The increasing evidence for response shift phenomena in quality of life (QOL) assessment points to the necessity to reconsider both the measurement model and the application of psychometric analyses. The proposed psychometric model posits that the QOL true score is always contingent upon parameters of the appraisal process. This new model calls into question existing methods for establishing th...

PURPOSE Translate, adapt the language, and assess the psychometric properties of the Mental Vulnerability Questionnaire (MVQ) in a Portuguese population sample of young adults. DESIGN AND METHODS A psychometric validation study was performed. The sample comprised 166 undergraduate students. Factor analysis was applied to extract three indicators. FINDINGS The MVQ showed divergent validity w...

Objective: The Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) is a screening instrument for physical nicotine dependence and is extensively used in various countries. The objective of the present report was to review articles related to the psychometric properties of the FTND. Methods: A systematic search for articles published up through December of 2007 was carried out in various electronic d...

A battery of 17 neuropsychological tests (including the CERAD battery) and 17 psychometric ability tests were administered to a sample of 499 participants of the Seattle Longitudinal study who had been given the psychometric ability tests seven and 14 years earlier. The neuropsychological tests were projected into a 5-factor psychometric ability space by means of extension analysis. The concurr...

Many patients are left with psychological symptoms after surgery for a ruptured intracranial aneurysm. Often the reason for these symptoms is not clear. A prospective study was carried out of 27 patients who were in a good (Grade 1 or 2) condition before operation to identify the origin of such symptoms and discover whether the basic techniques of aneurysm surgery could lead to serious psycholo...

While the most commonly employed burnout measure has been the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), researchers have been troubled by some of the psychometric limitations of this instrument. The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the "Spanish Burnout Inventory" (SBI). The psychometric properties were analysed with data from a sample of 277 Chilean professionals working t...

INTRODUCTION Many initiatives are undertaken to improve the empowerment of people with disabilities in developing countries. However, an overview of adequate measurement tools to evaluate such activities is not available to date. This systematic literature review aims to describe and assess the available tools to measure empowerment in people with disability, suitable for use in developing coun...

PURPOSING The Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI) is a new patient-reported instrument, which measures symptoms related to Central Sensitivity Syndromes and Central Sensitization. The aim of this study was to translate the CSI into Spanish, and then to perform a psychometric validation, including a factor analysis to reveal the underlying structure. METHODS In this two-stage psychometric st...

The ability to perceive the direction of whole-body motion during standing may be critical to maintaining balance and preventing a fall. Our first goal was to quantify kinesthetic perception of whole-body motion by estimating directional acuity thresholds of support-surface perturbations during standing. The directional acuity threshold to lateral deviations in backward support-surface motion i...

BACKGROUND Ulcerative colitis disease activity indices have not been formally validated. AIM To analise quantitatively the psychometric and performance validity of two non-endoscopic indices for ulcerative colitis, the Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index and the Seo Index. METHODS In 66 patients with ulcerative colitis, the measurement of disease activity was repeated with the two non-en...