The Well-being Numerical Rating Scales (WB-NRSs) can be used to assess rapidly and accurately different types of well-being. However, the spiritual well-being scale showed slightly weaker ...psychometric properties. This study aimed to further investigate its suitability in measuring spiritual well-being. Participants (N = 270, age: M = 32.98; SD = 15.64; 67% females) were administered a questionnaire including spiritual well-being, gratitude, compassionate love, and personality traits measures. A network analysis (based on correlations) was used to display graphically the pattern of relationships among the measured constructs (i.e. the nomological net). Results provided evidence that the scale measures spiritual well-being as defined in the literature, that is, a component distinct from faith and compassionate love, but connected to meaning in life, quality of relationships, personality traits, and gratitude. These findings confirm the WB-NRSs is a psychometrically sound and easy-to-use tool with clear benefits for both research and clinical assessment.
This cross-sectional study aimed to provide a scale to assess different aspects of the will based on Roberto Assagioli's theory. The scale development followed three steps. Step 1 focused on ...operationalizing the construct and developing the items. It was carried out through several phases of item generation and refinement, resulting in a pool of 38 items. At Step 2 we tested the psychometric properties of the initial 38-item scale with the goal of excluding the items that weakened the structural validity and reliability of the scale. Descriptive, internal consistency, and exploratory factor analyses statistics were computed on a large sample (Sample 1: N = 587; age: M = 21.55, SD = 4.14, 66% female) and they led to a five-dimension model (Strong, Skillful, Good toward Self and Other, and Transpersonal Will) and the exclusion of 15 items. Analyses conducted at Step 3 on a different sample (Sample 2: N = 683; age: M = 34.09, SD = 16.27, 54% female) allowed for further refinement of the scale. Confirmatory factor analysis conducted on the resulting 19-item scale showed a good fit for the five-factor model (X.sup.2 (142) = 507.63, p< .001, TLI = .91; CFI = .93; RMSEA = .06 90%CI: .06-.07), and evidence of its invariance across genders and ages was provided. Reliability indices (internal consistency and intraclass correlation coefficients) were adequate (ranging from .66 to .83) and correlations with measures of related constructs supported the external validity of the scale. This study provides researchers, therapists, and counselors with an efficient measurement tool to assess Assagioli's construct of will.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The main aim of this study was to provide evidence of the broad employability of the NEQ with patients of different gender and age with cancer in different phases of the disease and care process, ...using an Item Response Theory (IRT) approach and investigating Differential Item Functioning (DIF).
The NEQ was completed by 762 patients visiting, consecutively, outpatient clinics or admitted to oncology wards. Patients included in the study had different primary tumor sites and were in different phases of the disease and care process. The properties of the questionnaire were analyzed by applying IRT to test how well each item of the scale concurs in measuring unmet needs, how reliable the whole scale is, and whether the scale was metrically invariant across gender, age, and phase of the disease.
Results showed that the NEQ performed well in measuring unmet needs and measurement equivalence of the scale across gender, age, and phase of the disease was verified.
The current study supports the utility and broad employability of the NEQ, thus providing empirical evidence that it is psychometrically sound and metrically equivalent across different groups of cancer patients. As such, the scale could be an effective tool when planning psychosocial interventions to improve the care process and patients' quality of life.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The present study aims to validate the Italian version of the revised Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-R). The scale was administered to a large sample of Italian adults (
N
= 689; 54.3% females,
M
age
... = 34.09,
SD
= 16.27, range = 18–84) along with measures of related psychological concepts. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated adequate fit for the three-factor structure of the scale (i.e., manageability, balance, and reflection). Internal consistency and temporal stability indices confirmed the reliability of the scale and associations with related constructs, including personality, general resistance resources, well-being, and stress, provided evidence of its validity. This study demonstrated that the Italian version of the SOC-R is a valid and reliable measure that can be utilized for clinical and research purpose.
Purpose
Financial toxicity (FT) is the unintended, potential economic harm or damage of oncologic treatments that has become a medical problem with political implications. To assess FT, the ...COmprehensive Score for financial Toxicity (COST) questionnaire was developed. Since an Italian version is not available yet, we aimed to validate the Italian version of the COST questionnaire in a population of cancer patients during oncologic treatments or follow-up.
Methods
A sample of Italian native outpatients were asked to fill the Italian version of the COST and five other self-administered questionnaires to assess quality of life, treatment-related symptoms, hope, distress, and unmet needs. Additionally, a subsample of patients was asked to retake the COST after 2–6 weeks.
Results
A single factor better represents the scale structure. Internal consistency and test–retest reliability were good. Evidence of convergent and discriminant validity was provided and criterion validity was established, showing that financial toxicity predicts the patient’s distress. Finally, known-groups validity was confirmed, testing the differences related to treatment-related expenses, sociodemographic characteristics, stage of the disease, and performance status.
Conclusion
The current findings suggest the Italian version of the COST is a psychometrically sound scale that potentially offers an added value in assessing FT in patients with cancer.
The assessment of well-being remains an important topic for many disciplines including medical, psychological, social, educational, and economic fields. The present study assesses the reliability and ...validity of a five-item instrument for evaluating physical, psychological, spiritual, relational, and general well-being. This measure uniquely utilizes a segmented numeric version of the visual analog scale in which a respondent selects a whole number that best reflects the intensity of the investigated characteristic. In study one, 939 clinical (i.e., diagnosed with cancer and liver disease with cirrhosis) and non-clinical (i.e., undergraduate students and their family and acquaintances) participants between the ages of 18 to 87 years (M = 47.20 years, SD = 19.62, 54% males) were recruited. Results showed items have strong discriminant ability and the spread of threshold parameters attests to the appropriateness of the response categories. Moreover, convergent and discriminant validity were found with other self-report measures (e.g., depression, anxiety, optimism, well-being) and the measure showed responsiveness to two separate interventions for clinical populations. In study two, 287 Canadian (ages ranged from 18 to 30 years; M = 20.78, SD = 3.32; 23% males) and 342 Italian undergraduate psychology students (age ranged from 18 to 29 years, M = 21.21 years, SD = 1.73, 38% males) were recruited to complete self-report questionnaires. IRT-based differential item functioning analyses provided evidence that the item properties were similar for the Italian and English versions of the scale. Additionally, the validity results obtained in study one were replicated and similar relationships between criterion variables were found when comparing the Italian- and the English-speaking samples. Overall, the current study provides evidence that the Italian and English versions of the WB-NRSs offer added value in research focused on well-being and in assessing well-being changes prompted by intervention programs.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The present study aims to develop and validate an Italian version of the Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS). A large sample of Italian-speaking participants (N = 1139) completed the BSCS and measures of ...personality and individual dispositions. A clinical sample (N = 217) was administered the Italian version and an English-speaking sample (N = 274) completed the original version to test measurement invariance. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the best fit was observed for a shortened two-factor model (i.e., impulse control and self-discipline). Metric invariance across languages and partial strong invariance across genders, ages, and clinical status were demonstrated. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability for the total scale were adequate, and validity was established based on its correlations with related constructs and confirming that males and young individuals are more likely to have lower self-control. Results support the use of the shortened BSCS version to assess self-control in Italian-speaking individuals.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Introduction
The routine use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical practice improves quality of care, it helps in reducing the access to emergency services and unscheduled visits, and it ...can improve cancer patients’ time survival. The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) is a PRO largely used in different care settings to monitor physical and psychological symptoms. Nonetheless, along with these symptoms, literature also highlighted the presence and effect of spiritual pain, financial distress, and social isolation on quality of care, treatment effectiveness, and survival.
Aim
The aims of the current study were (a) to complete the Italian version of the ESAS validation process by adding the missing symptom “insomnia” and (b) to develop and validate the ESAS–Total Care (ESAS-TC) that is intended to evaluate and screen not only physical and psychological symptoms but also spiritual pain, discomfort deriving from financial problems associated with illness, and suffering related to social isolation.
Methods
A sample of Italian native outpatients, who referred to the dedicated Supportive Care Unit of the Fondazione IRCCS, Istituto Nazionale deiTumori (INT), Milano, were asked to fill the ESAS-TC to assess item properties, factorial structure, internal consistency, test–retest reliability (patients were asked to retake the scale after 2–6 weeks), and external validity. Concerning the latter, other self-administered scales were employed to assess perceived stress (
Perceived Stress Scale
), unmet needs (using the
Need Evaluation Questionnaire
that describes informative, assistance/care, relational, needs for psycho-emotional support, material needs), and perceived social support (administering the
Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support
that evaluates perceived support of family, friends, and significant others in the wider social field).
Results
The scales were administered to 243 patients with solid (90%) and hematologic (10%) cancers, mean age 62.6, female 76.5%. Analysis suggested that a single factor better represents the structure of the ESAS scales, their internal consistency and test–retest reliability were good, and evidence of construct and criterion validity were provided. Additionally, incremental validity of the ESAS-TC was proved showing that the added items offer a unique contribution in predicting the patient’s stress. Finally, known groups validity was confirmed testing the differences in the ESAS scores due to the Karnofsky Performance Status.
Conclusions
The current study allowed to complete the validation of the Italian version of the ESAS and to develop a psychometrically sound scale, the ESAS-Total Care, that potentially helps in moving cancer research toward personalized total cancer care.
Although a number of gambling preventive initiatives have been realized with adolescents, many of them have been developed in absence of a clear and explicitly described theoretical model. The ...present work was aimed to analyze the adequacy of a model to explain gambling behavior referring to
(Study 1), and to verify the effectiveness of a preventive intervention developed on the basis of this model (Study 2). Following dual-process theories on cognitive functioning, in Study 1 we tested a model in which
, i.e., susceptibility to the gambler's fallacy, and
, i.e., superstitious thinking, were the antecedents of gambling-related cognitive distortions that, in turn, affect gambling frequency and problem gambling. Participants were 306 male adolescents (
= 17.2 years). A path analysis indicated that cognitive distortions have a mediating role in the relationship that links probabilistic reasoning fallacy and superstitious thinking with problem gambling. Following these findings, in Study 2 we developed a school-based intervention aimed to reduce gambling-related cognitive distortions acting on the above cited
problems. A pre- and post-test design - with a 6 months follow-up - was performed with 34 male adolescents (
= 16.8), randomly assigned to two groups (Training and No Training), and their baseline equivalence was verified. A Mixed 2 × 2 ANOVA attested a significant Time X Group interaction, indicating a significant reduction of the cognitive distortions from pre-test to post-test only in the Training group. The follow-up attested to the stability of the training effects and the reduction of gambling frequency over time. These findings suggest that prevention strategies should address
problems, which can be considered as predictors of gambling-related cognitive distortions.
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