Using Rasch modeling to measure acculturation in youth.

Ethnic differences in health outcomes are assumed to reflect levels of acculturation, among other factors. Health surveys frequently include language and social interaction items taken from existing acculturation instruments. This study evaluated the dimensionality of responses to typical bilinear items in Latino youth using Rasch modeling. Two seven-item scales measuring Anglo-Hispanic orientation were adapted from Marin and Gamba (1996) and Cuellar, Arnold, and Maldonado (1995). Most of the items fit the Rasch model. However, there were gaps in both the Hispanic and Anglo scales. The Anglo items were not well targeted for the sample because most students reported they always spoke English. The lack of variability found in a heterogeneous sample of Latino youth has negative implications for the common practice of relying on language as a measure of acculturation. Acculturation instruments for youth probably need more sensitive items to discriminate linguistic differences, or to measure other factors.

Farmworkers at the border: a bilingual initiative for occupational health and safety.

OBJECTIVE: Bilingual and bicultural occupational health and safety interventions for Hispanic farmworkers are extremely rare and, because of language barriers and cultural differences, issues important to their health and safety on the job remain unaddressed. We designed, conducted, and assessed the first bilingual occupational health and safety education program for farmworkers attending High School Equivalency Programs (HEPs). METHODS: We took an interdisciplinary participatory approach by integrating educators and researchers with a community advisory board to guide development, evaluation, and implementation of Work Safely-Trabaje con Cuidado Curriculum (Curriculum), a bilingual occupational health and safety curriculum. We created a quasi-experimental design using mixed-method evaluation (quantitative and qualitative elements) via pre- and posttest comparisons, follow-up surveys, and focus groups assessing the Curriculum effect on knowledge, safety risk perception (SRP), and safety behavior. Focus groups and follow-up surveys reflected success and acceptance of the Curriculum among participating farmworkers under the study's logic model. RESULTS: Completion of the Curriculum resulted in statistically significant improvements in the combined score of knowledge and SRP at the posttest (p = 0.001) and follow-up survey (p = 0.02) in the intervention group. After completing this study, the Curriculum was permanently adopted by the two high school equivalency sites involved. CONCLUSION: The participatory approach resulted in integration of community and applied research partnership. The potential to expand use of this Curriculum by other HEP sites can further assess effectiveness and external validity among underserved minority groups.

Awareness and implementation of tobacco dependence treatment guidelines in Arizona: Healthcare Systems Survey 2000.

BACKGROUND: This paper presents findings from the Tobacco Control in Arizona Healthcare Systems Survey, conducted in 2000. The purpose of the survey was to assess the status of Arizona healthcare systems' awareness and implementation of tobacco cessation and prevention measures. METHODS: The 20-item survey was developed by The University of Arizona HealthCare Partnership in collaboration with the Arizona Department of Health Services Bureau of Tobacco Education and Prevention. It was mailed to representatives of Arizona's 40 healthcare systems, including commercial and Medicare managed care organizations, "managed Medicaid" organizations, Veterans Affairs Health Care Systems, and Indian Health Service Medical Centers. Thirty-three healthcare systems (83%) completed the survey. RESULTS: The majority of healthcare systems reported awareness of at least one tobacco cessation and prevention clinical practice guideline, but only one third reported full guideline implementation. While a majority covered some form of behavioral therapy, less than half reported covering tobacco treatment medications. "Managed Medicaid" organizations administered through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System were significantly less likely to offer coverage for behavioral therapy and less likely to cover pharmacotherapy than were their non-Medicaid counterparts in managed care, Veterans Affairs Health Care Systems and Indian Health Service Medical Centers. CONCLUSION: Arizona healthcare system coverage for tobacco cessation in the year 2000 was comparable to national survey findings of the same year. The findings that only 10% of "Managed Medicaid" organizations covered tobacco treatment medication and were significantly less likely to cover behavioral therapy were important given the nearly double smoking prevalence among Medicaid patients. Throughout the years of the program, the strategic plan of the Arizona Department of Health Services Bureau of Tobacco Education and Prevention has included the goal of identifying and eliminating tobacco related disparities for special populations, including low-income groups. Of importance, in 2008 the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System was authorized to provide tobacco cessation pharmacotherapy as a covered benefit for its members.

Age differences in recognition of emotion in lexical stimuli and facial expressions.

Age differences in emotion recognition from lexical stimuli and facial expressions were examined in a cross-sectional sample of adults aged 18 to 85 (N = 357). Emotion-specific response biases differed by age: Older adults were disproportionately more likely to incorrectly label lexical stimuli as happiness, sadness, and surprise and to incorrectly label facial stimuli as disgust and fear. After these biases were controlled, findings suggested that older adults were less accurate at identifying emotions than were young adults, but the pattern differed across emotions and task types. The lexical task showed stronger age differences than the facial task, and for lexical stimuli, age groups differed in accuracy for all emotional states except fear. For facial stimuli, in contrast, age groups differed only in accuracy for anger, disgust, fear, and happiness. Implications for age-related changes in different types of emotional processing are discussed.

Evidence-based medicine: discrepancy between perceived competence and actual performance among graduating medical students.

Since at the time of graduation from medical school physicians are expected to demonstrate adequate professional competence including mastery of critical appraisal skills, we conducted a preliminary, cross-sectional, web-based study to examine the extent to which fourth year medical students in the US are competent in core areas of evidence-based medicine (EBM). Using self-assessment instruments, subjects (n = 150) were asked to demonstrate their ability to understand the practical meaning of key methodological and data analysis constructs as they relate to patient care, to rate their perceived competence in core areas of EBM and to disclose their attitudes toward critical appraisal of the literature and EBM. The mean score in our cohort was 55% suggesting that students may have knowledge gaps that interfere with their ability to critically appraise the medical literature. There was an apparent chasm between subjects' perceived competence and their actual performance on the assessment instrument. These findings, if corroborated in larger studies, (1) suggest that better education in EBM is needed so as to avoid the possibility that patient care may inadvertently be jeopardized; and (2) cast doubt on the use of self-assessed knowledge as a proxy for actual skills with respect to EBM and medical decision-making.

Psychological stress preceding idiopathic ventricular fibrillation.

OBJECTIVE: Emotional stress is well established as a trigger of sudden death in the context of coronary heart disease (CHD), but its role in patients experiencing cardiac arrest with apparently normal hearts is unknown. This study sought to determine the role of psychosocial stress as a precipitant of cardiac arrest in patients with apparently normal hearts, so-called idiopathic ventricular fibrillation (IVF). METHODS: We interviewed 25 IVF survivors (12 men, 13 women) and 25 matched comparison patients regarding life events during the 6 months and 24 hours preceding the cardiac event. The comparison group consisted of patients with an acute myocardial infarction or angina pectoris requiring angioplasty but without cardiac arrest. Judges independently rated written summaries of these interviews for psychosocial stress at each time point on a three-point scale (low, moderate, severe). RESULTS: During the 6 months before the cardiac event, 20 patients sustaining IVF had severe/moderate stress and five had low stress, whereas 10 comparison patients had severe/moderate stress and 15 had low stress (Fisher exact p = .008). During the preceding 24 hours, nine patients with IVF had severe/moderate stress and 16 had low stress, whereas two comparison patients had severe/moderate stress and 22 had low stress (Fisher exact p = .04) (one silent myocardial infarction could not be precisely dated). CONCLUSION: These data suggest that psychosocial stress is playing a role in otherwise unexplained cardiac arrest.

Validity of measures is no simple matter.

PURPOSE AND METHOD: This article aims to promote a better understanding of the nature of measurement, the special problems posed by measurement in the social sciences, and the inevitable limitations on inferences in science (so that results are not overinterpreted), by using the measurement of blood pressure as an example. As it is necessary to raise questions about the meaning and extent of the validity of something as common as measured blood pressure, even more serious questions are unavoidable in relation to other commonly used measures in social science. The central issue is the validity of the inferences about the construct rather than the validity of the measure per se. CONCLUSION: It is important to consider the definition and validity of the construct at issue as well as the adequacy of its representation in the measurement instrument. By considering a particular construct within the context of a conceptual model, researchers and clinicians will improve their understanding of the construct's validity as measured.

Measuring progress toward smoking cessation.

Measuring the effect of behavioral interventions is often limited to a single outcome variable for ease of analysis. In the case of low probability outcomes, this narrow focus may often result in Type II errors, reducing the likelihood of detecting an effect of an intervention. The development and use of a scale to measure progress toward the ultimate desired change in behavior might result in greater sensitivity to subtle, but important, effects of interventions. That possibility is illustrated by the development and exploratory testing of a scale meant to measure penetration into the process of change with respect to smoking cessation. The scale consists of a set of outcome indicators that are intended to represent the sequential steps that smokers go through in moving toward and ultimately giving up smoking. Rasch analyses indicate that the scale is coherent and merits further development. It seems likely that similar scales might be developed to assess progress toward change for many other behaviors that seem to require a gradual process of change that can be indexed by items representing discrete steps along the way.

Clinical Predictors of Fatigue in Men With Non-Metastatic Prostate Cancer Receiving External Beam Radiation Therapy.

BACKGROUND: Fatigue is one of the most distressing symptoms experienced by people with cancer receiving radiation therapy. OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study is to evaluate clinical predictors of worsening fatigue during external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) in men with non-metastatic prostate cancer. METHODS: Thirty-five men with non-metastatic prostate cancer scheduled for EBRT were followed at baseline, midpoint, and completion of EBRT. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Fatigue scale was administered. Demographic and clinical data were obtained by chart review. Paired t-tests, correlations, general linear models, and logistic regressions were used to determine associations between fatigue scores and clinical data. FINDINGS: Red blood cells, hemoglobin, and hematocrit levels were highly intercorrelated and, therefore, were grouped as one composite variable termed heme. Heme levels at baseline and androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) were significantly correlated with worsening of fatigue symptoms from baseline to midpoint and endpoint. ADT alone did not have a significant correlation with fatigue, but it indirectly affected fatigue levels by influencing heme markers as treatment progressed. These findings provide evidence that hematologic markers and the use of ADT assist in predicting radiation therapy-related fatigue and guide symptom management.

On the definition of complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine: societal mega-stereotypes vs. the patients' perspectives.

Much confusion exists regarding the definitions of complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine. Whereas 'complementary and alternative medicine' (CAM) is used to describe a variable set of diagnostic and therapeutic modalities considered as non-conventional, 'integrative medicine' is commonly used to describe the combination of allopathy and CAM. CAM, however, is nothing more than a categorical label that subsumes numerous therapeutic modalities generally sharing few commonalities. Creating a unique category out of such diversity has lead to misunderstanding and skepticism. From the physician's stand-point, this can generate numerous stereotypes, prejudices, and misconceptions that may compromise the therapeutic relationship, impede compliance, and lead to treatment failure. To help avoid this dangerous pitfall, we propose a distinctly new operational definition for CAM; one that shifts the focus from the traditional, population-based approach to a definition that focuses on the individual. This paper outlines various definitions of CAM and discusses their relative strengths and weaknesses for the 21st century practice of medicine. It is our conclusion that individual patients, rather than society, should be the frame of reference and defining source for what constitutes integrative medicine and CAM.

When a whole practice model is the intervention: developing fidelity evaluation components using program theory-driven science for an integrative medicine primary care clinic.

Integrative medicine (IM) is a clinical paradigm of whole person healthcare that combines appropriate conventional and complementary medicine (CM) treatments. Studies of integrative healthcare systems and theory-driven evaluations of IM practice models need to be undertaken. Two health services research methods can strengthen the validity of IM healthcare studies, practice theory, and fidelity evaluation. The University of Arizona Integrative Health Center (UAIHC) is a membership-supported integrative primary care clinic in Phoenix, AZ. A comparative effectiveness evaluation is being conducted to assess its clinical and cost outcomes. A process evaluation of the clinic's practice theory components assesses model fidelity for four purposes: (1) as a measure of intervention integrity to determine whether the practice model was delivered as intended; (2) to describe an integrative primary care clinic model as it is being developed and refined; (3) as potential covariates in the outcomes analyses, to assist in interpretation of findings, and for external validity and replication; and (4) to provide feedback for needed corrections and improvements of clinic operations over time. This paper provides a rationale for the use of practice theory and fidelity evaluation in studies of integrative practices and describes the approach and protocol used in fidelity evaluation of the UAIHC.

Motivational interviewing versus prescriptive advice for smokers who are not ready to quit.

OBJECTIVE: Smokers who are not ready to quit are a very difficult group to treat. Physicians, nurses, and nurse practitioners are in a unique position to encourage patients to quit smoking. However, the best approach to do so is not clear. METHODS: A two-group randomized controlled trial with 218 pack-a-day precontemplative and contemplative smokers recruited from the community. The laboratory-based study was designed to simulate outpatient visits to general practitioners. Participants were randomized to a 15-min intervention to compare the effectiveness of brief motivational or prescriptive counseling by a health professional. Thirteen outcome variables included intentions to quit and verbal reports at 1 and 6 months with biological verification. A composite outcome measure was constructed to provide greater power to detect study differences. RESULTS: Approximately 33% of the sample reported at least one 24-h quit period during the 6 months they were followed after the trial. Results suggest that while neither treatment was superior, there were subgroup differences. Participants in the motivational condition were also more likely to respond to follow-up calls. CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Motivational interviewing and prescriptive advice were equally effective for precontemplative and contemplative smokers. Practitioners should use the method that appeals to them.

Psychology, psychologists, and public policy.

Evidence-based policy is being encouraged in all areas of public service ( Black 2001 ). Unprecedented federal legislation reflects a faith in science "as a force for improved public policy" ( Feuer et al. 2002 ). The objective of evidence-based policy is to use scientific research to drive decision making. Thus, the link between social science research and public policy seems to be a natural one. The purpose of this chapter is to address how psychological science in general, and clinical psychology in particular, can be of use to public policy makers. We discuss how psychological science can be relevant and applicable to informing policy, and we describe the role clinical scientists might play in generating, disseminating, and implementing that information. We also note distinct limitations on the usefulness of psychological research in driving public policy. We discuss some pitfalls and recommend areas where clinical psychology might best serve public policy.

Preparing psychologists to prescribe.

In this report, an investigation of the training received by professionals currently authorized to prescribe medications is considered as a step toward understanding what might be involved in preparing psychologists appropriately if prescription privileges for psychology were to be obtained. Information about admission and curriculum requirements was collected from medical schools, dental schools, physician assistant programs, nurse practitioner programs, and schools of optometry. Results suggest a high level of pharmacologically relevant coursework is required for admission to, and the completion of, programs that currently prepare their professionals to prescribe. It is argued that preparing psychologists to prescribe would likely entail similar training requirements in addition to, or instead of, those already in place, leaving clinical psychology dramatically and permanently altered.

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Child Health Questionnaire-Parent Form 50 in a predominantly minority sample.

The Child Health Questionnaire-Parent Form 50 (CHQ-PF50; Landgraf JM et al., The CHQ User's Manual. Boston, MA: The Health Institute, New England Medical Centre, 1996) appears to be a useful method of assessing children's health. The CHQ-PF50 is designed to measure general functional status and well-being and is available in several versions to suit the needs of the health researcher. Several publications have reported favorably on the psychometric properties of the CHQ. Landgraf et al. reported the results of an exploratory factor analysis at the scale level that provided evidence for a two-factor structure representing physical and psychosocial dimensions of health. In order to cross-validate and extend these results, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted with an independent sample of generally healthy, predominantly minority children. Results of the analysis indicate that a two-factor model provides a good fit to the data, confirming previous exploratory analyses with this questionnaire. One additional method factor seems likely because of the substantial similarity of three of the scales, but that does not affect the substantive two-factor interpretation overall.

Unpacking cultural factors in adaptation to type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Race and ethnicity are used as predictors of outcome in health services research. Often, however, race and ethnicity serve merely as proxies for the resources, values, beliefs, and behaviors (ie, ecology and culture) that are assumed to correlate with them. "Unpacking" proxy variables-directly measuring the variables believed to underlie them-would provide a more reliable and more interpretable way of looking at group differences. OBJECTIVE: To assess the use of a measure of ecocultural domains that is correlated with ethnicity in accounting for variance in adherence, quality of life, clinical outcomes, and service utilization. DESIGN: A cross-sectional observational study. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-six Hispanic and 29 non-Hispanic white VA primary care patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. MEASURES: The independent variables were patient ethnicity and a summed score of ecocultural domains representing patient adaptation to illness. The outcomes were adherence to treatment, health-related quality of life, clinical indicators of disease management, and utilization of urgent health care services. RESULTS: Patient adaptation was correlated with ethnicity and accounted for more variance in all outcomes than did ethnicity. The unique variance accounted for by adaptation was small to moderate, whereas that accounted for by ethnicity was negligible. CONCLUSIONS: It is possible to identify and measure ecocultural domains that better account for variation in important health services outcomes for patients with type 2 diabetes than does ethnicity. Going beyond the study of ethnic differences alone and measuring the correlated factors that play a role in disease management can advance understanding of the phenomena involved in this variation and provide better direction for service design and delivery.