Objective To develop a behavioral assessment scale for medication management plans in women of childbearing age with epilepsy and to test its reliability and validity. Methods Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, a pool of questionnaire items was initially drafted through literature review and focus group discussions. A two-round Delphi expert consultation was conducted with 15 experts to form a test version of the behavioral assessment scale for medication management plans in women of childbearing age with epilepsy (including 27 items and 5 dimensions). Convenience sampling was used to conduct surveys among women of childbearing age with epilepsy in some tertiary hospitals in Chuxiong, Shenzhen and Wuhan from February to May 2024 (the first time) and from June to October 2024 (the second time). ResultsThe effective recovery rates of the two rounds of questionnaires were 95.5% and 94.6%, respectively. The final scale included 24 items and 5 dimensions, with good reliability and validity: the content validity index (S-CVI) was 0.934, Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.876, split-half reliability was 0.819, and test-retest reliability was 0.901; exploratory factor analysis extracted 5 factors (cumulative variance explained rate 73.97%, item load 0.42~0.85), and confirmatory factor analysis showed that the model had good fit (χ2/df=1.849, RMSEA=0.075, CFI, GFI, AGFI, IFI, TLI all>0.85). Conclusion The scale meets the reliability and validity standards and can be used to assess the medication management plans and behaviors of women of childbearing age with epilepsy.
ObjectiveTo explore the validity period of oral sterilizing instruments in different packages inside the bio-safety cabinet. MethodsInside the bio-safety cabinet, we brought the autoclaved dental gadgets packed in glassware and paper-plastic into microbial sampling cultivation experiment, and made observation of the bacteria growth at the 4th, 8th, 24th hour after sterilizing, with the sampling of once per 24 hours, lasting 10 days. Samples taken from the gadgets in paper-plastic each time when samples were taken from the gadgets in glassware were as the control. ResultsUnder the condition that the bio-safety cabinet was not contaminated, no colony grew in neither group in 144 hours; 168 hours later, the cultivation results indicated that colonies started to grow（P<0.05）. ConclusionUnder the condition that the bio-safety cabinet is pollution-free, the validity period of gadgets in glassware packaging for dental clinic practices is far longer than the 4-hour limit after the sterilized packages are opened, as is stipulated in the "Operating Specifications for Sterilization Technology on Dental Instruments of Medical Institutions".
Objective To evaluate the reliability and validity of IBS-QOL scale in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients. Methods IBS-QOL scale was applied to survey the quality of life of 123 IBS patients. The split-half and internal consistency method were used to evaluate the reliability, and with the construct method to evaluate the validity. Results The split-half reliability was 0.86. Cronbach’s α-coefficient of all domains was between 0.71 and 0.89 except body image and food avoidance; In the correlation analysis, the correlations between items and its subscale structure were above 0.60 (except interference with activity), but there were no correlations between items and other subscale structure. Eight components from factorial analysis were in accordance with theoretical structure.The cumulative contribution rate was 72.7%. Conclusions The reliability and validity of IBS-QOL scale are acceptable. It might be useful for us to assess the QOL of IBS patients in China.
Objective We aimed to develop a self-management assessment scale for children with epilepsy and test its reliability and validity. Methods A research group was established, and the items were revised through literature review, group discussion and pre-investigation, and 280 patients with epilepsy in children were included, and the reliability and validity of the scale were tested. Results 28 items in 4 dimensions were developed to form the scale, namely, knowledge and belief of diseases and medication, compliance of medication and treatment, self-efficacy of medication and obstacles of medication. Confirmatory factor analysis extracted four common factors with characteristic roots greater than 1, and the cumulative variance explanation rate was 65.639%. The factor load of all items is > 0.5. The overall Cronbach’s alpha is 0.880, and the coefficients in seven measurement dimensions are all greater than 0.8. Conclusion The self-management assessment scale for children’s epilepsy drugs has good reliability and validity, and can provide a measuring tool for the drug management of children’s epilepsy diseases.
Evidence synthesis is the process of systematically gathering, analyzing, and integrating available research evidence. The quality of evidence synthesis depends on the quality of the original studies included. Validity assessment, also known as risk of bias assessment, is an essential method for assessing the quality of these original studies. Currently, there are numerous validity assessment tools available, but some of them lack a rigorous development process and evaluation. The application of inappropriate validity assessment tools to assessing the quality of the original studies during the evidence synthesis process may compromise the accuracy of study conclusions and mislead the clinical practice. To address this dilemma, the LATITUDES Network, a one-stop resource website for validity assessment tools, was established in September 2023, led by academics at the University of Bristol, U.K. This Network is dedicated to collecting, sorting and promoting validity assessment tools to improve the accuracy of original study validity assessments and increase the robustness and reliability of the results of evidence synthesis. This study introduces the background of the establishment of the LATITUDES Network, the included validity assessment tools, and the training resources for the use of validity assessment tools, in order to provide a reference for domestic scholars to learn more about the LATITUDES Network, to better use the appropriate validity assessment tools to conduct study quality assessments, and to provide references for the development of validity assessment tools.
ObjectiveTo develop a survey questionnaire on preferences and values regarding perineal injury prevention measures during pregnancy and conduct reliability and validity tests. MethodsCombining literature reviews, qualitative interviews, and expert consultations, we summarized key elements of perineal injury prevention during pregnancy and synthesized the best evidence. Through multiple discussions within the core working group, a survey questionnaire on preferences and values regarding perineal injury prevention measures during pregnancy was formulated. Using convenience sampling, pregnant women were recruited, and a pre-survey was conducted using the questionnaire. Pre-survey results were analyzed using item analysis and reliability and validity testing methods to validate and refine the questionnaire. ResultsThe questionnaire was compiled based on the theory of evidence-based decision-making. The initial version of the questionnaire was developed by combining systematic evaluation, network meta-analysis, and semi-structured interviews. The questionnaire was modified and improved through expert consultation, group discussion, and pre-investigation, which ensured that the questionnaire had good reliability, validity, and practicability. The Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.87, the split-half reliability was 0.71, and the content validity index was 0.97 of the survey questionnaire. ConclusionThe present version of the perineal injury preventive measures preference and values questionnaire has good reliability, validity, and practicability. It can serve as a valuable tool for investigating preferences and values related to perineal injury prevention during pregnancy.
ObjectiveTo translate the King’s Brief Interstitial Lung Disease (K-BILD) to Chinese, so as to provide an well reliability and validity assessment instrument for health status of patients with interstitial lung disease.MethodsBrislin’s transition model, six expert’s panel and pre-survey were used for initial Chinese version of K-BILD. Items analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability were used for validity and reliability test with 122 respondents.ResultsTen-item Chinese version of K-BILD were proved to have great psychometric qualities, two factors were extracted by EFA, which could explain 63.35% of the total variance. Furthermore, the CFA demonstrates the fit indices of two-factors mode: χ2/df=0.797, RMSEA=0.000, NFI=0.848, IFI=1.048, CFI=1.000, TLI=1.071. Cronbach’s α and Guttman Split-half were 0.893 and 0.861, respectively. Besides, the test-retest reliability of the scale was 0.805.ConclusionThe Chinese version of K-BILD scale has good validity and reliability, which is applicable for health status assessment in patient with interstitial lung disease.
ObjectiveTo compare the performance of 36-item short form health survey (SF-36) and World Health Organization quality of life-bref (WHOQOL-Bref) in assessing quality of life (QOL) in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). MethodsThe WHOQOL-Bref questionnaire and the SF-36 questionnaire were administered to patients with tuberculosis undergoing treatment from July to September 2013. The statistical methods of reliability analysis, factor analysis and the Pearson correlation coefficient analysis were used. ResultsIt showed that the WHOQOL-Bref and the SF-36 both had good reliability (Cronbach α=0.863 and 0.920, respectively). Constructive validity of the two instruments were checked by factor analysis and the Pearson correlation coefficient analysis, which indicated that both the two instruments had good validity. Among scales measuring similar concepts, many subscales of the SF-36 and the four domains of the WHOQOL-Bref unexpectedly had a fair correlation with one another. For example, the physical QOL, psychological QOL, and social relation QOL domains of the WHOQOL-Bref and physical functioning, mental health, and social functioning of the SF-36 were 0.482, 0.745, and 0.572, respectively. ConclusionThe WHOQOL-Bref and the SF-36 have an approximately equivalent practicability in assessing the quality of life in patients with TB.
Objective To investigate the validity of estimating American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grade with a bowel-routine based self-administered questionnaire for assessment of sacral sparing after spinal cord injury (SCI).Methods The 5-item SCI sacral sparing self-report questionnaire was administrated to SCI inpatients from August 2014 to July 2016, followed by an standardized digital rectal examination. Question 1 (perceiving the tissue), Question 2 (identifying the water temperature as warm or cold), Question 3 (perceiving the inserted finger), and Question 4 (perceiving the inserted enema tube) tested the sensory sacral sparing, and Question 5 (holding the enema for more than 1 min) evaluated the voluntary anal sphincter contraction. Based on the answers from each participant, the sensory and motor sacral sparing was implied, and an estimated AIS grade (AIS A, AIS B, or AIS C/D) was recorded. Agreement of the estimated AIS grade and the actual AIS grade according to the physical examination was analyzed. Sensitivity, specificity, and Youden’s index of the questionnaire for estimating completeness of injury were calculated.ResultsA total of 102 SCI patients were enrolled. The general agreement of estimated and actual AIS grades was good (κ=0.681, P<0.001). For the estimation of a complete injury, both the sensitivity (87.10%) and the specificity (100.00%) of this questionnaire were high, with a Youden’s index of 0.87. For the estimation of a motor complete injury, the sensitivity increased (92.00%) while the specificity decreased slightly (75.00%), with a Youden’s index of 0.67.ConclusionsThe validity of this self-report questionnaire for estimation of AIS grade is good. In some situations, it could be considered as an alternative tool for the estimation of sacral sparing as well as the AIS grades within SCI individuals, especially when repeated anorectal examinations are not feasible.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the reliability and validity of Guideline Implementation Success Assessment Tool (A-GIST). MethodsWith the guideline for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus in China (2020 edition) as the target guideline, health care providers and patients from different hospitals across the country were investigated by questionnaire using A-GIST. Spearman-Brown coefficient and Cronbach's α coefficient were used to evaluate the split-half reliability and internal consistency reliability, while the structural validity, convergent validity and discriminant validity were investigated by confirmatory factor analysis based on structural equation. ResultsThe internal consistency reliability and split half reliability coefficients of the whole tool and each dimension ranged from 0.650 to 0.986. The scale-level content validity index (S-CVI/Ave) of content validity was 0.846. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that, the χ2/df of two sections of the tool were 8.695 and 6.123, respectively. The root mean square residual (RMR), the standard root mean square residual (SRMR) and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) were under or almost under the threshold. Besides, the goodness-of-fit index (GFI) of them were 0.901 and 0.822, the adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI) were 0.836 and 0.787, and the parsimonious normed fit index (PNFI) were 0.545 and 0.788, respectively. ConclusionGuideline Implementation Success Assessment Tool (A-GIST) was proved to be valid and reliable, and it shows that it is necessary to optimize the items under the dimensions of maintenance and evaluation of diagnosis and treatment effect in the future.