METHODS: Using data from the International Sex Survey (N = 82,243; Mage = 32.39; SDage = 12.52; women: n = 46,874; 57 %), we examined the reliability of depression and anxiety symptom scores of the BSI-18, as well as evaluated evidence of construct, invariance, and criterion-related validity in predicting clinically relevant variables across countries, languages, genders, and sexual orientations.
RESULTS: Results corroborated an invariant, two-factor structure across all groups tested, exhibiting excellent reliability estimates for both subscales. The 'caseness' criterion effectively discriminated among those at low and high risk of depression and anxiety, yielding differential effects on the clinical criteria examined.
LIMITATIONS: The predictive validation was not made against a clinical diagnosis, and the full BSI-18 scale was not examined (excluding the somatization sub-dimension), limiting the validation scope of the BSI-18. Finally, the study was conducted online, mainly by advertisements through social media, ultimately skewing our sample towards women, younger, and highly educated populations.
CONCLUSIONS: The results support that the BSI-12 is a valid and reliable assessment tool for assessing depression and anxiety symptoms across countries, languages, genders, and sexual orientations. Further, its caseness criterion can discriminate well between participants at high and low risk of depression and anxiety.
STUDY DESIGN: The study design is a cross-sectional self-report study conducted across 42 countries.
METHODS: A cross-sectional, self-report study was conducted in 42 countries, with a total of 82,243 participants included in the final data set.
RESULTS: The study provides an overview of suicide ideation rates across 42 countries and confirms the structural validity of the P4 screener. The findings indicated that sexual and gender minority individuals exhibited higher rates of suicidal ideation. The P4 screener showed adequate reliability, convergence, and discriminant validity, and a cutoff score of 1 is recommended to identify individuals at risk of suicidal behavior.
CONCLUSIONS: The study supports the reliability and validity of the P4 suicide screener across 42 diverse countries, highlighting the importance of using a cross-cultural suicide risk assessment to standardize the identification of high-risk individuals and tailoring culturally sensitive suicide prevention strategies.
METHODS: A total of 399 women in their second and third trimester of pregnancy were recruited from government maternal and child health clinics in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya and completed a self-administered online questionnaire. Content validity was conducted with an expert panel consisting of 4 members. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using maximum likelihood was conducted to determine the construct validity. Internal consistency was determined by Cronbach's alpha coefficient (CAC), while the test-retest reliability was conducted using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).
RESULTS: The questionnaire had an appropriate content validity index of 0.91. The CPQ-P consists of 22 items, measuring 5 constructs, including morning chrono-habits, sleeping habits, evening eating, temporal eating, and pregnancy symptoms. The factor model showed good fit with χ2/df = 2.486, GFI = 0.893, CFI = 0.912, and RMSEA = 0.065. The 22 items in CPQ-P showed fair to excellent test-retest reliability (ICC: 0.42 to 0.98). The 5 constructs in CPQ-P were found to have a good to excellent internal consistency (α = 0.612-0.963).
CONCLUSIONS: The CPQ-P is a valid and reliable tool for assessing lifestyle habits during pregnancy. The questionnaire can be used to identify areas where pregnant women may need additional support or intervention to adopt healthy behaviours and reduce the risk of adverse maternal and foetal outcomes.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT05700136 (clinicaltrials.gov). Trial registration date: 26/01/2023.
METHODS: The Menopause Quick 6 (MQ6) questionnaire was translated into the Malay language with an addition of an item, henceforth termed MQ6 (M). Forward and backward translation was performed. Face and content validity were conducted. MQ6 (M) was self-administered to 400 women aged between 40 and 60 attending six primary healthcare clinics in Malaysia. To ascertain the reliability for MQ6 (M), corrected Item-Total Correlation, Squared Multiple Correlation, Cronbach's Alpha if the Item is Deleted, and Kuder-Richardson Reliability Coefficients (KR20). Exploratory factor analysis was done to determine its' construct validity.
RESULTS: The outcome of the validation was satisfactory. By the Lawshe method, the content validity ratios ranged from 0.6 to 1.0 and the content validity index was 0.914. The Internal consistency for MQ6(M) Cronbach's alpha was 0.711 while Kuder-Richardson Reliability Coefficients KR20 was 0.676. Factor loading of all four items is above 0.70, indicating a well-defined structure. Whereas factor loading for three items fell within the range of 0.50-0.69 indicating a practically significant threshold for a new questionnaire.
CONCLUSION: MQ6 (M) has acceptable reliability and construct validity to be considered as a self-administered screening tool in primary care clinics in Malaysia.
METHODS: The WoCKSS was developed with 20 and 31 items for knowledge and stigma domains, respectively, based on an extensive review of COVID-19 literature. Content validation was conducted by four experts using a content validation form to assess the relevancy of each item to the intended construct. Content Validity Index (CVI) was calculated to measure the agreement between the experts on the relevance of each item to the intended construct. Face validation was then conducted by randomly selecting 10 respondents from the manufacturing industry, who rated the clarity and comprehension of each item using a face validation form. The Item Face Validity Index (I-FVI) was calculated to determine the clarity and comprehension of each question, and only items with an I-FVI ≥ 0.83 were retained.
RESULTS: The WoCKSS achieved excellent content validity in both knowledge and stigma domains. Only 19 items from the knowledge domain and 24 items from the stigma domain were retained after CVI analysis. All retained items received a CVI score of 1.00, indicating perfect agreement among the experts. FVI analysis resulted in 17 items for the knowledge domain and 22 items for the stigma domain. The knowledge domain achieved a high level of agreement among respondents, with a mean I-FVI of 0.91 and a S-FVI/UA of 0.89. The stigma domain also showed high agreement, with a mean I-FVI of 0.99 and a S-FVI/UA of 0.86.
CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the WoCKSS demonstrated high content and face validity. However, further testing on a larger sample size is required to establish its construct validity and reliability.
METHODS: Relevant data from multiple data sources which include national oral health and health surveys, national census, extensive systematic literature reviews, as well as discussion with experts, were used to estimate the economic burden of non-surgical periodontal management in specialist clinics in Malaysia in 2020. This estimation was done from the oral healthcare provider's perspective in both public and private sectors using an irreducible Markov model of 3-month cycle length over a time horizon of one year.
RESULTS: In 2020, the national economic burden of non-surgical periodontal treatment during the first year of periodontal management in specialist clinics in Malaysia was MYR 696 million (USD 166 million), ranging from MYR 471 million (USD 112 million) to MYR 922 million (USD 220 million). Of these, a total of MYR 485 million (USD 115 million) and MYR 211 million (USD 50 million) were the direct oral healthcare cost in public and private dental clinics, respectively.
CONCLUSION: The findings of this study demonstrated substantial economic burden of non-surgical periodontal management in specialist clinics in Malaysia. Being a life-long disease, these findings highlight the importance of enforcing primary and secondary preventive measures. On the strength and reliability of this economic evidence, this study provides vital information to inform policy- and decision-making regarding the future direction of managing periodontitis in Malaysia.
METHODS: We obtained information on medication use and cancer diagnosis from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey participants. After propensity score matching, we conducted survey-weighted multivariate logistic regression and restricted cubic spline analysis to assess the observed correlation between medication use and cancer while adjusting for multiple covariates. We also performed MR analysis to investigate causality based on summary data from genome-wide association studies on medication use and cancers. We performed sensitivity analyses, replication analysis, genetic correlation analysis, and reverse MR analysis to improve the reliability of MR findings.
RESULTS: We found that the use of agents acting on the renin-angiotensin system was associated with reduced risk of prostate cancer (odds ratio (OR) = 0.42; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.27-0.63, P
MATERIAL AND METHODS: 30 normal quadriceps entheses were scanned using SWE to compare the stiffness and coefficient variation by changing the ultrasonic coupling gel thickness, knee position, region of interest size, and scanning plane.
RESULTS: No significant difference in median shear wave velocity (SWV) was observed in different coupling gel thicknesses. The median SWV was higher in the knee flexion position than in the extended position (p 0.05). For interobserver reliability for the proposed protocol, the intraclass correlation coefficients was 0.763.
CONCLUSION: In this study, we determined supine position with the knee extended; using 2.0 mm diameter region of interest and image acquisition at the longitudinal plane with thicker layer coupling gel seems most appropriate to reliably image healthy quadriceps entheses with SWE.
METHODS: Articles published between 2010 and 2023 were searched from five electronic databases. 59 papers were included for analysis with regards to: i). types of motion tested (functional vs. purposeful ankle movement); ii) types of biomechanical parameters measured (kinetic vs kinematic); iii) types of sensor systems used (lab-based vs field-based); and, iv) AI techniques used.
FINDINGS: Most studies (83.1%) examined biomechanics during functional motion. Single kinematic parameter, specifically ankle range of motion, could obtain accuracy up to 100% in identifying injury status. Wearable sensor exhibited high reliability for use in both laboratory and on-field/clinical settings. AI algorithms primarily utilized electromyography and joint angle information as input data. Support vector machine was the most used supervised learning algorithm (18.64%), while artificial neural network demonstrated the highest accuracy in eight studies.
INTERPRETATIONS: The potential for remote patient monitoring is evident with the adoption of field-based devices. Nevertheless, AI-based sensors are underutilized in detecting ankle motions at risk of sprain. We identify three key challenges: sensor designs, the controllability of AI models, and the integration of AI-sensor models, providing valuable insights for future research.
METHOD: Our analysis is based on a large-scale research project involving 42 countries (International Sex Survey, N=72,627, 57% women, Mage=32.84; SDage=12.57).
RESULTS: The ASRS Screener demonstrated good reliability and validity, along with partial invariance across different languages, countries, and genders. The occurrence of being at risk for adult ADHD was relatively high (21.4% for women, 18.1% for men). The highest scores were obtained in the US, Canada, and other English-speaking Western countries, with significantly lower scores among East Asian and non-English-speaking European countries. Moreover, ADHD symptom severity and occurrence were especially high among gender-diverse individuals. Significant associations between adult ADHD symptoms and age, mental and sexual health, and socioeconomic status were observed.
CONCLUSIONS: Present results show significant cross-cultural variability in adult ADHD occurrence as well as highlight important factors related to adult ADHD. Moreover, the importance of further research on adult ADHD in previously understudied populations (non-Western countries) and minority groups (gender-diverse individuals) is stressed. Lastly, the present analysis is consistent with previous evidence showing low specificity of adult ADHD screening instruments and contributes to the current discussion on accurate adult ADHD screening and diagnosis.
OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to formulate and examine the validity and reliability of the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Skin Cancer Questionnaire (KAP-SC-Q).
METHODS: The research was conducted in two phases. Phase I included the generation and construction of items, content validity, and pilot testing. In Phase II, the questionnaire was distributed to 370 non-health background public adults in Malaysia. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were ascertained using Item Response Theory (IRT) for the knowledge domain, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) for the attitude and practice segments, and Cronbach's alpha.
RESULTS: The definitive version of the KAP-SC-Q had 108 items, divided into 17 social demographic, 30 knowledge, 32 attitude, and 29 practice items. Knowledge items had an acceptable range of 0.4-2.0 in the IRT. The EFA revealed that attitude and practice sections contributed to 34.25% and 52.94% of the total observed variance, respectively. The Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.85, signifying good internal consistency.
CONCLUSION: The study validated that KAP-SC-Q exhibits commendable psychometric attributes, marking it as a trustworthy instrument to assess the public's knowledge, attitude, and practices concerning skin cancer.
METHODS: The study encompassed a comprehensive three-stage approach to the development and validation of the PROM. Initially, during the preliminary design stage, the necessity for a new PROM was recognized, an expert panel was formed, and semi-structured qualitative interviews were carried out with GSM patients. In the second stage, the study used the five-step pre-validation methodology established by Prior et al. to generate and refine the PROM items. The third and final stage encompassed the determination of scale and item content validity indexes to ensure validity. Additionally, the reliability of each construct was evaluated using Cronbach's α.
RESULTS: The resulting PROM was named GSM-SVTAQ (GSM-symptoms and vaginal treatments acceptability questionnaire). It demonstrated excellent validity in assessing symptoms burden, health-related and sexual quality of life, and vaginal treatment acceptability, with high content validity indices and strong internal consistency. The scale content validity indices and Cronbach's α coefficients for the three domains were (0.926, 0.939), (0.875, 0.947), and (0.824, 0.855), respectively.
CONCLUSION: The GSM-SVTAQ stands as the first GSM-specific, valid, and reliable PROM capable of comprehensively measuring the three components of GSM and the acceptability of vaginal treatments. Its implementation has the potential to significantly enhance patient care and outcomes in GSM management.