Everyday technologies and public space participation among people with and without dementia

BACKGROUND: Occupational therapists support everyday technology use; however, it is necessary to consider the challenges that people with dementia encounter with everyday technologies when participating in various places within public space. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to explore stability and change in participation in places visited within public space in relation to the relevance of everyday technologies used within public space. METHOD: People with dementia (n = 35) and people with no known cognitive impairment (n = 34) were interviewed using the Participation in Activities and Places Outside Home Questionnaire and the Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire. Data analysis used modern and classical test theory. FINDINGS: Both samples participated in places within public space; however, participation and relevance of everyday technologies were significantly lower for the dementia group. IMPLICATIONS: To enable participation, occupational therapists need to be aware of challenges that technologies and places within public space present to people with dementia.Swedish Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare (FORTE)H2020 Marie Skodowska Curie Actions-Innovative Training Networks, H2020-MSCA-ITN-2015 (676265)Accepte

Measuring Quality of Care: A Rasch Validity Analysis of the Good Nursing Care Scale

BACKGROUND: Patient-centeredness is emphasized in both health policies and practice, calling for reliable instruments for the evaluation of the quality of nursing care.PURPOSE: The purpose was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Good Nursing Care Scale (GNCS) in a sample of surgical patients and nurses.METHODS: An explorative cross-sectional study design was used. Data were collected with the 40-item GNCS from surgical patients (n = 476) and nurses (n = 167) in Finland. The data were analyzed with Rasch analysis.RESULTS: The GNCS provided evidence of unidimensionality with acceptable goodness-of-fit to the Rasch model in both samples. Person-separation validity was acceptable. Person misfit was reasonable. The Rasch-equivalent Cronbach α was 0.81 (patient data) and 0.88 (nurse data).CONCLUSIONS: The findings support that the GNCS is a psychometrically sound instrument that can be used in measuring the quality of nursing care, from the perspective of both patients and nurses.</div

Psychometric limitations of the center for epidemiologic studies-depression scale for assessing depressive symptoms among adults with HIV/AIDS : a Rasch analysis

The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale is a widely used measure of depressive symptoms, but its psychometric properties have not been adequately evaluated among adults with HIV/AIDS. This study used an item response theory approach (Rasch analysis) to evaluate the CES-D's validity and reliability in relation to key demographic and clinical variables in adults with HIV/AIDS. A convenience sample of 347 adults with HIV/AIDS (231 males, 93 females, and 23 transgenders; age range 22-77 years) completed the CES-D. A Rasch model application was used to analyze the CES-D's rating scale functioning, internal scale validity, person-response validity, person-separation validity, internal consistency, differential item functioning (DIF), and differential test functioning. CES-D scores were generally high and associated with several demographic and clinical variables. The CES-D distinguished 3 distinct levels of depression and had acceptable internal consistency but lacked unidimensionality, five items demonstrated poor fit to the model, 15% of the respondents demonstrated poor fit, and eight items demonstrated DIF related to gender, race, or AIDS diagnosis. Removal of misfitting items resulted in minimal improvement in the CES-D's substantive and structural validity. CES-D scores should be interpreted with caution in adults with HIV/AIDS, particularly when comparing scores across gender and racial groups

A 7-item version of the fatigue severity scale has better psychometric properties among HIV-infected adults : an application of a Rasch model

Erworben im Rahmen der Schweizer Nationallizenzen (http://www.nationallizenzen.ch)Purpose: To examine the psychometric properties of the 9-item Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) using a Rasch model application. Methods: A convenience sample of HIV-infected adults was recruited, and a subset of the sample was assessed at 6-month intervals for 2 years. Socio-demographic, clinical, and symptom data were collected by self-report questionnaires. CD4 T-cell count and viral load measures were obtained from medical records. The Rasch analysis included 316 participants with 698 valid questionnaires. Results: FSS item 2 did not advanced monotonically, and items 1 and 2 did not show acceptable goodness-of-fit to the Rasch model. A reduced FSS 7-item version demonstrated acceptable goodness-of-fit and explained 61.2% of the total variance in the scale. In the FSS-7 item version, no uniform Differential Item Functioning was found in relation to time of evaluation or to any of the socio-demographic or clinical variables. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the FSS-7 has better psychometric properties than the FSS-9 in this HIV sample and that responses to the different items are comparable over time and unrelated to socio-demographic and clinical variables

Psychometric properties of the Worker Role Interview (version 10.0) in mental health

Introduction: Occupational therapists working in psychiatry are routinely required to undertake vocational assessments and to support clients into work. To make such efforts successful, the use of evidence-based practice and outcome measures is becoming increasingly important. Objectives: The objectives were to examine the psychometric properties of the Worker Role Interview (WRI, version 10.0) with a psychiatric population in the United Kingdom, particularly its construct validity as a baseline assessment and an outcome measure. Method: Data were collected from 34 psychiatric clients rated by seven occupational therapists. Rasch analysis was used to examine scale validity, validity of therapists' rating patterns of clients, rater consistency, precision of client measurement and the scale's aptitude in detecting different ability levels. Results: All items except one demonstrated acceptable goodness-of-fit to the Rasch model. Over 90% of clients fitted the model. The scale detected five ability levels, but client measures were slightly imprecise. Raters used the scale consistently and implications of rater leniency are discussed. Conclusion: The study provides evidence of construct validity, supporting the use of the WRI as a standardised baseline assessment in a mental health population. Further development of the WRI might be indicated and its usefulness as an outcome measure should be tested with larger samples. The College of Occupational Therapists Ltd.sch_occ75pub2760pub