Health Qual Life Out
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Health Qual Life Out · Jan 2014
Exploration of dimensionality and psychometric properties of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index in cases with temporomandibular disorders.
This study assessed the dimensional structure of sleep quality with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and investigated its psychometric properties in cases with temporomandibular disorders (TMD). ⋯ Sleep quality in TMD patients is a unidimensional construct and can therefore be represented by one summary score; a finding that is in line with previous reports in TMD patients.
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Health Qual Life Out · Jan 2014
Comparative StudyCan the Fatigue Severity Scale 7-item version be used across different patient populations as a generic fatigue measure--a comparative study using a Rasch model approach.
Fatigue is a disabling symptom associated with reduced quality of life in various populations living with chronic illnesses. The transfer of knowledge about fatigue from one group to another is crucial in both research and healthcare. Outcomes should be validly and reliably comparable between groups and should not be unduly influenced by diagnostic variations. The present study evaluates whether the Fatigue Severity Scale 7-item version (FSS-7) demonstrates similar item hierarchy across people with multiple sclerosis, stroke or HIV/AIDS to ensure valid comparisons between groups, and provide further evidence of internal scale validity. ⋯ Some items performed differently between the three samples but did not bias person measures, thereby indicating that fatigue interference in these illnesses might still be reliably compared using FSS-7 scores. However, caution is warranted when comparing fatigue raw sum scores directly across diagnostic groups using the FSS-7. Further studies of the scale are needed in other types of chronic illnesses.
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Health Qual Life Out · Jan 2014
Comparative StudySelf-report measurement of pain & symptoms in palliative care patients: a comparison of verbal, visual and hand scoring methods in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Despite a high incidence of life-limiting disease, there is a deficit of palliative care outcome evidence in sub-Saharan Africa. Providers of end of life care call for appropriate measurement tools. The objective is to compare four approaches to self-report pain and symptom measurement among African palliative care patients completing the African Palliative Care Association African Palliative Outcome Scale (APCA African POS). ⋯ Hands and faces scoring methods correlate highly with verbal scoring. The Jerrycan method had only moderate weighted Kappa. POS scores can be reliably measured using hand or face score.
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Health Qual Life Out · Jan 2014
Comparative StudyMeasurement of diabetes-related emotional distress using the Problem Areas in Diabetes scale: psychometric evaluations show that the short form is better than the full form.
The Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID) scale is widely used for measuring diabetes-related emotional distress. There has been debate over the last 2 decades about the underlying factorial-construct validity of the PAID, with one- to four-factor structures being reported. A short form of the PAID, which comprises five items (PAID-5), was recently developed using Western patients with type 2 diabetes. This study measured the psychometric properties of the full and short forms of the PAID in Korean patients with type 2 diabetes, with the aim of determining which form is preferable. ⋯ The K-PAID-5 demonstrated excellent psychometric properties as a one-factor scale. The brevity of the K-PAID-5 represents a major advantage in a practical context in that it may impose a minimum burden upon patients with diabetes.
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Health Qual Life Out · Jan 2014
Comparative StudyValidation and comparison of EuroQoL-5 dimension (EQ-5D) and Short Form-6 dimension (SF-6D) among stable angina patients.
Several preference-based health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instruments have been published and widely used in different populations. However no consensus has emerged regarding the most appropriate instrument in therapeutic area of stable angina. This study compared and validated the psychometric properties of two generic preference-based instruments, the EQ-5D and SF-6D, among Chinese stable angina patients. ⋯ Both EQ-5D and SF-6D are valid and sensitive preference-based HRQoL instruments in Chinese stable angina patients. The SF-6D may be a more effective tool with lower ceiling effect and greater sensitivity. Further study is needed to compare other properties, such as reliability and longitudinal response.