Calibrating well-being, quality of life and common mental disorder items:psychometric epidemiology in public mental health research

Background: The assessment of "general health and well-being" in public mental health research stimulates debates around relative merits of questionnaire instruments and their items. Little evidence regarding alignment or differential advantages of instruments or items has appeared to date.Aims: Population-based psychometric study of items employed in public mental health narratives.Methods: Multidimensional item response theory was applied to GHQ-12, WEMWBS and EQ-5D items (Health Survey for England, 2010-2012; N = 19 290).Results: A bifactor model provided the best account of the data and showed that the GHQ-12 and WEMWBS items assess mainly the same construct. Only one item of the EQ-5D showed relevant overlap with this dimension (anxiety/depression). Findings were corroborated by comparisons with alternative models and cross-validation analyses.Conclusions: The consequences of this lack of differentiation (GHQ-12 vs. WEMWBS) for mental health and well-being narratives deserve discussion to enrich debates on priorities in public mental health and its assessment

An instrument to measure catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) prevention knowledge:A registered report

Aims & objectives: This study aims to evaluate the psychometric performance of a new instrument to assess catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) prevention knowledge.Background: Catheterisation of the urinary tract is one of the most frequent clinical procedures, often resulting in CAUTI and causing unnecessary burdens to individuals and healthcare services. Interventions to decrease the risk of CAUTI emphasise healthcare workers' knowledge of CAUTI prevention. An instrument is required to assess the level of healthcare workers' CAUTI prevention knowledge as a systematic review established that existing CAUTI prevention knowledge measurement instruments are of inadequate psychometric quality and cannot be recommended for such purposes.Design: A registered cross-sectional validity study of a psychometric instrument.Methods: The newly developed instrument was administered online to N=xxx healthcare workers and students. We conducted an item analysis; confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses evaluating the structural validity; and known-groups hypotheses testing to evaluate construct validity to evaluate the psychometric performance.Results: Results are reported for each of the psychometric analyses (all analyses in R). The results suggested that [summary of dimensionality assessment]. The known-groups tests showed [summary of known-groups test]. After summarising the evidence, xx items were removed from the pool and xx items were suggested to be used in the future as an instrument.Conclusion: The study contributes to the literature by bridging the existing gap in valid and reliable CAUTI prevention knowledge measurement with a psychometric evaluation of an extensive pool of knowledge items derived from a systematic literature review, guidelines, and a Delphi study involving international experts.Relevance to clinical practice: The instrument will help researchers, professional groups, and organisations design and effectively evaluate CAUTI prevention knowledge interventions

Development of a scale to measure catheter associated urinary tract infection prevention knowledge

Aim: One important intervention to decrease catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is improving healthcare professionals' knowledge. Appropriate knowledge measurement is therefore essential to evaluate the impact of such interventions. We aim to report a series of projects developing a tool to measure CAUTI prevention knowledge among healthcare professionals. Methods: Deductive and inductive approaches to instrument development based on the catheter lifecycle model and the COSMIN checklist. We conducted systematic literature and clinical guidelines reviews, followed by a two-round Delphi survey with 76 participants from 14 countries and an experts’ workshop to develop more knowledge items and validate the existing ones. The collaboratively developed pool of questions was then evaluated based on responses from 259 participants from 13 countries in an online study. Results: The systematic review established that the existing tools have insufficient psychometric quality, making them unfit for CAUTI prevention knowledge measurement. The review led to an extension of the catheter lifecycle model and a large pool of questions aimed at assessing this knowledge. The psychometric study resulted in an optimised set of questions using classic and modern test theory criteria to evaluate CAUTI prevention knowledge. Conclusion: The study contributes to the infection prevention and control literature by producing a more valid and reliable CAUTI prevention knowledge measurement scale that meets the appropriate psychometric standards. While further evaluation in research and clinical applications is needed, this is currently the most valid and reliable knowledge measurement tool. This will ensure that future CAUTI prevention knowledge interventions to improve patient care quality and reduce healthcare costs are more effective

Development of a scale to measure catheter associated urinary tract infection prevention knowledge

Aim: One important intervention to decrease catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is improving healthcare professionals' knowledge. Appropriate knowledge measurement is therefore essential to evaluate the impact of such interventions. We aim to report a series of projects developing a tool to measure CAUTI prevention knowledge among healthcare professionals. Methods: Deductive and inductive approaches to instrument development based on the catheter lifecycle model and the COSMIN checklist. We conducted systematic literature and clinical guidelines reviews, followed by a two-round Delphi survey with 76 participants from 14 countries and an experts’ workshop to develop more knowledge items and validate the existing ones. The collaboratively developed pool of questions was then evaluated based on responses from 259 participants from 13 countries in an online study. Results: The systematic review established that the existing tools have insufficient psychometric quality, making them unfit for CAUTI prevention knowledge measurement. The review led to an extension of the catheter lifecycle model and a large pool of questions aimed at assessing this knowledge. The psychometric study resulted in an optimised set of questions using classic and modern test theory criteria to evaluate CAUTI prevention knowledge. Conclusion: The study contributes to the infection prevention and control literature by producing a more valid and reliable CAUTI prevention knowledge measurement scale that meets the appropriate psychometric standards. While further evaluation in research and clinical applications is needed, this is currently the most valid and reliable knowledge measurement tool. This will ensure that future CAUTI prevention knowledge interventions to improve patient care quality and reduce healthcare costs are more effective

Social Cohesion Radar Measuring Common Ground: An international Comparison of Social Cohesion Methods Report

The study Social Cohesion Radar – An international Comparison of Social Cohesion offers an assessment of the degree of social cohesion in 34 advanced societies (27 member states of the European Union and seven other Western OECD countries: Australia, Canada, Israel, New Zeal-and, Norway, Switzerland, and the US) in four time periods from 1989 to 2012. This Methods Report presents a detailed documentation of the methodology behind it