Unidimensional Measure Research Articles

Validation and interval scale transformation of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) in patients undergoing knee arthroplasty, using the Rasch model

ObjectivesInterval scale reduce measurement bias compared to ordinal scale. We aimed to evaluate the fit of Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) to the Rasch model and derive the transformation table for interval scale measurement. MethodsData from osteoarthritis patients listed for knee arthroplasty (KA) pre-operatively, and at 6- and 12- months post-operative was used. WOMAC was calibrated for fit to the Rasch model for monotonicity, homogeneity, local item independence and absence of differential item functioning (DIF) in a randomly selected 900 patients, 300 from each time point; parameter estimates were then imported into the full data set. Responsiveness was reported through Standard Error of Measurement (SEM); Smallest Detectable Difference (SDD), %SDD and effect sizes (ES) between baseline and 6-months. WOMAC was transformed from ordinal to interval values. Results1136 patients (mean age 65.9 years, 69.9% female) were included. WOMAC pain (0−20), function (0−68) and total scores (0−96) had adequate fit to Rasch model with good reliability (Person Separation Index: 0.76, 0.80 and 0.79). No item deletion was required. The SEM, SDD, %SDD and ES of WOMAC total were 4.4, 6.9, 10.1, and 1.97. No significant DIF was seen for age, sex, body mass index, type of KA, languages, and education level. WOMAC pain, function and total scores were transformed to interval scales. ConclusionWOMAC total, pain and function scales had adequate fit to the Rasch model, providing unidimensional measure with good reliability and responsiveness. Transformation of WOMAC to interval scale measurement is applicable to other studies.

Measuring relatives’ perceptions of end-of-life communication with physicians in five countries: a psychometric analysis

The Family Perceptions of Physician-Family Caregiver Communication scale (FPPFC) was developed to assess quality of physician-family end-of-life communication in nursing homes. However, its validity has been tested only in the USA and the Netherlands. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the FPPFC construct validity and its reliability, as well as the psychometric characteristics of the items comprising the scale. Data were collected in cross-sectional study in Belgium, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. The factorial structure was tested in confirmatory factor analysis. Item parameters were obtained using an item response theory model. Participants were 737 relatives of nursing home residents who died up to 3 months prior to the study. In general, the FPPFC scale proved to be a unidimensional and reliable measure of the perceived quality of physician-family communication in nursing home settings in all five countries. Nevertheless, we found unsatisfactory fit to the data with a confirmatory model. An item that referred to advance care planning performed less well in Poland and Italy than in the Northern European countries. In the item analysis, we found that with no loss of reliability and with increased coherency of the item content across countries, the full 7-item version can be shortened to a 4-item version, which may be more appropriate for international studies. Therefore, we recommend use of the brief 4-item FPPFC version by nursing home managers and professionals as an evaluation tool, and by researchers for their studies as these four items confer the same meaning across countries.

Broad versus narrow bandwidth measures of experienced automaticity for physical activity

Objective: Physical activity is important for health, yet most young adults are insufficiently active. Physical activity is regulated in part, by habit, typically operationalised as automaticity. Little is known about the characteristics of automaticity, or whether broad bandwidth unidimensional measures of automaticity for physical activity are superior to narrower bandwidth multi- dimensional measures. Design: This secondary analysis (N = 238) investigated the nature of automaticity, and relations between the dimensions of automaticity, global automaticity, and physical activity.Main Outcome Measures: The structure of the Generic Multifaceted Automaticity Scale (GMAS) was examined by confirmatory factor analyses. Structural equation models were estimated to evaluate relations between automaticity (measured on the GMAS and the Self- Report Behavioral Automaticity Index, SRBAI) and device- measured activity.Results: The hypothesised 3- factor structure of the GMAS was rejected, in favour of a 2- factor solution. Lack of intention/control and efficiency were associated with global automaticity, but not physical activity. Global automaticity was associated with moderate to vigorous physical activity and daily steps, but not light physical activity.Conclusion: Multi- dimensional measures of automaticity may not provide a more nuanced understanding of automaticity when predicting overall physical activity.

Driving self-regulation and risky driving outcomes

Self-regulation has been associated with risky driving outcomes in the past but there are no available measures to assess driving-specific self-regulatory capacity. The present study assessed the association of a newly developed driving self-regulation measure with driving violations, errors, and lapses. Overall, 330 UK drivers completed measures of risky driving outcomes, driving anger, trait impulsivity, sensation seeking, normlessness, domain-general trait self-regulation plus a new unidimensional measure of Driving Self-Regulation Questionnaire (DSRQ-16). Bivariate correlation analysis indicated that the DSRQ-16 showed expected associations with both driving-related outcomes and factors, as well as with impulsivity traits and general self-regulation. Bootstrapped hierarchical linear regression models showed that the DSRQ-16 was significantly associated with driving violations, errors, and lapses after controlling for the effects of other relevant predictors. This is the first study to demonstrate the association of driving-specific self-regulation with risky driving behaviour, driving anger, impulsivity and related personality traits. Driving-specific self-regulation may present a novel target for road safety interventions, as well as a theoretically relevant component of models of risky driving behaviour.

Rasch analysis of the 32-item motor function measure in ambulant patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Objective This study analyzed the 32-item Motor Function Measure in a cohort of ambulatory patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy using Rasch measurement methods. Design This is a psychometric study. Setting Rehabilitation centre of a large public children's hospital in Shenzhen, China. Participants Data from 176 genetically confirmed ambulant patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (mean age 7.3 years, SD 2.3 years, range 3.1–13.1 years) were analyzed. Results Rasch analyses supported the Motor Function Measure domain D1 as a reliable (person reliability = 0.88, person separation index = 2.71) and valid (acceptable targeting, little misfit, minimal category disordering) measure in ambulant patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Remodelling the domain D1 by collapsing item 25 from 4 to 3 response categories addressed the problematic disordered thresholds, resulting in a rebuilt domain D1 with enhanced measurement properties. However, findings for domains D2 and D3 did not fulfil most Rasch model expectations. There were disordered thresholds for most items in domains D2 and D3, with low reliability coefficients, item mistargeting and misfit, and large ceiling effects. Conclusion Rasch analyses confirmed that the Motor Function Measure domain D1 was reliable and valid and provided a unidimensional measure for motor function in ambulant Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients. Accuracy of measurement had been enhanced through remodelling, and a rebuilt domain D1 with category collapsing for item 25 was proposed. The analysis revealed multiple limitations of the domains D2 and D3 that certain essential psychometrics were poorly met and, therefore, should be used with caution in this patient group.

Long-Term Recovery from Intimate Partner Violence: Recovery and Hope.

Recovery is a preferred outcome for assessing intervention effectiveness in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV), but measurement tools are in nascent form. It is therefore unclear what the recovery potential of survivors may be. A national online survey explored the self-rated recovery progress of Australian women (n = 1116), using visual analog scales (VAS) for recovery, hope, and other demographic variables. Findings show that many women rated themselves as completely recovered (14% of the eligible sample and 22% of the women who had left their partner > 10 years previously). However, most women experienced recovery as an ongoing process of healing (81%) and some women made little recovery progress (5%). Nevertheless, 77% of women who had separated >10 years ago rated their recovery as significant (scores of >70/100). Surprisingly, hope and recovery scores were only moderately correlated. This requires further investigation to determine what impacts on hope in long-term recovery, and how subjective and objective measures of hope and recovery vary in the context of IPV. The VAS was an efficient unidimensional measure for an online survey and is proposed for use in clinical and service contexts requiring subjective measures.

Contemplative Practices Behavior Is Positively Associated with Well-Being in Three Global Multi-Regional Stanford WELL for Life Cohorts.

Positive associations between well-being and a single contemplative practice (e.g., mindfulness meditation) are well documented, yet prior work may have underestimated the strength of the association by omitting consideration of multiple and/or alternative contemplative practices. Moreover, little is known about how contemplative practice behavior (CPB) impacts different dimensions of well-being. This study investigates the relationship of CPB, consisting of four discrete practices (embodied somatic-observing, non-reactive mindfulness, self-compassion, and compassion for others), with multiple dimensions of well-being. As with other canonical lifestyle behaviors, multiple contemplative practices can be integrated into one’s daily routine. Thus, it is critical to holistically consider these behaviors, extending them beyond a simple uni-dimensional measure (e.g., daily mindfulness meditation practice). We developed an integrative measure of four types of contemplative practice and found it to be significantly associated with a multi-dimensional measure of well-being. Importantly, our findings were from three large global multi-regional cohorts and compared against better-understood lifestyle behaviors (physical activity). Data were drawn from California/San Francisco Bay Area, (n = 6442), Hangzhou City (n = 10,268), and New Taipei City (n = 3033). In all three cohorts, we found statistically significant (p < 0.05) positive associations between CPB and well-being, both overall and with all of the constituent domains of well-being, comparable to or stronger than the relationship with physical activity across most well-being outcomes. These findings provide robust and cross-cultural evidence for a positive association between CPB and well-being, illuminate dimensions of well-being that could be most influenced by CPB, and suggest CPB may be useful to include as part of fundamental lifestyle recommendations for health and well-being.

Control Issues: Examining the Relationship between Low Self-Control and Intimate Partner Violence for both Perpetrators and Victims

Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) low self-control theory is linked to individual-level non-violent and violent criminal offending. In this study, we examine secondary-data collected from a transnational sample of survey respondents (n = 17404) to test a predictive model of low self-control on outcomes related to intimate partner violence for both perpetrators and victims. We control for several variables related to socio-demographic characteristics, substance use history, and deviance history when we test our model using logistic regression analysis. The results from our analysis indicates that a unidimensional measure of low self-control is a consistent and statistically significant predictor of outcomes related to intimate partner violence, even when control variables are entered into the model. These findings have strong policy implications for identifying risk-factors and interventions associated with intimate partner violence.

The Development and Validation of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-8: Providing Respondents with a Uniform Context That Elicits Thinking About Situations Requiring Emotion Regulation

Emotion regulation difficulties are associated with a range of psychological disorders. A widely used measure of emotion regulation is the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-36). There are also three shortened DERS versions. Consistent with current efforts to build very brief versions of measures, the aim of this research is to develop a briefer DERS and evaluate its construct validity. Study 1 uses IRT methods coupled with content considerations to develop a briefer unidimensional DERS. Previous attempts to shorten the DERS have not considered how frame of reference may influence responses to items. The new DERS-8 includes only items prefaced with the phrase “When I’m upset,” to provide respondents with a uniform context that elicits thinking about situations requiring regulation of negative emotion; answers to items are more likely to represent affect, thought, and actions in response to such situations. Study 2 showed that the DERS-8 performed well in an IRT analysis among adolescents with psychiatric disorders and showed similar group differences, sensitivity to change, and correlations with other variables compared to existing DERS versions, in both healthy adult and clinical adolescent samples. The DERS-8 offers a very brief unidimensional measure of difficulties in emotion regulation for adolescents and adults.

The Primacy of Nurturance and Dominance/Assertiveness: Unidimensional Measures of the Big Two Mask Gender Differences in Subdimensions

Agency and Communion, the Big Two of social perception, appear to have unique subdimensions, but they have differed across studies and not all may be relevant for understanding gender stereotypes. Across two sets of studies (Total <em>N</em> = 1,648), we examined self- and group gender stereotypes using Abele and colleagues’ (2021) conceptualization of agency as a vertical dimension that conveys information about social status and communion as a horizontal dimension that conveys information about approaching groups and individuals. Group stereotype analyses suggested that the vertical dimension comprised assertiveness/dominance and ability subdimensions, whereas the horizontal dimension was unidimensional. In contrast, self-stereotype analyses suggested that the vertical dimension comprised assertiveness/dominance and independence subdimensions and the horizontal dimension comprised a single nurturance subdimension—a unique morality subdimension did not emerge. As expected, women were perceived and rated themselves as higher on the horizontal dimension (group stereotypes), more nurturing (self-stereotypes), and less assertive/dominant (both group and self-stereotypes) than men. Gender differences in nurturance and assertiveness/dominance were stronger, as expected, among individuals whose gender was salient. We discuss implications for examining gender stereotypes and the potential consequences of misspecifying the Big Two as unidimensional.

Intersecting identities and adolescent depression: Patterns of depressed mood and anhedonia in the past decade

BackgroundResearch suggests adolescent depression is increasing and certain adolescents may be uniquely vulnerable. However, limited conceptualizations of identity and time, as well as the reliance on unitary conceptualizations of depression, inhibits a nuanced perspective on these trends. In response, we examined how adolescent depressive symptoms, depressed mood, and anhedonia, vary across intersecting identities over time. MethodsSecondary data analysis on the National Survey on Drug Use and Health between 2009 and 2017 was conducted. In total 145,499 nationally representative adolescents (ages 12–17) completed a diagnostic assessment for depression. Lifetime and past year reports of depressive symptoms, depressed mood, and anhedonia were treated as separate variables. A novel, mixed-level model in which participants were nested within identity (defined by one's age, gender, race/ethnicity, poverty level) and time was used to test our aims. ResultsOverall, the relation between depression outcomes and identity did not vary over time (p > .01). Further, identity's impact on depression was approximately ten-fold that of temporal effects. Multiracial, late adolescent, female adolescents were at particular risk. Findings concerning depressed mood and anhedonia were similar across analyses. LimitationsAll facets of identity (e.g., sexual identity) were not included in the model and a unidimensional measure of poverty may have underestimated its depressogenic influence. ConclusionAdolescent depression outcomes are mostly consistent across criterial symptom subtypes and time, but vary as a function of identity. Prevention protocols that highlight mechanisms of risk tethered to social identity, and include salient experiences of females, late adolescents, and multiracial youth in particular, need to be prioritized in mental health initiatives.

Three Algorithms for Grouping Students: A Bridge Between Personalized Tutoring System Data and Classroom Pedagogy

Computer-assisted instructional programs such as intelligent tutoring systems are often used to support blended learning practices in K-12 education, as they aim to meet individual student needs with personalized instruction. While these systems have been shown to be effective under certain conditions, they can be difficult to integrate into pedagogical practices. In this paper, we introduce three group formation algorithms that leverage learning data from the adaptive intelligent tutoring system ALEKS to support pedagogical and collaborative learning practices with ALEKS. Each grouping method was devised for different use cases, but they all utilize a fine-grained multidimensional view of student ability measured across several hundred skills in an academic course. As such, the grouping algorithms not only identify groups of students, but they also determine what areas of ALEKS content each group should focus on. We then evaluate each of the three methods against two alternative baseline methods, which were chosen for their plausibility of being used in practice—one that groups students randomly and one that groups students based on a unidimensional course score. To evaluate these methods, we establish a set of practical metrics based on what we anticipate teachers would care about in practice. Evaluations were performed by simulating mock groupings of students at different time periods for real ALEKS algebra classes that occurred between 2017 and 2019. We show that each devised method obtains more favorable results on the specified metrics than the alternative methods under each use-case. Moreover, we highlight examples where our methods lead to more nuanced groupings than grouping based on a unidimensional measure of ability.

Measurement of Risk Factors Associated With bereavement Severity and Deterioration by COVID-19: A Spanish Validation Study of the Pandemic Grief Risk Factors.

The present study translated and evaluated the psychometric evidence of the Pandemic Grief Risk Factors (PGRF) in a sample of 363 people from the general population of Peru who suffered the death of a loved one by COVID-19 (63-4% women and 36.6% men, where 78.5% were between 18 and 29years old). The findings indicated that the PGRF is a unidimensional and reliable measure. The PGRF items can differentiate between individuals with different levels of risk factors and thus cover a wide range of the latent construct. Also, a greater sense of distress for each of the risk factors for pandemic grief is necessary to answer the higher response categories. Risk factors significantly and positively predict COVID-19-associated dysfunctional grief. The results indicated that the PGRF in Spanish is a measure with adequate psychometric properties to measure risk factors for pandemic grief.

Obsessive compulsive symptom dimensions are linked to altered white-matter microstructure in a community sample of youth

Obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) are common in school-aged children and predict the development of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). White-matter abnormalities have been described in OCD, but the white matter correlates of OCS in the developing brain are unclear. Some correlates of OCS (or a diagnosis of OCD) may reflect correlates of a transdiagnostic or even general psychopathology factor. We examined these questions in a large sample of typically developing youth (N = 1208), using a hierarchical analysis of fixel-based white matter measures in relation to OCS and general psychopathology. General psychopathology was associated with abnormalities in the posterior corpus callosum and forceps major in an age-dependent manner, suggesting altered maturation (specifically, hypermaturation in younger subjects). A unidimensional measure of OCS did not associate with any white-matter abnormalities, but analysis of separate OCS dimensions (derived from factor analysis within this sample) revealed the ‘Bad Thoughts’ dimension to associate with white-matter abnormalities in dorsal parietal white-matter and descending corticospinal tracts, and the ‘Symmetry’ dimension to associate with abnormalities in the anterior corpus callosum. Repetition/checking and Symmetry OCS were additionally associated with posterior abnormalities overlapping with the correlates of general psychopathology. Contamination symptoms had no white-matter correlates. Secondary analysis of fractional anisotropy (FA) revealed distinct white-matter abnormalities, suggesting that fixel-based and FA analyses identify distinct features of white matter relevant to psychopathology. These findings suggest that OCS dimensions correlate with dissociable abnormalities in white matter, implicating separable networks. Future studies should examine these white-matter signatures in a longitudinal framework.

Unravelling the Linkage between Food Security, Poverty Reduction, and Education for Sustainable Development

All members of the United Nations have pledged to achieve no poverty and zero hunger within the sustainable development goals (SDG) agenda by 2030. This study looks at the SDG objectives and linkages between poverty, food insecurity, and education. We constructed a composite food security index to capture the multidimensional concept of food security. The link between poverty and food security is then examined using the new food security index and the robustness of the link is compared with the conventional unidimensional food security measure. Using a recursive, simultaneous-equations model and data from a nationally representative household survey in Cameroon, we find a strong link at the national and in both urban and rural regions. The results show the important driver role of education, better education not only contributes to poverty reduction but also enhances food security. The absolute marginal effects of tertiary education are clearly stronger in rural areas. Compared to access to credit, the benefits of education are much more substantial. These findings are in favour of an integrated and targeted approach to address food security and emphasise the driver role of education in enabling sustainable development.

What is wellbeing for rural South African women? Textual analysis of focus group discussion transcripts and implications for programme design and evaluation

Policy makers’ ultimate goal is to deliver the highest possible level of population welfare. Economists investigate the effect of socio-economic dimensions on wellbeing using unidimensional measures of life satisfaction or happiness as proxies for welfare. However, social psychologists have shown that wellbeing is a much broader construct and that an intervention may have opposite effects on its components. Unidimensional measures may hide these patterns. Most literature focuses on high-income countries. The growing evidence from low- and middle-income countries also largely relies on standard unidimensional measures. This study tests the validity of this reliance by exploring the wellbeing construct of South African women, quantitatively analysing textual data from focus group discussions to investigate whether unidimensional measures are appropriate in this context. It provides evidence against the indiscriminate use of unidimensional wellbeing measures. Cluster and correspondence analysis of the transcripts show that relevant domains of women’s wellbeing include relations with others, autonomy, and a perception of control over their environment (environmental mastery). Results also reveal that participants have a relational view of themselves, distinct from the individuated view predominant in the US and Europe and the collectivist view found in East Asia. Such relational self-perception modifies study participants’ wellbeing construct in ways that are important for policy implementation and evaluation. For example, women’s autonomy and environmental mastery rely on shared peer-identity to redefine rules and meet challenges. Wellbeing measures for policy evaluation would benefit from incorporating these insights to meaningfully measure progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 3 on ‘good health and wellbeing’ in South Africa and other contexts that exhibit similar concepts of wellbeing.

Nature of financial constraints and R&D intensity

• Firms tend to increase R&D intensity despite facing equity-focused constraints. • Firms facing debt-focused constraints reduce R&D intensity. • Unidimensional accounting-based measures of financial constraints fail to capture the true constraints. • The nature of a firm's financial constraints may influence its strategic investment decisions.

Content Validation of a Situational Judgment Test of Manager’s Integrity: A Qualitative Approach

Leader’s integrity appears to be a significant predictor of their effectiveness (Moorman et al., 2012), however, little empirical evidence has been found to address this relationship. It may be due, partly, to unavailability of sound assessment tools in this area. Current research describes development and content validation of a situational judgement test to assess manager’s integrity that will have potential benefits over existing unidimensional and Likert-type perceptual measures (Becker, 2005; Craig &amp; Gustafson, 1998; Mills &amp; Boardley, 2017). Ten managers and 7 subordinates from multinational organizations were interviewd for generating context specific siatuations and associated responses. Initially, 31 situations and associated 6-7 responses were extracted from interviews. Two independent rounds of subject matter experts (SMEs) reviews resulted in 22 situations and 3-5 associated responses. Finally, 16 situations and 3-5 associated responses were retained after calculating item content validity index (I-CVI) and scale validity index (S-CVI). The resulting test, labeled the manager’s integrity-SJT, displayed high content validity. Thus, present study advances research in the field of leadership by developing a situational judgements test for assessing manager’s integrity towards their subordinates that is pertinent predictor of leadership effectiveness (Moorman, et al., 2012).

Construction and Validation of Social Anxiety Disorder Exposure and Evaluation Scale – SADEE

In the cases of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), treatment dropout is a frequent problem, which demands the development of instruments that enable treatment compliance. The present paper deals with the construction and validation of the Social Anxiety Disorder Exposure and Evaluation Scale (SADEE). The number of participants in the study was N = 407 responders of both genders. The process of content validity first led to the modification of problematic items. The construct validity was investigated by both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, with the objective of estimating a unidimensional measure. The final adjustment obtained was that CFI = .99; TLI = .98; RMSEA = .04; SRMR = .07; χ2 /gl = 1.70. SADEE presented high correlation with the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and high reliability. The conclusion was that SADEE showed satisfactory evidence of construct and concurrent validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability.

Current and Future Financial Well-Being in 16 Countries

Financial well-being—the evaluation of current personal finances and expectations for the financial future—has gained attention in research, practice, and policy. Yet, there is no consensus on its conceptualization or its operationalization. The authors contribute to this area of research by proposing a conceptual framework and reassessing a measure used in data on subjective financial well-being from 16 countries. The findings highlight methodological concerns in international marketing studies and show not only financial well-being but also its measures to be context dependent. Furthermore, although many studies use unidimensional financial well-being measures, some conceptualizations have at least two components: a current and a future element. The authors analyze the effects of individual and contextual factors on current and future financial well-being and explore their possible interaction. They observe income to be a significant predictor of both components of financial well-being, while institutional settings are correlated with current financial well-being and national culture with future financial well-being. They conclude that initiatives aimed at increasing financial well-being need to clearly target either its current or its future component as their antecedents differ.