Test-retest Designs Research Articles

The Multivariable Multiaxial Suggestibility Inventory-2 (MMSI-2): A Psychometric Alternative to Measure and Explain Supernatural Experiences.

This paper presents the English adaptation of the Multivariable Multiaxial Suggestibility Inventory-2 (MMSI-2), a questionnaire developed specifically for psychological assessment and prediction of anomalous phenomena. The sample consisted of 613 respondents from England (47.6% were women and 52.4% men). All of them were of legal age (mean = 34.5; standard deviation = 8.15). An exploratory factor analysis was applied, and three confirmatory factor models were adjusted. Omega coefficients and test-retest designs were used for reliability analysis. The MMSI-2 has a valid internal structure consisting of five macrofactors: Clinical Personality Tendencies (CPT), Anomalous Perceived Phenomena (APP), Incoherent Manipulations (IMA), Altered States of Consciousness (ASC), and Openness (OP). Omega coefficients for CPT and OP factors were low but acceptable. Furthermore, test-retest trials were excellent for all scales and factors. The psychological factors CPT, IMA, and ASC predicted 18.3% of the variance of anomalous experiences (APP). The authors concluded the English MMSI-2 was a valid and reliable test for the evaluation of anomalous phenomena but recommend that subsequent research reviews the predictive quality of the underlying model.

Psychometric properties of HeartQoL, a core heart disease-specific health-related quality of life questionnaire, in Danish implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients

Background Patient-reported health-related quality of life is increasingly used as an outcome measure in clinical trials and as a performance measure to evaluate quality of care. The objective of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Danish HeartQoL questionnaire, a core heart disease-specific health-related quality of life questionnaire, in implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients. Design This study involved cross-sectional and test-retest study designs. Method Implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients in the cross-sectional study completed the HeartQoL, the Short-Form 36 Health Survey, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The HeartQoL structure, construct-related validity (convergent and discriminative) and reliability (internal consistency) were assessed. HeartQoL reproducibility (test-retest) was assessed in an independent sample of implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients. Results Mokken scale analysis supported the bi-dimensional structure of HeartQoL among 358 implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients. Convergent ( r > 0.72) and discriminative validity were confirmed. The HeartQoL scales demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha > 0.90). Test-retest reliability (two weeks interval) was assessed in 89 implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients and found to be acceptable for each scale (intra-class correlation > 0.90). Conclusion The Danish HeartQoL questionnaire demonstrated satisfactory key psychometric attributes of validity and reliability in this implantable cardioverter defibrillator population. This study adds support for the HeartQoL as a core heart-specific health-related quality of life questionnaire in a broad group of patients with heart disease including implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients.

Application of High-Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to the DLPFC Alters Human Prefrontal–Hippocampal Functional Interaction

Neural plasticity is crucial for understanding the experience-dependent reorganization of brain regulatory circuits and the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. An important circuit-level feature derived from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is prefrontal-hippocampal seeded connectivity during working memory, the best established intermediate connectivity phenotype of schizophrenia risk to date. The phenotype is a promising marker for the effects of plasticity-enhancing interventions, such as high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), and can be studied in healthy volunteers in the absence of illness-related confounds, but the relationship to brain plasticity is unexplored. We recruited 39 healthy volunteers to investigate the effects of 5 Hz rTMS on prefrontal-hippocampal coupling during working memory and rest. In a randomized and sham-controlled experiment, neuronavigation-guided rTMS was applied to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and fMRI and functional connectivity analyses [seeded connectivity and psychophysiological interaction (PPI)] were used as readouts. Moreover, the test-retest reliability of working-memory related connectivity markers was evaluated. rTMS provoked a significant decrease in seeded functional connectivity of the right DLPFC and left hippocampus during working memory that proved to be relatively time-invariant and robust. PPI analyses provided evidence for a nominal effect of rTMS and poor test-retest reliability. No effects on n-back-related activation and DLPFC-hippocampus resting-state connectivity were observed. These data provide the first in vivo evidence for the effects of plasticity induction on human prefrontal-hippocampal network dynamics, offer insights into the biological mechanisms of a well established intermediate phenotype linked to schizophrenia, and underscores the importance of the choice of outcome measures in test-retest designs.

The reproducibility of isokinetic dynamometry data

Since its inception, isokinetic dynamometry has provided unique insights into muscle function evaluations for human performance and rehabilitation, thus they are commonly utilized in training and rehabilitative centers, as well as in exercise science laboratories. Because such devices are clinically relevant in the diagnosis of musculoskeletal health and assessment of athletic prowess, it is important that isokinetic dynamometry yield accurate performance values. Assuming no change in a person's exercise performance capabilities, multiple isokinetic dynamometry bouts should elicitdata values that are reproducible. Variability that results from test-retest research designs, and undermines data reliability, may be subdivided into mechanical and physiological sources of measurement error. The following paper offers a review of literature pertaining to the reproducibility of isokinetic dynamometry data. The literature is subdivided and categorizes a variety of test-retest study design papers according to the musculoskeletal segment under examination. While most papers describe their data reproducibility results as acceptable or better, a consistent outcome from the literature is greater variability at higher angular velocities. For isokinetic exercise, this is perhaps its most pressing concern, and future recommendation, that should be addressed with the advent of newer dynamometer models. Such improvements will continue to make isokinetic dynamometry a modality that offers the most unique insights on muscle function evaluations for athletic performance and clinical rehabilitation.

Face adaptation effects show strong and long-lasting transfer from lab to more ecological contexts

A review on recent experiments on figural face aftereffects reveals that adaptation effects in famous faces can last for hours up to days. Such adaptations seem to be highly reliable regarding test–retest designs as well as regarding the generalizability of adaptation across different adaptation routines and adaptations toward different kinds of facial properties. However, in the studies conducted so far, adaptation and the subsequent test phase were carried out in typical laboratory environments. Under these circumstances, it cannot be ruled out that the observed effects are, in fact, episodic learn–test compatibility effects. To test for ecological validity in adaptation effects we used an adaptation paradigm including environmental and social properties that differed between adaptation and test phase. With matched samples (n1 = n2 = 54) we found no main effects of experimental setting compatibility resulting from varying where the tests where conducted (environmental condition) nor any interaction with effects of stimulus compatibility resulting from varying stimulus similarity between adaptation and test phase using the same picture, different pictures of the same person, or different persons (transfer). This indicates that these adaptation effects are not artificial or merely lab-biased effects. Adaptation to face stimuli may document representational adaptations and tuning mechanisms that integrate new visual input in a very fast, reliable, and sustainable way.

Reproducibility of TMS—Evoked EEG responses

Navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with electroencephalography (nTMS-EEG), allows noninvasive studies of cortical excitability and connectivity in humans. We investigated the reproducibility of nTMS-EEG in seven healthy subjects by repeating left motor and prefrontal cortical stimulation with a 1-week interval. TMS was applied at three intensities: 90, 100, and 110% of subjects' motor threshold (MT). The TMS-compatible neuronavigation system guaranteed precise repositioning of the stimulation coil. The responses were recorded by a 60-channel whole head TMS-compatible EEG amplifier. A high overall reproducibility (r > 0.80) was evident in nTMS-EEG responses over both hemispheres for both motor and prefrontal cortical stimulation. The results suggest that nTMS-EEG is a reliable tool for studies investigating cortical excitability changes in the test-retest designs.

Estimation of reliability for multiple‐component measuring instruments in test–retest designs

A covariance structure modelling method for the estimation of reliability for composites of congeneric measures in test-retest designs is outlined. The approach also allows an approximate standard error and confidence interval for scale reliability in such settings to be obtained. The procedure further permits measurement error components due to possible transient condition influences to be accounted for and evaluated, and is illustrated with a pair of examples.

Validation of the Dutch cystic fibrosis questionnaire (CFQ) in adolescents and adults

Background: This study assesses the reliability and validity of the Dutch version of a disease-specific measure of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for adolescents and adults with CF (CFQ-14+). The 47-item CFQ-14+ covers nine domains, three symptom scales and one health perception scale. Methods: To assess psychometric characteristics of the CFQ-14+, cross-sectional (homogeneity, discriminative and construct validity) and test–retest designs were used. Eighty-four adolescents and adults with CF (mean age: 21.4 years, range 14.0–46.5 years) and a wide range of lung function (mean FEV1: 59,9% predicted, range 15–121%) completed the questionnaire during a routine visit. Results: Internal consistency was acceptable for most domains of the CFQ-14+ (α=0.43–0.92) and test–retest reliability was high for all domain scores (0.72–0.98). Several domains of the CFQ-14+ were able to differentiate between individuals with varying disease severity and between nourished and malnourished patients. Construct validity of the questionnaire was fair, with moderate to strong correlation between physically orientated domains and pulmonary function (rs=0.36–0.62). Conclusion: The results demonstrate that the CFQ-14+ questionnaire is a well-validated measure of HRQOL assessment in adolescents and adults with CF.

Expanding test–retest designs to include developmental time-lag components.

Test-retest data can reflect systematic changes over varying intervals of time in a design. This article shows how latent growth models with planned incomplete data can be used to separate psychometric components of developmental interest, including internal consistency reliability, test-practice effects, factor stability, factor growth, and state fluctuation. Practical analyses are proposed using a structural equation model for longitudinal data on multiple groups with different test-retest intervals. This approach is illustrated using 2 sets of data collected from students measured on the Woodcock-Johnson—Revised Memory and Reading scales. The results show how alternative time-lag models can be fitted and interpreted with univariate, bivariate, and multivariate data. Benefits, limitations, and extensions of this structural time-lag approach are discussed.

Expanding test-retest designs to include developmental time-lag components.

Expanding test-retest designs to include developmental time-lag components.

The reliability of subjects' reports on stressful life events inventories: a longitudinal study.

Previous studies of the reliability of stressful life events inventories employing test-retest, informant report, and fall-off designs have all suffered from significant methodological limitations. In order to provide a more rigorous test of the reliability of subjects' reports on life events inventories, the present study employed a longitudinal design with multiple, frequent assessments. Fifty-three subjects completed life events questionnaires every 5 weeks for 5 months. At the end of this time, subjects were asked to report all events occurring during the entire study period. The intraclass correlation between the number of events reported in the four 5-week assessments and the final, 5-month assessment was .63. There was a 26% decline in the number of events reported between the 5-week assessments and the 20-week assessment. Agreement on specific inventory items was only 52%. These data are consistent with previous, less methodologically rigorous studies in raising serious questions about the reliability of stressful life events questionnaires.

Reliability of the Psychosocial Schedule for School Age Children

The Psychosocial Schedule (PSS) is an instrument derived from several pre-existing rating scales, which was designed to measure and record clinical data (other than the symptoms of the present episode of disorder) which are likely to be relevant to child psychiatric disorder. These data include: developmental and past symptomatic history, demographics, family functioning, and relationships. Reliability was tested by interrater and test-retest designs with mothers of prepubertal children. Overall, the instrument appeared to be quite reliable. Although it is subject to minor modifications, especially for use with adolescents, it is concluded that the PSS is a practical instrument which should be tested now in adolescents, and can be utilized in future studies with prepubertal subjects.