Thesis advisor: Margaret Lombe / For children that overcome Nigeria’s high child mortality rate, there is the additional and less-obvious hurdle of not reaching their full potential in life due to developmental delays. When children are on track developmentally, they stand a better chance of being ready for school, excelling academically, economically, and socially throughout the lifespan. Fewer studies in the Nigerian context have examined how known risk and protective factors interact to affect early childhood development (ECD). This three-paper dissertation used data from the nationally representative 2016/17 Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and was guided by the social determinants of health framework, the socioecological model of child development, and the family stress and investment models. The study highlighted the factors, including disparities across the multiethnic and diverse socioeconomic groups of Nigeria that are associated with child outcomes. i. Paper 1 assessed the performance and psychometric properties of the 10-item ECDI used in the MICS to track developmental outcomes among Nigerian children. ii. Paper 2 characterized the risk and protective factors for ECD across the 36 states and FCT of Nigeria using a multilevel modeling approach and, iii. Paper 3 used a structural regression to model the association between maternal subjective wellbeing (SWB), and developmental outcomes among the 3- to 4-year-old children. Findings highlighted discrepancies in the construct validity of the ECDI. Across the studies, resources, and family socioeconomic status particularly maternal level of education were significant predictors of outcomes for the child. Further, the study revealed that a child’s developmental context matters, where 29% of the variation in child outcomes was attributed to clustering by states. The studies extend prior research on ECD in Nigeria by its use of more accurate milestones to characterize ECD, its multilevel modeling approach, and its investigation of maternal SWB as a proxy for mental health. In all, findings from the dissertation call attention to the need to revise the ECDI, and for culturally adapted and validated ECD instruments. The study also highlighted the need to invest more resources in child development, mental health, and family strengthening especially through maternal education and wealth creation. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

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Methods A standardised measurement tool was developed by identifying aspects of self that can be measured, and research methods that are effective at investigating self in people without dementia. The measure consists of three sets of illustrated ‘I am…’ statements representing Activities, Traits and Physical Characteristics, and Relationships and Occupations. Participants were asked to (i) sort these according to whether each was ‘just like me’, ‘a bit like me’ or ‘not at all like me’ (ii) sort their ‘just like me’ choices to identify the statement most like them; (iii) describe memories associated with this statement. The measure was tested with 20 people with dementia to inform refinement. The refined measure was tested for reliability and validity by comparing results from five people with dementia and six age-matched people without dementia. Results Outcome measures were strength, complexity and quality of self and an ‘episodicity’ score reflecting the descriptive richness of memories. The initial administration to 20 people indicated that the measure was suitable for people with mild to moderate dementia, and the outcomes were meaningful and reliable. An ‘Observational Framework’ was developed to enable measurement of self via gestures and expressions of people with limited verbal abilities. The second study indicated that the new measure has good test-retest reliability, but convergent validity was not demonstrated. Participants with dementia demonstrated strength, complexity and quality of self scores comparable to participants without dementia. The results suggest that providing visual cues bypasses the cognitive processes required for effortful recall. / Alzheimer’s Society

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Yes / Research Question: To assess the feasibility of the MGSIS-5and G3L-20 in a community sample of cisgender men aged 40 years and older Research problem: Psychometric measures can aid urologic practice by prompting patients to talk about aspects of their body that are either too sensitive or a natural part of aging. Importantly, reliable and valid measures can also contribute to a an evidenced-based-practice-based-evidence cycle where they can establish the impact of changes recommended by research while using the results in turn to inform research. In this study, we examine two psychometric measures on the opposite ends of a psychological-physical continuum; the Male Genital Self-Image Scale (MGSIS-5) and the Groin and Lower Limb Lymphedema questionnaire (G3L-20) Methodology: Non-experimental psychometric design administering the questionnaires online to a community sample of cisgender men aged 40 years old and above. Validity and reliability analyses were conducted. Results: 30 men completed the study; 14 aged 40-49, 14 aged 50-59 and 2 aged 60-69. The MGSIS-5 and G3L-20 show acceptable reliability and validity with one- and three-component structures respectively. Conclusions: The MGSIS-5 and G3L-20 show sufficient feasibility to justify the resources for studies with larger community samples and for pilot studies with clinical populations.

Yes / Purpose. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a Romanian version of the three factor eating questionnaire-r21 for children and adolescents (ctfeqr21), and to assess its psychometric properties and factor structure. Associations between this version of the ctfeqr21 and anthropometric measures as well as body composition were also examined. Design and methods. 153 children and adolescents (68 boys and 95 girls; 10.8 ± 3.5 years) took part in this study (bmi of 17.7 ± 3.1 kg/m²). The participants were first interviewed to ascertain their understanding of the ctfeq-r21 and were then asked to self-complete the questionnaire. Height and weight were measured and body composition assessed using bio impedance analyzers (Tanita MC 780). Results. The CTFEQr21 showed satisfactory internal consistency (cronbach’s α=0.78). Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were 0.55 for CR, 0.75 for UE, and 0.76 for EE separately. UE and EE were found to be significantly correlated (r=0.54, p<0.05). The three factors explained 43% of the total variance. Correlation between CR, UE and EE with body weight, BMI and FFM were significant but low to moderate with coefficients ranging from 0.20 to 0.37. The higher the CR, UE and EE tertiles, the higher the weight, fat mass (kg) and fat-free mass values. Conclusions. According to the psychometric analysis of the questionnaire, the proposed version of the CTFEQr21 proposed here is a satisfactory tool to assess eating behaviors in Romanian child population that remains to be further developed.

<p dir="ltr">Psychological assessment contributes important information that strengthens the understanding of individual characteristics and capabilities, and often is intended to screen for mental disorder. However, assessment measures reflect the cultures in which they originate. As such, it is worth investigating whether these measures can aptly assess the experiences of those who come from outside of the dominant culture and/or those who may be in intercultural transition, for whom expressions of distress may reflect distinct cultural norms. One culturally relevant measurement of distress for South Asian women is the Tension Scale. Given the novelty of this scale and its limited use and testing in representative populations, the current study examines the underlying factor structure of the Tension Scale and the impact of language of administration on symptom reporting on various psychological scales in English and in Bangla. Using a community sample of South Asian immigrant women (<i>N =</i> 247), we found that a three factor model best fits the Tension Scale in both English and Bangla. Furthermore, we found that language of administration had a modest impact on symptom reporting. The results of this study suggest that some aspects of the psychological constructs of interest are universally experienced, while their manifestation and reporting are subtly influenced by cultural and linguistic factors. Overall, this research builds on the preliminary literature surrounding the Tension Scale to examine its latent structure and the impact of language of administration on responding patterns. Implications for psychological assessment within this community are discussed.</p>

This study provided reliability and validity evidence to substantiate the Implementation Profile Inventory II's (IPI-II) use as a measure of a user's perceptions of Ely's (1990a) eight conditions of change. To establish the psychometric properties of the IPI-II, three alternative factor structure models for Ely's conditions were compared. A confirmatory approach was used for the analysis of the evidence. A four-factor structure hypothesized by Ensminger et al (2004) appears to fit reasonably well; however, this study provided stronger evidence for a fifth underlying construct as a better model for the IPI-II's structure in a sample of 252 university faculty and staff. Perceptions of conditions that influence implementation of innovations are important measures of success and can serve as a planning guide for the instructional designer (Ely, 1990a, 1990b, 1999a, 1999b; Ensminger and Surry, 2002; Ensminger, 2005). The IPI-II is a revised scale (Ensminger and Surry, n.d.) designed to measure a user's perceptions of the importance of Ely's eight conditions of change. Psychometric information was obtained and reported on the measure's dimensionality, reliability, and validity. Recommendations are offered to facilitate the revision of questionnaire items to achieve a stable, well-defined solution for the factor structure (dimensionality) of the IPI-II. This study represented the first psychometric evaluation of the IPI-II and the first confirmatory study in the development cycle of the Implementation Profile Inventory. / Ph. D. / This study provided reliability and validity evidence to substantiate the Implementation Profile Inventory II’s (IPI-II) use as a measure of perceptions of Ely’s (1990a) eight conditions of change. Perceptions of conditions that influence the decision to use a new technology are important measures of success and can serve as a planning guide for the instructional designer (Ely, 1990a, 1990b, 1999a, 1999b; Ensminger & Surry, 2002; Ensminger, 2005). The IPI-II is a revised instrument (Ensminger & Surry, n.d.) designed to measure a user’s perceptions of the importance of Ely’s (1990a) eight conditions of change to their decision to use a new technology. These eight conditions are Dissatisfaction with Status Quo, Knowledge and Skills, availability of resources, availability of time, a rewards or incentives program, participation in the form of shared decision making and communication, visible and vocal commitment by key players and stakeholders, and leadership that provides encouragement and support for the new technology. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was the primary statistical procedure used to determine the ability of the IPI-II to accurately measure perceptions in a sample of 252 university faculty and staff. Recommendations are offered to facilitate the process of revising the IPI-II to increase the reliability of the results yielded by the instrument. This study represents the first psychometric evaluation of the IPI-II and the first confirmatory study in the development cycle of the Implementation Profile Inventory.