Dataset Information

Assessing unmet needs in patients with cancer: An investigation of differential item functioning of the Needs Evaluation Questionnaire across gender, age and phase of the disease.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

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).

Methods

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

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.

Conclusions

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.

SUBMITTER: Chiesi F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5526559 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Assessing unmet needs in patients with cancer: An investigation of differential item functioning of the Needs Evaluation Questionnaire across gender, age and phase of the disease.

Chiesi Francesca F Bonacchi Andrea A Primi Caterina C Miccinesi Guido G

PloS one 20170725 7

<h4>Objective</h4>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).<h4>Methods</h4>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 ...[more]

PMID: 28742867

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Project description:Background: Self-reported depressive complaints among college students might indicate different degrees of severity of depressive states. Through the framework of item response theory, we aim to describe the pattern of responses to items of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), in terms of endorsement probability and discrimination along the continuum of depression. Potential differential item functioning of the scale items of the BDI-II is investigated, by gender and age, to compare across sub-groups of students. Methods: The 21-item BDI-II was cross-sectionally administered to a representative sample of 12,677 Brazilian college students. Reliability was evaluated based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Severity (b i ) and discrimination (a) parameters of each BDI-II items were calculated through the graded response model. The influence of gender and age were tested for differential item functioning (DIF) within the item response theory-based approach. Results: The BDI-II presented good reliability (? = 0.91). Women and younger students significantly presented a higher likelihood of depression (cut-off > 13) than men and older counterparts. In general, participants endorsed more easily cognitive-somatic items than affective items of the scale. "Guilty feelings," "suicidal thoughts," and "loss of interest in sex" were the items that most likely indicated depression severity (b ? 3.60). However, all BDI-II items showed moderate-to-high discrimination (a ? 1.32) for depressive state. While two items were flagged for DIF, "crying" and "loss of interest in sex," respectively for gender and age, the global weight of these items on the total score was negligible. Conclusions: Although respondents' gender and age might present influence on response pattern of depressive symptoms, the measures of self-reported symptoms have not inflated severity scores. These findings provide further support to the validity of using BDI-II for assessing depression in academic contexts and highlight the value of considering gender- and age-related common symptoms of depression.

Dataset Information

Assessing unmet needs in patients with cancer: An investigation of differential item functioning of the Needs Evaluation Questionnaire across gender, age and phase of the disease.

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Assessing unmet needs in patients with cancer: An investigation of differential item functioning of the Needs Evaluation Questionnaire across gender, age and phase of the disease.

Similar Datasets

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