The Health Behavior Change Competency Checklist (HBCCC): Instrument development and psychometric evaluation.

More than half of morbidity and mortality in the United States can be attributed to behavior-related disease, such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, poor diet and alcohol consumption. Given the increased prevalence of behaviorally related medical health concerns, physician competence in the implementation of effective behavior change strategies is quickly becoming an essential skill. However, only recently have primary care residency programs begun to systematically teach and evaluate motivational interviewing skills critical to influencing health behavior, and use of standardized, objective assessment tools to assess skillfulness has been largely absent. This paper reports the development of a checklist, the Health Behavior Change Competency Checklist (HBCCC). The instrument captures the theoretical model of behavior change, motivational interviewing, in a practical and versatile manner. Psychometric evaluation demonstrated moderate efficacy. Namely, results indicated the HBCCC possesses good reliability, as evidenced by high internal consistency, and adequate construct validity. It also displayed considerable utility and practical application. While these results provide several reasons for confidence in the HBCCC, item revision and additional testing are required in order to establish it as a meaningful and valuable instrument.

Development of a psychological assessment battery to measure client beliefs about the effectiveness of psychotherapy

The author attempted to develop a brief scale to measure clients' beliefs about the effectiveness of psychotherapy. The study is an early pilot study to determine if the scale can predict therapy outcomes. While the scale did differ significantly between clients who were active in therapy and those who were not, higher scores on the instrument were not indicative of greater involvement. Possibilities for future research to refine the instrument are discussed.

Development of the DORI-TBI: An Investigation to Develop a New Screening Measure to Determine Consultation with a School-Based Brain Injury Resource Team

Brain injury is the leading cause of disability and death in children in the United States. Student re-entry into the school setting following a traumatic brain injury is crucial to student success. Multidisciplinary teams within the school district comprised of individuals with expertise in brain injury are ideal in implementing student specific treatment plans given their specialized training and wide range of expertise addressing student needs. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop and initially validate a quantitative instrument that school personnel can use to determine if a student, identified as having a traumatic brain injury, will benefit from district-level consultation from a brain injury team. Three studies were designed to investigate the research questions. In study one, the planning and construction of the DORI-TBI was completed. Study two addressed the content validity of the DORI-TBI through a comparison analysis with other referral forms, content review with experts in the field of TBI, and cognitive interviews with professionals to test the usability of the new screening tool. In study three, a field administration was conducted using vignettes to measure construct validity. Results produced a valid and reliable new screening instrument that can aid school-based teams to more efficiently utilize district level consultation with a brain injury support team.