Student perceptions of teaching quality in five countries: A partial credit model approach to assess measurement invariance

This study examines measurement invariance of student perceptions of teaching quality collected in five countries: Indonesia (n students = 6,331), the Netherlands (n students = 6,738), South Africa (n students = 3,422), South Korea (n students = 6,997) and Spain (n students = 4,676). The administered questionnaire was the My Teacher Questionnaire (MTQ). Student perceived teachers’ teaching quality was estimated using the partial credit model (PCM). Tests for differential item functioning (DIF) were used to assess measurement invariance. Furthermore, if DIF was found, it was explored whether an application of a quasi-international calibration, which estimates country-unique parameters for DIF items, can provide more valid estimates for between-country comparisons. Results indicate the absence of non-uniform DIF, but presence of uniform DIF among most items. This suggests that direct comparisons of raw mean or sum scores between countries is not advisable. Details of the set of invariant items are provided. Furthermore, results suggest that the quasi-international calibration is promising, but also that this approach needs further exploration in the context of student perceptions of teaching quality

The use of social services by community-dwelling older persons who are at risk of institutionalization: a survey

The use of community-based social services additionally to regular home help services to support older persons at risk of institutionalization was studied. Structured interviews were held with 292 persons, who specifically pointed out that they prefer to remain independently at home. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were developed to study the association between social service use and personal, health-related and wellbeing characteristics. 195 respondents indicated that they made use of at least one social service (68%). Only three services (individual care, social-cultural activities and restaurant facilities), out of nine, were used regularly. Those who lived in a sheltered environment or were supported by informal caregivers or who visited day care had a significantly higher probability of using these services. More attention should be given to the nature and accessibility of community-based social services in order to have distinctive added value in enabling older persons to age in place

Reoccurring patterns in hierarchical protein materials and music: The power of analogies

Complex hierarchical structures composed of simple nanoscale building blocks form the basis of most biological materials. Here we demonstrate how analogies between seemingly different fields enable the understanding of general principles by which functional properties in hierarchical systems emerge, similar to an analogy learning process. Specifically, natural hierarchical materials like spider silk exhibit properties comparable to classical music in terms of their hierarchical structure and function. As a comparative tool here we apply hierarchical ontology logs (olog) that follow a rigorous mathematical formulation based on category theory to provide an insightful system representation by expressing knowledge in a conceptual map. We explain the process of analogy creation, draw connections at several levels of hierarchy and identify similar patterns that govern the structure of the hierarchical systems silk and music and discuss the impact of the derived analogy for nanotechnology.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

The organisation of physiotherapy for people with multiple sclerosis across Europe: a multicentre questionnaire survey

Background Understanding the organisational set-up of physiotherapy services across different countries is increasingly important as clinicians around the world use evidence to improve their practice. This also has to be taken into consideration when multi-centre international clinical trials are conducted. This survey aimed to systematically describe organisational aspects of physiotherapy services for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) across Europe. Methods Representatives from 72 rehabilitation facilities within 23 European countries completed an online web-based questionnaire survey between 2013 and 2014. Countries were categorised according to four European regions (defined by United Nations Statistics). Similarities and differences between regions were examined. Results Most participating centres specialized in rehabilitation (82 %) and neurology (60 %), with only 38 % specialising in MS. Of these, the Western based Specialist MS centres were predominately based on outpatient services (median MS inpatient ratio 0.14), whilst the Eastern based European services were mostly inpatient in nature (median MS inpatient ratio 0.5). In almost all participating countries, medical doctors - specialists in neurology (60 %) and in rehabilitation (64 %) - were responsible for referral to/prescription of physiotherapy. The most frequent reason for referral to/prescription of physiotherapy was the worsening of symptoms (78 % of centres). Physiotherapists were the most common members of the rehabilitation team; comprising 49 % of the team in Eastern countries compared to approximately 30 % in the rest of Europe. Teamwork was commonly adopted; 86 % of centres based in Western countries utilised the interdisciplinary model, whilst the multidisciplinary model was utilised in Eastern based countries (p = 0.046). Conclusion This survey is the first to provide data about organisational aspects of physiotherapy for people with MS across Europe. Overall, care in key organisational aspects of service provision is broadly similar across regions, although some variations, for example the models of teamwork utilised, are apparent. Organisational framework specifics should be considered anytime a multi-centre study is conducted and results from such studies are applied.PubMedWoSScopu

Calibrating ADL-IADL scales to improve measurement accuracy and to extend the disability construct into the preclinical range: a systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Interest in measuring functional status among nondisabled older adults has increased in recent years. This is, in part, due to the notion that adults identified as 'high risk' for functional decline portray a state that is potentially easier to reverse than overt disability. Assessing relatively healthy older adults with traditional self-report measures (activities of daily living) has proven difficult because these instruments were initially developed for institutionalised older adults. Perhaps less evident, are problems associated with change scores and the potential for 'construct under-representation', which reflects the exclusion of important features of the construct (e.g., disability). Furthermore, establishing a formal hierarchy of functional status tells more than the typical simple summation of functional loss, and may have predictive value to the clinician monitoring older adults: if the sequence task difficulty is accelerated or out of order it may indicate the need for interventions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This review identified studies that employed item response theory (IRT) to examine or revise functional status scales. IRT can be used to transform the ordinal nature of functional status scales to interval level data, which serves to increase diagnostic precision and sensitivity to clinical change. Furthermore, IRT can be used to rank items unequivocally along a hierarchy based on difficulty. It should be noted that this review is not concerned with contrasting IRT with more traditional classical test theory methodology.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A systematic search of four databases (PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and PsychInfo) resulted in the review of 2,192 manuscripts. Of these manuscripts, twelve met our inclusion/exclusion requirements and thus were targeted for further inspection.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Manuscripts presented in this review appear to summarise gerontology's best efforts to improve construct validity and content validity (i.e., ceiling effects) for scales measuring the early stages of activity restriction in community-dwelling older adults. Several scales in this review were exceptional at reducing ceiling effects, reducing gaps in coverage along the construct, as well as establishing a formal hierarchy of functional decline. These instrument modifications make it plausible to detect minor changes in difficulty for IADL items positioned at the edge of the disability continuum, which can be used to signal the onset of progressive type disability in older adults.</p

Loneliness in urban neighbourhoods: an Anglo-Dutch comparison

Past studies in the UK and the Netherlands indicate that loneliness varies significantly according to characteristics of older people’s residential environment. This raises questions regarding potential neighbourhood influences on individuals’ social relationships in later life. This article examines neighbourhood influences on loneliness, using multiple classification analysis on comparable empirical data collected in the UK and the Netherlands. UK data arise from a survey of 501 people aged 60+ in deprived neighbourhoods of three English cities. Netherlands data derive from the NESTOR Living Arrangements and Social Network survey, with a sub-sample of 3,508 people aged 60+ drawn from a nationally representative sample of older people, living in 11 municipalities. Both surveys incorporated the 11-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. In addition to neighbourhood characteristics and indicators of health and social embeddedness, a typology of eight groups of persons was developed that accounted for individuals’ age, sex, and partner status. While 13% of participants in the UK were severely lonely, the proportion in the Netherlands was just four per cent. Mean loneliness scores in the UK varied significantly between the neighbourhoods under investigation. Additionally, the evaluated quality of the residential neighbourhood accounted for a relatively large degree of variance in loneliness in both countries. Keywords Loneliness Urban neighbourhoods Cross-national comparison England The Netherland

Unidimensionality and Cumulativeness of the Loneliness Scale Using Mokken Scale Analysis for Polychotomous Items

The unidimensionality and cumulativeness of the Loneliness Scale of De Jong-Gierveld was investigated using the Mokken Scale Analysis for polychotomous items. 10 of the 11 items of the original Loneliness Scale constituted a unidimensional, cumulative scale, with a homogeneity coefficient H of 0.37 and a reliability coefficient rho of 0.88.</p

A Study of the Unidimensionality and Cumulativeness of the MOS Short-Form General Health Survey

The unidimensionality and cumulativeness of the subscales Health Perceptions, Mental Health, Physical Pain, and Social Functioning of the MOS Short-form General Health Survey were investigated using the Mokken Scale Analysis for Polychotomous Items (MSP). From the analyses, two unidimensional, cumulative subscales appeared, Health Perceptions including the item on Social Functioning, and Mental Health. Both subscales met the requirements of the Mokken model, with the first scale being a 'moderately strong' hierarchical scale (H = 0.49, rho = 0.89) and the second a 'weak' hierarchical scale (H = 0.38, rho = 0.85)

The Effects of Neighbourhoods on Size of Social Network of the Elderly and Loneliness: A Multilevel Approach

Our goal was to find out how much influence neighbourhoods have on the size of the social network and loneliness of elderly people. The results show that the average size of the social network was 9, while the elderly had few feelings of loneliness. Neighbourhoods could at most explain 8 per cent of the size of social network and 6 per cent of loneliness. It is concluded that the elderly mostly have substantially sized social networks and few feelings of loneliness. Social networks and loneliness are probably more strongly related to the (psychological or social) characteristics of individuals and are hardly influenced by the characteristics of neighbourhoods.