of the experimental and control groups was observed. As a result of the independent groups’ t-test, a significant difference was noticed in favor of the posttest scores of the experimental group.

The effectiveness of the kit portable PLC on electrical motors course among vocational school students in Aceh, Indonesia

This research aims to test the effect of the kit Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) on the achievement of vocational school students' competencies in electrical motor control courses for form 3 students in Aceh, Indonesia. Constructivist theory and Bloom's Taxonomy are referenced in this study in relation to learning. While the ADDIE model is used in relation to product development. This study used a quasi -experimental design with pre- and post -tests. The population (N = 333) in this study was level 3 vocational students in Aceh, Indonesia. The number of samples was 98 people, consisting of the experimental group (n = 50) and the control group (n = 48) selected by cluster random technique. The instruments used in this study included pre- and post -test interview protocols. The values of the KR20 reliability coefficient of the question items on the knowledge aspect were 0.97 and 0.81 on the skills aspect. The results of the descriptive analysis found that the experimental group (mean = 64.08; SD = 4.548) showed better competency achievement than the control group (mean = 63.06; SD = 5.487). The result of hypothesis test using Mann Whitney test is [Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) = .000, p <0.05] which means that the teaching aids developed have successfully had a positive effect in improving the achievement of student competencies. The implications of this study have produced a teaching aid that can be used as a template by teachers to build teaching aids that are more affordable, easy and safe to use so that they can be motivated to innovate in learning and become a new career opportunity. Given that the Covid-19 epidemic has affected face-to-face learning, the proposal for further research is the need to integrate logic control programming (PLC) learning aids into a technology-based learning trend. Researchers, on the other hand, suggest a broader scope of study whether teachers and students in a wider area and other fields of knowledge related to the utilization of PLC programming.

Developing the Critical Thinking Skill Test for High School Students: A Validity and Reliability Study

This research aimed to develop “Critical Thinking Skill Test for High School Students” to measure critical thinking (CT) skills of high school students. For the CT test prepared based on the sub-skills of inference, evaluating arguments, deduction, recognizing assumptions and interpretation which are deemed to represent CT (Watson and Glaser, 1994), content validity and face validity were achieved with expert opinions and the table of specifications. Following the item difficulty and item discrimination analyses performed to test the construct validity, 34 items were omitted from the test which was finalized with 51 items. While mean item difficulty values of the sub-tests vary between 0.51 and 0.63, mean item discrimination values range from 0.35 to 0.49. The total test has a mean item difficulty value of 0.52 and a mean item discrimination value of 0.42. Decision-making skill was used to test the criterion-related validity of the test. KR20 reliability coefficients calculated for the sub-tests ranged from 0.62 to 0.75. A KR20 reliability coefficient of the total test was 0.87. Moreover, a correlation coefficient of 0.84 was calculated with the split-half method. To test time invariance of the test, the correlation values calculated between the results of the two applications which were performed three months apart ranged from 0.57 to 0.70. The correlation coefficient for the total test is 0.70. Based on the results of validity and reliability studies, it can be said that the CT test will yield valid and reliable results in measuring CT skills of high school students.

National Non-verbal Cognitive Ability Test (BNV) Development Study

The aim of the present study is to develop a national non-verbal cognitive ability test in Turkey. Test items were developed during the first stage and applied as a pilot study on 3,073 children in the age interval of 4 to 13. The test was given its final form based on the values of item difficulty, item distinctiveness, item total score correlation. Norm study was carried out at 12 different provinces with a total of 9,129 children comprised of 4,464 females (49%) and 4,665 (51%) males. Test-retest, split-halves, KR-20, and KR-21 methods were applied for the reliability analyses of the study. Standard error, standard deviation, and reliability coefficient were calculated for the measurement. Content and construct validity along with criterion-related validity analysis methods were used for validity analyses. The KR-20 reliability coefficient obtained from the complete sample group was estimated as 0.92. Test-retest reliability coefficient was determined as 0.80. A correlation of .71 was determined between Naglieri Cognitive Ability test and BNV test. A correlation of .67 was determined between Toni-3 test and BNV test while a correlation of .86 was determined between BNV and Colored Progressive Matrices Test.

Descriptive Analysis of the Psychometric Properties of Extended Matching Questions Conducted Among Anaesthesia Residents

Background: Clinical reasoning is one of the core features of clinical competency. Training and assessing clinical reasoning is vital in post-graduate training. Extended matching questions(EMQs) are effective in assessing problem-solving and clinical reasoning abilities, but not commonly used in Postgraduate training. Covid-19 pandemic, which prevented both patient encounter and regular academic activities, warranted the introduction of innovative Teaching-Learning methods to sustain clinical reasoning skills. Hence, we aimed to introduce EMQs in formative assessment among anaesthesia residents and analyzed its psychometric properties. Methods: The study was conducted at the Department of Anaesthesiology, MGMCRI, Pondicherry. Four modules of EMQs as part of a formative assessment was conducted among residents (n=20). A total of 40 clinical vignettes and 60 options were administered. Post-validation of the EMQs was done by item analysis. Test reliability was estimated by the Kuder-Richardson 20 formula. Difficulty index(DIF-I), discrimination index(DIS-I), and distractor functionality were analysed. Results: The KR-20 reliability coefficient was 0.72. The mean DIF-I was 0.43±0.17, where 72.5%(29) were in the acceptable range, 20%(8) difficult, and 7.5%(3) easy. The mean DIS-I was 0.28±0.24, where 40%(16) had acceptable, 27.5%(11) excellent, and 20% had poor discrimination. Ninety percent of distractors were functional. The DIS-I exhibited a positive correlation with DIF-I (r= 0.2155, P=0.0185). Conclusions: The results of the present study indicates that EMQs have acceptable test reliability. The majority of the items (80%) followed the principles of MCQs. We conclude that EMQs can be effectively used as part of the postgraduate assessment to test higher-order knowledge and clinical competency.

Financial hardship in adult survivors of childhood cancer: A report from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS).

10026 Background: The impact of childhood and adolescent cancer on the long-term financial outcomes of survivors is poorly understood. We compared financial hardship between survivors and siblings enrolled in the CCSS and identified survivors at elevated risk. Methods: Survivors treated for cancer at age < 21 years in 1970-1999 and siblings responded to a survey (23 binary-response questions) at age ≥26 years administered in 2017-2019. Principal component analysis with promax rotation extracted 3 factors with eigenvalues > 1 and KR-20 reliability coefficients > 0.7, retaining items with factor loadings > 0.4. These factors were behavioral hardship (8 items, e.g., forgone needed medical care), material hardship/financial sacrifices (8 items, e.g., problems paying medical bills) and psychological hardship (3 items, e.g., worry about having enough money to pay rent/mortgage). Factor scores were calculated by adding the item responses and dividing by their standard deviation. Multiple linear regression examined the association of sociodemographic and cancer treatment variables with factor scores. Results: Among 3349 survivors (49% male; median age [range] 40.2 [26.0-67.4] years) and 976 siblings (42% male, median age 46.5 [ 26.1-69.2] years), survivors were more likely to report being sent to debt collection (29.5 vs 21.4%), problems paying medical bills (20.0 vs 11.9%), foregoing needed medical care (13.3 vs 7.7%) and worry/stress about paying their mortgage (32.8 vs 23.2%) or having enough money to buy nutritious meals (25.0 vs 16.2%), all P < 0.001. Survivors reported greater hardship than siblings on all 3 factors: behavioral hardship (standardized mean score 0.51 vs 0.36), material hardship/financial sacrifices (0.63 vs 0.44), psychological hardship (0.69 vs 0.44), all P < 0.001. Behavioral hardship was increased by female gender (regression coefficient [ꞵ] 0.17, 95% CI 0.10-0.25), < high school (ꞵ 0.45, CI 0.12-0.79) or < college (ꞵ 0.18, CI 0.09-0.26) education, no (ꞵ 1.14, CI 0.93-1.35) or public (ꞵ 0.23, CI 0.10-0.35) health insurance, being divorced/separated (ꞵ 0.28, CI 0.10-0.46) and ≥250mg/m2 anthracycline chemotherapy (ꞵ 0.09, CI 0.00-0.19). The same variables were significantly associated with the other two hardship factors, but total body irradiation and cranial radiation also contributed to the risk of material hardship/financial sacrifices, and ≥8g/m2 cyclophosphamide equivalent dose and cranial radiation contributed to psychological hardship. Conclusions: Survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer are at elevated risk for financial hardship as compared to sibling controls. Those at highest risk can be defined using a combination of sociodemographic and treatment variables. This information can be used to inform targeted intervention strategies to reduce the risk of poor financial outcomes in this vulnerable population.

The Frequency of and Contributing Factors to the Psychological Abuse of Older People in Nursing Homes in Turkey

Objective: This study investigated the frequency of the psychological abuse of older people in nursing homes and contributing factors.Methods: The population for this methodological and descriptive study was 161 elderly individuals living in two nursing homes in Istanbul. The data were collected using Barthel’s Index, the Standardized Mini Mental Test (SMMT) and the Elders’ Psychological Abuse Scale (EPAS). The scale’s reliability was tested using the Kuder–Richardson Formula 20 (KR–20) and test–retest analysis. Its validity was tested using the Content Validity Index (CVI) and concurrent validity. The frequency of abuse is presented using numbers, percentages, and means. The relationship between the independent variables and abuse was evaluated using the t-test and Kruskal–Wallis variance analysis.Results: The participants’ mean age was 73.5 years (42.2% were older than 80 years); 44.7% were female. The mean scores were 5.57 ± 4.12 on the EPAS and 89.13 ± 17.13 on Barthel’s Index. The KR-20 reliability coefficient for the scale was 0.80. The test–retest reliability was 0.97; p=0.000, and the content validity index was 90%. Of the participants, 14.3% were exposed to psychological abuse. Individuals with high dependency and low levels of income, education and mental capacity were exposed to psychological abuse more frequently (p <0.05).Conclusion: The Turkish version of the originally English EPAS is reliable and valid.

Developing an Achievement Test about 7th Grade “Solar System and Beyond” Unit: Analysis of Validity and Reliability

The aim of this research is to develop a reliable and valid achievement test to measure academic success of pupils about 7th grade’s “Solar System and Beyond” unit. For this reason, depending on the objectives of “Solar System and Beyond” unit, which is included in middle school science program, which was published in 2018, 42 multiple-choice test questions were prepared. The clearness of the test questions, cohesion with the objectives and scientific knowledge were designed with the care of various sights of the authorities in teaching science field which depend on the technic which was suggested by Lawshe (1975). According to this, content validity score was calculated as .94. The pilot study for this test put into practice with 254 students who had studied 7th grade in 2018-2019 academic years. As a consequence of the item statistic which was realized in the process of test development by the answers of the students for each question, difficulty score and item discrimination were calculated for each of the item. As a consequence of item statistic, 8 items were excluded from the test and the last form of the “Solar System and Beyond Academic Achievement Test” was designed with 35 questions. As a result of the analysis, the last form’s KR-20 reliability co-efficient was calculated as .87. Average item difficulty index was calculated as .61 and average item discrimination index was calculated as .48. According to this outcome, average item difficulty was identified as midlevel, and average item discrimination was identified as high-level.

Swallowing Disorder in Multiple Sclerosis: Modified Version of the Screening Tool

Objective: Dysphagia is commonly encountered in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). It can consequently cause severe complications such as the increased risk of dehydration, malnutrition and aspiration pneumonia that associated with an increased risk of death in the late stages of the disease. These complications can be prevented with an effective screening protocol. The Dysphagia in Multiple Sclerosis (DYMUS) is the only questionnaire developed specifically for patients with MS. The aim of the present study was translation and cross-culturally adaptation of DYMUS for the Persian population and estimation of the questionnairechr('39')s reliability and validity. Also, we investigated the frequency and severity of dysphagia in the patients referring to the Tehran MS Society and its association with the course of MS, disease duration, and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Materials & Methods: This is a methodological and descriptive-analytic study. The statistical populations consist of the patients with MS referring to the Tehran Multiple Sclerosis Society in 2018. The study sample consisted of 108 patients who were selected through a convenient sampling method. The research instruments consisted of 10-items DYMUS questionnaire (in the first part of the study, translated and its psychometric properties examined), Dysphagia Handicap Index and a demographic information questionnaire. In methodological section, translation and cross-cultural adaptation were fulfilled and the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to assess the construct validity and to test the goodness-of-fit of the presented model. The association between the DYMUS and Dysphagia Handicap Index (DHI) scores investigated to convergent validity. ‏ The inter-item correlation matrix was calculated to assess the homogeneity of the questionnaire items. Kuder - Richardson (KR-20) was measured to assess the internal consistency of the questionnaire. Also, the test-retest procedure was conducted on the 19 subjects understudy to assess the reliability. Finally, the frequency and severity of dysphagia and its association with the course of MS, disease duration, and EDSS was investigated. KR-20 reliability coefficient, Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), inter-item correlation matrix, Mann-Whitney U test and rank correlation coefficient or Spearmanchr('39')s were used to inferential statistical analysis. Results: Analysis of the inter-item correlations matrix indicated a positive correlation between all items, exception item 10. Based on the results of the inter-item correlation, item 10 had the lowest correlation coefficient that was deleted from the questionnaire. CFA results confirmed the two-factor model of DYMUS, “dysphagia for solids” and “dysphagia for liquids”, and revealed that the item 10 was minimally contributing to the measurement of "dysphagia of solids" and internal consistency increased after the deletion of this item. Also, the solution of the 9-item Model was the best goodness-of-fit indicator for the sample. The obtained results from the convergent validity indicated a positive significant correlation between the DYMUS and DHI (rs=0.693, P<0.001). A KR-20 reliability coefficient of the DYMUS was 0.856, indicating high internal consistency of the Persian translation of the questionnaire items. Test-retest reliability was excellent with 0.965 value. The results also showed that 65.7% of multiple sclerosis patients had a swallowing disorder. In terms of the dysphagia severity, 25.9% of participants had mild dysphagia, and 39.8% of participants had alarming dysphagia. DYMUS values were significantly correlated with disease duration (rs=0.198, P= 0.040), and EDSS (rs=0.235, P= 0.014) and significantly higher mean scores were observed in the patients with secondary progressive than the other subgroups of multiple sclerosis. Conclusion: The Persian adjusted 9-item questionnaire was demonstrated to be a simple, consistent, valid and reliable tool for the detection of patients who need more specific instrumental evaluations of swallowing. Also, about the dysphagia is very frequent in these patients, it is important that clinicians monitor these patients carefully even in early stages of the disease‏ for early detection and planning a rehabilitation program to the prevention of serious subsequence complications.

11. Sınıflar İçin ‘Sindirim Sistemi’ Konusuna Yönelik Başarı Testi Geliştirme Çalışması

Bu çalışmada on birinci sınıf öğrencilerinin “Sindirim Sistemi” konusundaki bilgilerini ölçmeye yarayan bir başarı testi geliştirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Keşfedici karma araştırma deseni ile yürütülen çalışmanın nitel basamağında doküman incelemesi yöntemi, nicel basamağında ise tarama yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Buna göre öncelikle araştırmacılar tarafından alan yazın taranmış ve toplam 40 adet çoktan seçmeli soru hazırlanmıştır. Testin geçerlik çalışmalarında uzman görüşüne başvurulmuş, böylece hazırlanan taslak testteki sorular alanında uzman akademisyen ve öğretmenlerin görüşüne sunularak dil, kapsam, anlaşılabilirlik vb. açılardan incelenmiştir. Uzman görüşü doğrultusunda düzeltilen 40 soruluk test madde analizi için 201 on birinci sınıf öğrencisine uygulanmıştır. Öğrencilerden elde edilen verilere yapılan madde analizi sonrası sorular için düzeltme/çıkarma yoluna gidilmiştir. Madde analizi sonrası 25 maddeye indirilen testin ortalama güçlüğü 0.564, ortalama ayırt ediciliği 0.343 olarak hesaplanmıştır. Daha sonra 126 kişilik farklı bir öğrenci grubuna uygulanan başarı testinin KR-20 güvenirlik katsayısı ise 0.91 olarak hesaplanmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular genel olarak değerlendirildiğinde, öğretim programında kazanımlara uygun sorular içeren, geçerli ve güvenilir bir test olduğu söylenebilir.