METHODS: We analysed 350 items used in 7 professional examinations and determined their distractor efficiency and the number of functional distractors per item. The items were sorted into five groups - excellent, good, fair, remediable and discarded based on their discrimination index. We studied how the distractor efficiency and functional distractors per item correlated with these five groups.
RESULTS: Correlation of distractor efficiency with psychometric indices was significant but far from perfect. The excellent group topped in distractor efficiency in 3 tests, the good group in one test, the remediable group equalled excellent group in one test, and the discarded group topped in 2 tests.
CONCLUSIONS: The distractor efficiency did not correlate in a consistent pattern with the discrimination index. Fifty per cent or higher distractor efficiency, not hundred percent, was found to be the optimum.
METHODS: A methodological study of the translation and validation of the implementation outcome measures was conducted from March 2022 until December 2022. Three key analyses were conducted: (1) translation and validation; (2) factor investigation and extraction (n = 170); and (3) scale evaluation (n = 235).
RESULT: The Malay version measuring the implementation outcome measures of a community-based intervention programme was produced after extensive translation and modification, and it consisted of a single dimension with seven items. The content validity index was 0.9, the exploratory factor analysis showed that the KMO measure of sample adequacy was 0.9277, and Bartlett's sphericity test was statistically significant. Cronbach's alpha was good, with a level of 0.938. The single factor structure fitted the data satisfactorily [χ2 (p-value of 0.002), SRMR = 0.030, CFI = 0.999, RMSEA = 0.079, TLI = 0.998]. Factor loading for all items was > 0.7.
CONCLUSION: The 7-item Malay version of the AIM-IAM-FIM survey instrument is valid and reliable for assessing the acceptability of a community-based intervention study and is applicable to other fields. Future studies in psychometric evaluation are recommended in other states due to the variety of Malay dialects spoken across Asia. The scale may also benefit other areas where the language is spoken.
METHOD: Upon adhering to five-step scoping review, this study combed through articles that looked into sadness regulation retrieved from eight databases.
RESULTS: As a result of reviewing 40 selected articles, 110 strategies were identified to regulate emotions, particularly sadness. Some of the most commonly reported strategies include expressive suppression, cognitive reappraisal, distraction, seeking social or emotional support, and rumination. The four types of measures emerged from the review are self-reported, informant report (parents or peers), open-ended questions, and emotion regulation instructions. Notably, most studies had tested psychometric properties using Cronbach's alpha alone, while only a handful had assessed validity (construct and factorial validity) and reliability (Cronbach's alpha or test-retest) based on responses captured from questionnaire survey.
CONCLUSION: Several sadness regulation strategies appeared to vary based on gender, age, and use of strategy. Despite the general measurement of emotion regulation, only one measure was developed to measure sadness regulation exclusively for children. Future studies may develop a comprehensive battery of measures to assess sadness regulation using multi-component method.
METHODS: A group of healthcare university students completed the RSES across three waves: baseline, 1-week follow-up, and 15-week follow-up. A total of 481 valid responses were collected through the three-wave data collection process. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed on the baseline data to explore the potential factorial structure, while confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed on the follow-up data to determine the best-fit model. Additionally, the cross-sectional and longitudinal measurement invariances were tested to assess the measurement properties of the RSES for different groups, such as gender and age, as well as across different time points. Convergent validity was assessed against the Self-Rated Health Questionnaire (SRHQ) using Spearman's correlation. Internal consistency was examined using Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega coefficients, while test-retest reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficient.
RESULTS: The results of EFA revealed that Items 5, 8, and 9 had inadequate or cross-factor loadings, leading to their removal from further analysis. Analysis of the remaining seven items using EFA suggested a two-factor solution. A comparison of several potential models for the 10-item and 7-item RSES using CFA showed a preference for the 7-item form (RSES-7) with two factors. Furthermore, the RSES-7 exhibited strict invariance across different groups and time points, indicating its stability and consistency. The RSES-7 also demonstrated adequate convergent validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability, which further supported its robustness as a measure of self-esteem.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that the RSES-7 is a psychometrically sound and brief self-report scale for measuring self-esteem in the Chinese context. More studies are warranted to further verify its usability.
METHODS: A total of 346 cancer patients with mixed disease types were recruited and completed the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics questionnaire and the MSPSS-M. The MSPSS-M was assessed for internal consistency, construct validity, face, content, convergent, discriminant validity, and confirmatory factor analyses.
RESULTS: The MSPSS-M and its three domains demonstrated good internal consistency with Cronbach's α ranging from 0.900 to 0.932. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the MSPSS-M supported the three-factor model of the original English version of the MSPSS. The MSPSS-M also exhibited good convergent validity and discriminant validity.
CONCLUSION: The MSPSS-M demonstrates favorable psychometric properties among patients with cancer in Malaysia. The validation of the MSPSS-M provides a culturally adapted and linguistically valid instrument to assess perceived social support among Malay-speaking patients with cancer in Malaysia.
METHODS: University students from Jiangsu Province participated in this study. Participants completed self-report surveys assessing emotion regulation strategies. It was conducted from May 2022 to July 2022. The study employed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the two-factor model of ERQ-8 and measurement invariance across male and female samples.
RESULTS: The mean age of 1534 participants was 19.83 years (SD = 1.54), and the majority were female (70.4%). The initial ERQ-10 model with ten items demonstrated good fit for all indicators, CFI (Comparative Fit index) = 0.967, TLI (Tucker-Lewis Index) = 0.957, RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation) = 0.043, SRMR (Standardised Root Mean Square Residual) = 0.029. However, to assess the fit of the previously proposed ERQ-8 model, two items (Q1 and Q3) were excluded. The fit of the ERQ-8 model was further improved (CFI = 0.989, TLI = 0.984, RMSEA = 0.029, SRMR = 0.021). All item loadings exceeded or were equal to 0.573. Internal consistency analysis based on the ERQ-8 model revealed Cronbach's alpha values of 0.840 for reappraisal and 0.745 for suppression, and corresponding composite reliability (CR) values of 0.846 and 0.747, respectively. Test-retest reliability, assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) (95% CI) within a one-week interval, ranged from 0.537 to 0.679. The correlation coefficient between the two factors was 0.084, significantly below 0.85, which suggested a low correlation between the two factors. The results of the invariance analysis across gender demonstrated that the values of ΔCFI and ΔTLI were both below 0.01. It was supported the gender invariance of the ERQ-8 among university students.
CONCLUSION: The eight-item ERQ demonstrated validity and reliability in evaluating emotion regulation strategies, and measurement invariance was observed across gender among university students. The ERQ-8 may prove to be a practical and cost-effective tool, particularly in time-constrained situations.
PURPOSE: This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Farsi version of the meaning of life questionnaire in patients with cancer.
METHOD: In this cross-sectional study, after translating the questionnaire to Farsi, in a sample of 212 patients with cancer, feasibility, content and convergent validity, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency, stability, and responsiveness were evaluated.
RESULTS: The results show that the content validity ratio of all ten items was greater than 0.49. Also, the modified Kappa coefficient of each item was greater than 0.6. The maximum likelihood exploratory factor analysis extracted one factor, which explains 76.13% of the total variance of the sample. Item nine was removed. The confirmatory factor analysis results show that the one-factor model had good fit indices. The Cronbach's alpha, McDonald's omega, composite reliability, MaxR, and intraclass correlation coefficient were 0.96, 0.96, 0.96, 0.96, and 0.98, respectively. The questionnaires had responsiveness and its response time was 3 s.
CONCLUSION AND POLICY SUMMARY: The nine-item Farsi version of the meaning of life questionnaire has good validity and reliability and responsiveness.
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: A two-phase mixed-methods approach was used. Phase 1 involved qualitative interviews with hypertensive patients from two health clinics in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The themes extracted from these interviews were used to generate items for the MAANS. In Phase 2, data from 213 participants were analysed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to establish the scale's factor structure, thereby created the modified version of the MAANS. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was then conducted on a separate dataset of 205 participants to confirm the factor structure, resulted in the final version of the MAANS. The reliability of the final MAANS version was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The MAANS scores were used to predict subscales of the Malay version of the WHO Quality-of-Life (QOL) BREF, demonstrating the scale's predictive validity.
RESULTS: Ten qualitative interviews yielded 73 items. The EFA produced a modified MAANS with 21 items grouped into five factors. However, the CFA retained three factors in the final scale: Perceived Non-Susceptibility, Poor Doctor-Patient Relationship, and Unhealthy Lifestyle. The final 14-item, 3-factor MAANS demonstrated moderate reliability (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.64) and exhibited partial predictive validity, with the Poor Doctor-Patient Relationship and Unhealthy Lifestyle subscales significantly predicting Social QOL and Environmental QOL.
CONCLUSION: The MAANS is a reliable, valid, and multidimensional scale specifically developed to evaluate non-adherence to anti-hypertensive medications in local clinical settings with the potential to further the advancement of research and practice in sociomedical and preventive medicine.