Chronic health conditions in youth have increased over the last several decades. It is estimated that within the United States there are between 15% to 18% of youth who are living with a chronic health condition (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2010). The CDC defines a chronic health condition as an illness that lasts for three months or longer that can be managed, but not cured (CDC, 2010). Although there is some research on youth living with chronic illnesses, there are minimal studies that assess the constructs of health literacy, resiliency, and support/advocacy within this population. The current investigation was a validity study of the Health Literacy and Resiliency Scale (HLRS). This is a newly developed 37-item measure that assesses the level of health literacy, resiliency, and support/self-advocacy among chronically ill youth (Bradley-Klug, Shaffer-Hudkins, Lynn, DeLoatche, & Montgomery, 2017). Specifically, the study correlated the construct of resiliency in the HLRS with the resiliency construct from the Child Youth and Resiliency Measure (CYRM; Ungar & Liebenberg, 2011). This measure is a 28-item measure that assesses levels of resiliency among youth and young adults. The goals for this study included: 1) determining the extent to which the results of the factor analysis from the current study are consistent with the three-factor model from the original study, 2) assessing the relationship between the HLRS and the CYRM, and 3) determining the reliability (internal consistency) of the scores of the HLRS. More importantly, since there have only been preliminary analyses conducted on the psychometric properties for the HLRS, this study was the first step towards providing validation for this measure. Participants were recruited through several methods including community-based organizations and online outlets. There were a total of 226 participants, with 54% identifying as White, 31% African American, and the remaining identifying as other. Sixty-one percent were female. The participants were English-speaking with a diagnosis of a chronic health condition given at least six months prior. Some of the conditions that were frequently identified among the sample included: diabetes, HIV, lupus, cystic fibrosis, ADHD, and asthma. Individuals were asked to complete the HLRS, CYRM, and a demographic survey online. The results indicated that the reliability of the values of the three factors in the HLRS ranged from acceptable to excellent. The results also included a correlation between the scores from the HLRS and CYRM. For the HLRS there were strong correlations between the resiliency and support/self-advocacy factors and health literacy and support/self-advocacy factors. For the CYRM, there was a strong correlation (r =.954) with the resiliency factor indicating that the resiliency factor within the HLRS aligns with the resiliency construct that is measured in the CYRM. Some items on the HLRS loaded on more than one factor indicating the need for further consideration of particular items on that scale. Overall, these data provide additional support for the HLRS scale and suggest that the scale may be a step closer to being utilized in applied settings.

The Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale (SCBCS) is a brief measure of compassion, created in English and translated into Brazilian Portuguese. Nonetheless, to date, no study has assessed the psychometric evidence of its Spanish translation. This study examines the evidence of validity, reliability, and factorial invariance according to the gender of a Spanish version of the SCBCS. Participants included 273 Peruvian university students (50.9% women) with an average age of 21.23 years (SD = 3.24); divided into two groups of men and women to conduct the invariance factor analysis. Other measures of mindfulness, well-being, empathy, and anxiety were applied along with the SCBCS. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) indicated that a unifactorial model adjusted significantly to the data (χ2 = 12,127, df = 5, p =.033, χ2 /df = 2.42, CFI =.998, RMSEA =.072 [CI90%.019,.125]; SRMR =.030, WRMR =.551) and presented good reliability (α =.90 [95%.88–.92]; ω =.91). Moreover, correlations between the SCBCS and other measures of mindfulness (r =.53, p <.05, cognitive empathy (r = 55; p <.05), affective empathy (r =.56, p <.05), well-being (r =.55, p <.05), and anxiety (r = −.46; p <.05) supported the convergent and discriminant validity. Likewise, the multiple-group CFA supported the factorial invariance according to the gender of the SCBCS. Results indicate that the SCBCS possesses evidence of validity, reliability, and invariance between men and women for measuring compassion toward others in Peruvian undergraduate students. SCBCS is expected to be used by researchers, healthcare professionals, teachers, and others as a useful measure of compassion in college students.

Item-response theory (IRT)assumes that the model fits the data. One commonly overlooked aspect of model-fit assessment is an examination of personfit, or person-fit assessment (PFA). One reason that PFA lacks popularity among psychometricians is that comprehensive software is notpresent.This dissertation outlines the development and testing ofa new software package, called wizirt, that will begin to meet this need. This software package provides a wide gamut of tools to the user but is currently limited to unidimensional, dichotomous, and parametricmodels. The wizirt package is built in the open source language R, where it combines the capabilities of a number of other R packages under a single syntax.In addition to the wizirt package, I have created a number of resources to help users learn to use the package. This includes support for individuals who have never used R before, as well as more experienced R users.

Safety interventions must be approached in a holistic manner, by taking cognisance of the organisational system in which accidents present themselves. Thus, a need to understand the individual in context of the organisational system that he/she functions in exists. This study focuses on the relationship between attitudes, beliefs, intention, perception, control and the propensity of employees to engage in unsafe behaviour, with a view towards improving safety statistics. In this regard the study investigated the construct validity of a Safety Survey instrument, based on the responses (n=450) of employees in the mining industry. An Exploratory Factor Analysis showed that the Safety Survey instrument differentiated between two to three underlying factors. The result of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis tested two models by demonstrating the minimum requirements of the goodness of fit indexes. The construct validity of the Safety Survey instrument could be established for two nested models that identified an internal and external locus of control factor. The statistical evidence indicated an acceptable model fit. The statistical evidence validated the construct validity of the measurement model. Copyright 2008, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Windbacher, M 2008, Determining the construct validity of the safety survey instrument, MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-02202012-123434 / > C12/4/66/gm / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Background: Feeding and swallowing difficulties (FSD) have been found in typically developing children as well as in children with complex medical conditions and developmental disabilities. These difficulties cause negative health consequences such as aspiration pneumonia, chronic lung disease, failure to thrive, prolonged hospital stay and even death. The early identification and management of feeding and swallowing difficulties is important as it prevents the negative effects on health and quality of life. Hence, there is a need for a validated screening tool to use in the general hospitalized paediatric population. Research Aims: The aim of this study was to validate the Feeding and Swallowing Questionnaire as a screening tool, in the paediatric population aged 0 – 2 years admitted to general medical wards. The secondary aim was to describe the FSD presenting in the paediatric population aged 0 - 2 years who are hospitalized in the general medical wards. Methodology: A prospective, descriptive, clinimetric design was utilized. A sample of 107 participants admitted to the general medical wards at Steve Biko Academic Hospital were included in the study. Participants’ feeding and swallowing was screened by a research assistant using the Feeding and Swallowing Questionnaire. After the screening, a clinical feeding and swallowing assessment was conducted for comparison, the assessment was conducted by the student researcher using the Clinical Feeding and Swallowing Assessment Tool. Results: There was a 27% FSD prevalence, with the majority of cases (92%) occurring in children under one year of age. One hundred and three children (63% male; median (IQR) age 5.2 (2.1 – 12.8) months) underwent screening and clinical assessment for feeding and swallowing disorders. The criterion validity of the Feeding and swallowing Questionnaire was established with a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 32%. Internal consistency was achieved with an acceptable Cronbach’s alpha of 0.79, and good inter-rater reliability (80%). Participants presented with feeding difficulties in all the phases of swallowing, while some participants had behavioural feeding difficulties. Those who had FSD had the following medical conditions: cardiorespiratory, neurological and gastrointestinal disorders namely acute gastroenteritis and liver disease. Feeding and swallowing difficulties were associated with increased mealtime duration (p=0.005) and supplementary oxygen support (p=0.03). Conclusion: The results confirm that the Feeding and Swallowing Questionnaire shows promising findings as a reliable and valid tool for the identification of FSD in the general hospitalized paediatric population. However, further research in other setting with general paediatric medical wards is required to increase the robustness of the screening tool.

The purpose of the current study was to provide both additional evidence of the psychometric properties of the TIPSA by examining reliability and validity coefficients, and to add to the empirical evidence for the application of betrayal trauma theory outside the context of complex and/or historical trauma. It was hypothesized that internal-consistency coefficients for the TIPSA would exceed 0.70; the TIPSA and the PTSD Checklist for DSM 5 (PCL-5) would be significantly positively correlated; the TIPSA and the Composite Codependency Scale (CCS) would not be significantly correlated; and that neither Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) nor Benevolent Childhood Experiences (BCE) scores would be significantly correlated with, or have a significant effect on TIPSA or PCL-5 scores. This study was conducted using anonymous survey data from192 female participants who self-identified as partners of sex addicts. Participants completed the TIPSA, PCL-5, CCS, ACE, and BCE measures. All reliability estimates for the TIPSA were above 0.70, as were all total-scale reliability estimates for the additional measures. Correlation between the TIPSA and PCL-5 produced a Pearson's r of 0.851 (p = 5.541 E-55), which indicated a large effect size. Correlations with additional measures produced statistically significant, yet small to weak, effect sizes (CCS: r = 0.292; ACE: r = -0.173; BCE: r = 0.244). Based on study results, there appears to be sufficient evidence to establish convergent validity of the TIPSA as a measure of trauma symptoms. Moreover, statistical evidence indicates only a weak relationship between the TIPSA and the CCS, thus establishing divergent validity of the TIPSA. Finally, neither the BCE nor the ACE was strongly correlated with the TIPSA, which adds to the empirical evidence for utilizing betrayal trauma theory outside the context of complex trauma, and also serves to provide additional evidence for divergent validity of the TIPSA.

Item-response theory (IRT)assumes that the model fits the data. One commonly overlooked aspect of model-fit assessment is an examination of personfit, or person-fit assessment (PFA). One reason that PFA lacks popularity among psychometricians is that comprehensive software is notpresent.This dissertation outlines the development and testing ofa new software package, called wizirt, that will begin to meet this need. This software package provides a wide gamut of tools to the user but is currently limited to unidimensional, dichotomous, and parametricmodels. The wizirt package is built in the open source language R, where it combines the capabilities of a number of other R packages under a single syntax.In addition to the wizirt package, I have created a number of resources to help users learn to use the package. This includes support for individuals who have never used R before, as well as more experienced R users.

The verity of conclusions drawn from psychological research hinges on the reliability and validity of the measures used to collect the data. Any research conducted using measures with low reliability or validity is rendered essentially useless; thus, reporting reliability and validity evidence for measures employed in research is an essential component in creating rigorous, replicable research. Multiple reporting standards have been implemented and revised over the years with the intent to improve measurement and reporting practices within clinical psychology, though few guidelines have been suggested regarding adequate reporting practices for studies' measures. We reviewed a representative sample of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) published in the Journal of Clinical and Counseling Psychology in 1994, 2002, 2010, and 2018 for reported reliability and validity evidence. We examined whether the implementation of reporting standards led to improvement in reporting measures' reliability and validity evidence over time, along with how frequently articles recently published in one of the top clinical psychology journals reported reliability and validity evidence. We found that only 58.1% of measures used in articles published in 2018 reported reliability evidence, and only 12.4% reported validity evidence. Furthermore, although reporting of reliability and validity evidence has improved when comparing articles published in 2018 to those published in 1994 or 2002, such reporting practices were not significantly different from articles published in 2010. We provide a discussion of the importance of these findings and recommendations for improving reporting practices in future research.

There is no information in Peru on the prevalence of mental health problems associated with COVID-19 in older adults. In this sense, the aim of the study was to gather evidence on the factor structure, criterion-related validity, and reliability of the Spanish version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) in this population. The participants were 400 older adults (mean age = 68.04, SD = 6.41), who were administered the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, Revised Mental Health Inventory-5, Patient Health Questionnaire-2 items, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale 2 items. Structural equation models were estimated, specifically confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), bifactor CFA, and structural models with latent variables (SEM). Internal consistency was estimated with composite reliability indexes (CRI) and omega coefficients. A bifactor model with both a general factor underlying all items plus a specific factor underlying items 1, 2, 4, and 5 representing the emotional response to COVID better represents the factor structure of the scale. This structure had adequate fit and good reliability, and additionally fear of COVID had a large effect on mental health. In general, women had more fear than men, having more information on COVID was associated to more fear, while having family or friends affected by COVID did not related to fear of the virus. The Spanish version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale presents evidence of validity and reliability to assess fear of COVID-19 in the Peruvian older adult population.

Title: Validity assessment of the grading scale evaluation in a new bouldering area. Objectives: The aim of this work is to assess the grading scale validity of bouldering routes in a new area. Methods: Routes grading was verified by a group of six men and four women. The evaluation took place during one continuous visit in the rocks with an individual rest period between problems. The classification of each of the 10 ascents was conducted immediately after finishing the specific problem. It was done individually, without the possibility to consult their guesses and ideas. The proposed difficulties of the classified routes ranged from 12 to 17 IRCRA. Results: The average rating of the route difficulty classification was 0.89 IRCRA points higher than the initial suggestion, with minor differences between men and women. The influence of climbers' performance on their ability to assess routes' difficulty was statistically insignificant. Conclusion: The first climbers of boulders in the area of Goethe rock underestimate the climbing grades, which proves that the determination of difficulty in local climbing centers can be significantly skewed compared to established standards. Keywords: bouldering, grading scales, IRCRA, validity