Validation and psychometric analysis of the Internet Addiction Test in Spanish among college students

BACKGROUND: The wide use of the Internet in the workplace, academic or social field, can have an impact on daily life. One of the most used questionnaires worldwide to analyse these problems is the Internet Addiction Test (IAT). Our aim was to validate a Spanish version of the IAT and analyse its psychometric properties. METHODS: Population of study were college students participating in the uniHcos project (Universities of Granada, Huelva, Jaén, León, Salamanca, and Vigo). The questionnaire was translated and back-translated by two native English speakers. Reliability of scores was analysed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and agreement was analysed using the Bland-Altman and Kappa techniques. Test dimensions were analysed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. RESULTS: The reliability of scores was good (r = 0.899, Kappa = 0.650 and mean difference using Bland-Altman = -3.5). The psychometric assessment identified two factors (Emotional Investment; Performance and Time Management) which explained 55 % of the variance (total internal consistency of 0.91) and only 19 items. The confirmatory analysis showed an acceptable goodness of fit, especially when items 6 and 8 were related (RMSEA = 0.07 90%IC = 0.06 - 0.08; WRMR = 1.01, CFI = 0.96; TLI = 0.95). The two dimensions were negatively correlated with age and positively correlated with time spent online, especially for the purposes of leisure and entertainment. DISCUSSION: The results show good reliability and psychometric properties of the Spanish version of IAT with a two-dimensional solution. This result is partially in concordance with previous validations of the IAT in other languages that have found uni- and multi-dimensional solutions using different methodologies. Moreover, we want to highlight the possibility that some item of this questionnaire is outdated due to the technological and lifestyles changes and should be not taken into account. CONCLUSION: The reliability and psychometric properties obtained in this study support the conclusion that this Spanish short version of the IAT represents a useful tool for the analysis of problems arising from misuse of the Internet

Factors associated with multiple readmission to an acute psychiatric hospital

Background:?Previous studies have attempted to identify various demographic and associated factors which place psychiatric service users at risk of re-admission to a psychiatric hospital following discharge. Aims:?To conduct a 2-year follow-up of a group of patients who had been admitted to a psychiatric ward and to investigate possible variables that could determine readmission to hospital. Method:?A cross sectional and a two year longitudinal design were used. Results:?“Revolving-door” service users were more likely to be taking medication, were younger at age of first contact with services, and had been using services for longer. They were also more likely to be living in council housing, which is, housing provided by and subsidised by local government, and have a diagnosis of affective disorder. There were no differences between the previous cohort and the current sample in terms of demographics, and history of contact with services. A larger proportion of service users met the “revolving-door” criteria during the present study as compared to our previous study. There were some differences between the current and previous study in terms of accommodation at discharge, diagnosis, and social living status. Conclusions:?Several variables were shown to predict membership in the “revolving-door” group and findings replicate Langdon et al. (2001), although there were differences. “Revolving-door” patients may have more enduring and chronic mental illnesses, but were similar to their “non-revolving door” counterparts on some variables. Research of this nature is difficult given the cross-sectional nature of studies, and a lack of a clear consensus within the literature as to which factors are associated with “revolving-door” service users remains

Well-being in mothers of children with congenital heart defects: a 3-year follow-up

PURPOSE: This prospective case-cohort study compared subjective well-being (SWB) among mothers whose children had various degrees of congenital heart defects (CHD) with mothers of children without CHD (controls). METHODS: Nationwide CHD registry data were linked to data collected from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study at gestational week 30, 6 months, and 36 months postpartum. A total of 175 mothers of children with mild, moderate, and severe CHD were identified in a cohort of 44,144 mothers. The SWB index was operationalized by means of three subscales: a cognitive aspect, positive affect, and negative affect. RESULTS: Mothers of children with severe CHD reported significantly lower SWB than the controls at 6 months postpartum (p = .003), with further decrease in SWB at 36 months postpartum (p = .001). SWB levels in the mild and moderate CHD group did not deviate significantly from controls. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest a pattern in which all stressors concerning the severely ill child lead to significant deterioration of maternal well-being. Having a child with mild or moderate CHD, which is a less severe and shorter-term stressor, did not reduce mothers' well-being