The development of a screening questionnaire for childhood cruelty to animals

Childhood cruelty to animals may be a marker of poor prognosis amongst conduct disordered children. However, other than semistructured interviews with parents or children, there are no screening instruments for this behavior. The aim of this study was to develop such an instrument. In the first phase of the study, a parent-report questionnaire, Children's Attitudes and Behaviors Towards Animals (CABTA) was designed and piloted on 360 elementary school children, enabling community norms and a factor structure for the instrument to be derived. In the second phase, the questionnaire was completed by the parents of a small sample of children (N= 17) to establish its test-retest reliability. In the third phase of the study, the CABTA was completed by the parents of 19 children who had been diagnosed with either a Disruptive Behavioral Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and the results were compared with the outcome of a semistructured interview with parents regarding their child's behavior toward animals. The results of the various phases of the study indicated that the CABTA consists of two factors, Typical and Malicious Cruelty to animals, and is a reliable and valid tool for detecting childhood cruelty to animals. Possible use and adaptations of the CABTA as a screening instrument in clinical and community samples are discussed.

The structure of the perceived sociocultural influences on body image and body change questionnaire

This article is concerned with the development and evaluation of the Perceived Sociocultural Influences on Body Image and Body Change Questionnaire. The scale was designed to assess the perceived nature of feedback received from mother, father, best male friend, and best female friend to gain weight, lose weight, and increase muscle tone. The perceived feedback from the media on each of these areas also was assessed. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted with 240 adolescent boys (mean age = 13.83 years) and 204 adolescent girls (mean age = 13.70 years). A 3-factor structure was found for the 4 scales that related to perceived feedback from mother, father, best male friend, and best female friend. Feedback on muscle tone loaded with both weight loss and weight gain. The three factors related to (a) general feedback; (b) encourage, tease, and modeling to gain weight and increase muscle tone, and (c) encourage, tease, and modeling to lose weight and increase muscle tone. The factor structure and the items that made up these factors were the same for both boys and girls for each of the 4 scales. The Perceived Media Influences Scale formed 3 factors for girls. These factors related to gaining weight, losing weight, and increasing muscle tone. For boys, the same 9 items formed a single factor. The same items were retained for boys and girls. A confirmatory factor analysis with 822 adolescents (382 boys, mean age = 14.02 years; 440 girls, mean age = 13.82 years) confirmed the previously described factor structure. These results demonstrate that the Perceived Sociocultural Influences on Body Image and Body Change Questionnaire is able to assess body image and body change strategies that are relevant for both boys and girls.

The assessment of motivation for behaviour change among sex offenders against children: an investigation of the utility of the Stages of Change Questionnaire

A better understanding of motivation for behaviour change among sex offenders against children would improve treatment programmes designed to modify sexual offending behaviour. However, investigation of this issue is limited by lack of theoretically and empirically sound measures of motivation for behaviour change among sex offenders. This paper reports on two studies that were conducted to investigate the psychometric properties (validity, reliability, and social desirability) of the Stages of Change Questionnaire, adapted to measure motivation for behaviour change among sex offenders against children. In Study 1, the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were assessed for sex offenders against children (n=36) who were on a treatment waiting list. In Study 2, the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were assessed for sex offenders against children (n=47) at pre-treatment, mid-treatment, and post-treatment. Both studies supported the validity and reliability of the adapted Stages of Change Questionnaire, and the influence of social desirability upon responding was less than expected. The results of this investigation supported the potential utility of the Stages of Change Questionnaire as a measure of motivation for behaviour change for sex offenders against children.

Furthering the use of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire: reliability with younger child respondents

A sample of 917 children, aged 7 to 17 years, their parents, and their teachers each completed the appropriate version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and 120 from each group did so again 2 weeks later. The results indicate that the SDQ demonstrates sound interinformant and test-retest reliability. Younger children, whose self-reports have not been assessed in previous studies, were reliable in their responding, although not as reliable as older children by these measures. However, the internal reliability of the various subscales, in particular, the peer problems subscale, is questionable for both older and younger child respondents. Overall the findings suggest that the SDQ's use may be extended cautiously to include self-report from younger children.

Normative data for the strengths and difficulties questionnaire in Australia

The purpose of this study was to establish Australian norms for the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), a recently developed screening instrument for child and adolescent mental health problems. A random sample consisting of 910 children aged 7-17 years recruited through government schools across Victoria, their parents and their teachers completed the appropriate version of the SDQ. The sample contained the expected spread of normal and abnormal scores according to the UK norms for the SDQ. As previous analyses have suggested that scores on the five subscales and the total difficulties scale of the SDQ may very with age and gender, separate norms for each of the three informant versions, by age and gender are presented in tabular form for children aged 7-17 years.

Development and reliability of a self-report questionnaire to examine children's perceptions of the physical activity environment at home and in the neighbourhood

Background: Environmental factors are increasingly being implicated as key influences on children's physical activity. Few studies have comprehensively examined children's perceptions of their environment, and there is a paucity of literature on acceptable and reliable scales for measuring these. This study aimed to develop and test the acceptability and reliability of a scale which examined a broad range of environmental perceptions among children.
Methods: Based on constructs from ecological models, a survey incorporating items on children's perceptions of the physical and social environment at home and in the neighbourhood was developed. This was administered on two occasions, nine days apart, to a sample of 39 children aged 11 years (54% boys), attending a metropolitan Australian elementary school. The acceptability of the survey was determined by the proportion of missing responses to each item. The test-retest reliability of individual items, scores and scales were determined using Kappa statistics and percent agreement for categorical variables, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for continuous variables.
Results: There were few missing responses to each question, with only 4% of all responses missing. Although some Kappa values were low, all categorical variables showed acceptable reliability when examined for percent agreement between test and retest (range 68%–100% agreement). Continuous variables all showed moderate to good ICC values (range 0.72–0.92).
Conclusion: Findings suggest this questionnaire is reliable and acceptable to children for assessing environmental perceptions relevant to physical activity among 11-year-old children.

Critical care nurses' beliefs about discharge planning process: a questionnaire survey

Aim: To report on the beliefs of critical care nurses with regard to the discharge planning process, in Victoria, Australia.

Methods: An exploratory descriptive design was used. A total of 502 Victorian critical care nurses were approached to take part in the study. A total of 218 eligible participants completed the survey, which represented a nett response rate of 43.4%. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics.

Results: The current discharge planning processes are ad hoc and influenced by patient acuity. Critical care nurses believe that workload issues, unplanned discharges and inadequate communication contribute to difficulties implementing the discharge plan.

Validation of a food-frequency questionnaire assessment of carotenoid and vitamin E intake using weighed food records and plasma biomarkers: the method of triads model.

Background: Reliability or validity studies are important for the evaluation of measurement error in dietary assessment methods. An approach to validation known as the method of triads uses triangulation techniques to calculate the validity coefficient of a food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ).

Objective: To assess the validity of an FFQ estimates of carotenoid and vitamin E intake against serum biomarker measurements and weighed food records (WFRs), by applying the method of triads. Design: The study population was a sub-sample of adult participants in a randomised controlled trial of b-carotene and sunscreen in the prevention of skin cancer. Dietary intake was assessed by a self-administered FFQ and a WFR. Nonfasting blood samples were collected and plasma analysed for five carotenoids (a-carotene, b-carotene, b-cryptoxanthin, lutein, lycopene) and vitamin E. Correlation coefficients were calculated between each of the dietary methods and the validity coefficient was calculated using
the method of triads. The 95% confidence intervals for the validity coefficients were estimated using bootstrap sampling.

Results: The validity coefficients of the FFQ were highest for a-carotene (0.85) and lycopene (0.62), followed by b-carotene (0.55) and total carotenoids (0.55), while the lowest validity coefficient was for lutein (0.19). The method of triads could not be used for b-cryptoxanthin and vitamin E, as one of the three underlying correlations was negative.

Conclusions: Results were similar to other studies of validity using biomarkers and the method of triads. For many dietary factors, the upper limit of the validity coefficients was less than 0.5 and therefore only strong relationships between dietary exposure and disease will be detected.

The health and well-being of adolescents: a school-based population study of the self-report child health questionnaire

Purpose: To evaluate a new generic measure of adolescent health status, the self-report version of the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ), and provide population-based data. Furthermore, we aimed to examine the impact of common adolescent illness and health concerns on their health and well-being.

Methods: A stratified, two-stage, random cluster sampling design was used to obtain a cross-sectional sample of subjects through schools. A written questionnaire included the 80-item 12-scale self-report CHQ and items measuring health concerns, illnesses/health conditions, and sociodemographics.

Results: A total of 2361 adolescents participated (response rate of 70%). Reliability was high: Tests of internal consistency and discriminant validity reported 90% of item-scale correlations >.4; all scales had Cronbach alpha coefficients >.7. Adolescents with illnesses/conditions or health concerns reported lower scores and larger differences for content-related scales, supporting content and construct validity. Statistically significant age and gender trends were observed for Mental Health, Self-Esteem, General Health, and Family Cohesion scales. Health status worsened as health concerns increased (X2 linear trend, p = .00) with deterioration in health of 5–20% on all scales for emotional health concerns (40% of sample).

Conclusions: The self-report CHQ is a reliable and seemingly valid measure of health and well-being for adolescent health research, although additional measures may be required where scales have high ceiling values. The significantly lower scores reported by adolescents with illness and/or health concerns lend support to the use of standardized health measures and longitudinal research to further examine the impact of adolescent comorbidities and their causal determinants.

Developing the task and ego orientation at work questionnaire

Although widely researched in education and sport, little research examines employee achievement goal orientations in a work context. This article provides validity and reliability evidence for the Task and Ego Orientation at Work Questionnaire (TEOWQ) from a study of378 employees representing from eight different occupational categories. Confirmatory factor analyses indicate that are-specified model comprising two ego ("Being the best" and "being better than others") and two task sub-factors ("Learning" and "Effort") fit the data better than the original two-factor model. Temporal stationarity and stability of the constructs over time receive support. As hypothesized, task and task-effort orientations relate positively with persistence while ego orientation does not. The TEOWQ appears to be a valid and reliable instrument of achievement orientation in a work setting.

The VISA-A questionnaire: a valid and reliable index of the clinical severity of Achilles tendinoplasty

Background: There is no disease specific, reliable, and valid clinical measure of Achilles tendinopathy. Objective: To develop and test a questionnaire based instrument that would serve as an index of severity of Achilles tendinopathy. Methods: Item generation, item reduction, item scaling, and pretesting were used to develop a questionnaire to assess the severity of Achilles tendinopathy. The final version consisted of eight  questions that measured the domains of pain, function in daily living, and sporting activity. Results range from 0 to 100, where 100 represents the perfect score. Its validity and reliability were then tested in a population of non-surgical patients with Achilles tendinopathy (n = 45), presurgical patients with Achilles tendinopathy (n = 14), and two normal control populations (total n = 87). Results: The VISA-A questionnaire had good test-retest (r = 0.93), intrarater (three tests, r = 0.90), and interrater (r = 0.90) reliability as well as good stability when compared one week apart (r = 0.81). The mean (95% confidence interval) VISA-A score in the non-surgical patients was 64 (59–69), in presurgical patients 44 (28–60), and in control subjects it exceeded 96 (94–99). Thus the VISA-A score was higher in non-surgical than presurgical patients (p = 0.02) and higher in control subjects than in both patient populations (p<0.001). Conclusions: The VISA-A questionnaire is reliable and displayed construct validity when means were compared in patients with a range of severity of Achilles tendinopathy and control subjects. The continuous numerical result of the VISA-A questionnaire has the potential to provide utility in both the clinical setting and research. The test is not designed to be diagnostic. Further studies are needed to determine whether the VISA-A score predicts prognosis.

Improved questionnaire for gathering student perceptions of teaching and learning

An instrument used to gather university students’ perceptions of their learning environments, the Perceptions of Learning Environments Questionnaire (PLEQ) has been used recently in higher education research. The current paper examines the strengths and limitations of the PLEQ, particularly in relation to uncovering student perceptions about responsibility for their own learning. A study trialling a modified questionnaire, which
builds on the advances and addresses the limitations of the PLEQ, is reported.

Psychometric properties of the quality of life questionnaire for children with CP

This paper describes the development and psychometric properties of a condition-specific quality of life instrument for children with cerebral palsy (CP QOL-Child). A sample of 205 primary caregivers of children with CP aged 4 to 12 years (mean 8y 5mo) and 53 children aged 9 to 12 years completed the CP QOL-Child. The children (112 males, 93 females) were sampled across Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels (Level I=18%, II=28%, III=14%, IV=11%, V=27%). Primary caregivers also completed other measures of child health (Child Health Questionnaire; CHQ), QOL (KIDSCREEN), and functioning (GMFCS). Internal consistency ranged from 0.74 to 0.92 for primary caregivers and from 0.80 to 0.90 for child self-report. For primary caregivers, 2-week test-retest reliability ranged from 0.76 to 0.89. The validity of the CP QOL is supported by the pattern of correlations between CP QOL-Child scales with the CHQ, KIDSCREEN, and GMFCS. Preliminary statistics suggest that the child self-report questionnaire has acceptable psychometric properties. The questionnaire can be freely accessed at http://www.deakin.edu.ac/hmnbs/chase/cerebralpalsy/cp_qol_home.php.

The factor structure of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been widely adopted as a measure of child and adolescent mental health and behavioral problems. However, despite an impressive number of studies demonstrating its psychometric properties, appropriate analyses of the instrument's underlying structure have not been reported. We conducted confirmatory factor analyses on matched data obtained from a large community sample of 7-17-year-olds, their parents, and their teachers. The analyses indicated that the reputed factor structure was not supported, with none of the subscales being unidimensional. Further, each informant group appeared to respond differently to the questionnaire. Considering the findings in relation to the stringency of the tests used to evaluate the SDQ, its utility, and previous research on its clinical validity, it is suggested that the SDQ be used with caution and in conjunction with other forms of assessment.