The objective of this analysis was to examine the answering rates, internal reliability and external validity of the Family Affluence Scale (FAS) employing data from the 2002 Irish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study HBSC; a cross-sectional survey of 8,424 Irish schoolchildren aged 10-18. Father's occupation was reported by 80.6% of the schoolchildren and 60.6% reported on mother's o...

Composite indices have been prominently used in poverty research. However, validity of these indices remains subject to debate. This paper examines the validity of a common type of composite poverty indices using data from a cross-sectional survey of 2477 households in urban and rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Multiple-group comparisons in structural equation modelling were employed for test...

BACKGROUND In low- and middle-income countries, many women continue working later into pregnancy. In our recent study on some areas in rural China, most women stopped working already during the first trimester (≤3 months) of pregnancy. In this paper we aimed to explore whether stopping work during early pregnancy has changed over an 8 year period (between 2001-03 and 2009); we also studied whet...

Using longitudinal data on the Boston Naming Test ( Kaplan, Goodglass, & Weintraub, 1983) collected over 20 years from healthy individuals aged 30 to 94, we examined change in lexical retrieval with age, gender, education, and their interactions. We compared results between random-effects longitudinal and traditional cross-sectional models. Random-effects modeling revealed significant linear an...

BACKGROUND Few studies document differences in patient satisfaction with physicians in the elderly (> or = 65 years) and compare it to non-elderly (<65 years) patients. METHODS A cross-sectional survey study on a convenience sample of 20,901 patients rated their recent visit to a physician through a web-based survey. Survey included validated questions based on aspects of physician care pract...

BACKGROUND Surgical mortality audit is an important tool for quality assurance and professional development but little is known about the impact of such activity on professional practice at the individual surgeon level. This paper reports the findings of a survey conducted with a self-selected cohort of surgeons in Queensland, Australia, on their experience of participating in the audit and its...

BACKGROUND Work ability is the ability of a worker to perform his job. The authors hypothesized that supervisor support influences the work ability of workers working in an information technology company located in Tokyo. AIMS To assess whether or not support from supervisors influences work ability. METHODS Two surveys using the Brief Job Scale Questionnaire and the Work Ability Index (WAI...

Background. Research related to prevention of maternal to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV is dynamic and rapidly changing and has provided evidence-based interventions and policies for practitioners. However, it is uncertain that research and policy guidelines are adequately being disseminated and implemented in resource-constrained countries with the largest burden PMTCT. This study examined...

The objective of this study was to examine the construct validity and reliability of the Nursing Stress Indicator (NSI) and to identify differences between occupational stressors of professional and enrolled nurses. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A sample of professional nurses (N = 980) and enrolled and auxiliary nurses (N = 800) in South Africa was used. The NSI was developed as me...