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Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) refugees and immigrants in the United States (U.S.) face barriers to accessing health care, and are more likely to have worse health outcomes as it rela...

The current research developed ultra-brief (SSOSH-3) and revised (SSOSH-7) versions of the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help scale. Item response theory was used to examine the amount of information each item provided across the latent variable scale and test whether items functioned differently across women and men. In a sample of 857 community adults, results supported removal of three reverse-scored items to create the SSOSH-7. The three most informative items were retained to create the SSOSH-3. Differential item functioning testing supported the use of both versions across women and men. Results replicated in an undergraduate student sample ( n = 661). In both samples, the SSOSH-3 (αs = .82-.87) and SSOSH-7 (αs = .87-.89) demonstrated evidence of internal consistency. The SSOSH-3 ( rs ≥ .89) and SSOSH-7 ( rs ≥ .97) were highly correlated with the original SSOSH across samples and demonstrated significant correlations with help-seeking constructs and in similar magnitude to the original SSOSH.

The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was administered with a 1–4, 1–5, or 0–100 scale to 819 participants, to compare score interpretations across the different versions. A rating scale utility analysis revealed that the categories in the 101-point scale were used inconsistently; based on the analysis, adjacent categories were collapsed resulting in a 7-point scale with almost identical psychometric properties as the original. The interpretations based on the 101-point scale could lead to misinterpretations when compared with the 4- and 5-point versions.

College student alcohol use and related consequences continue to warrant significant concern. Extant research demonstrates protective behavioral strategies (PBS; self-regulatory strategies that can be employed before, during, or after drinking to prevent intoxication or negative consequences) have promise for preventative interventions. Variations in conceptualization and measurement of the construct limit generalization of PBS research. To advance generalization of PBS research, there is a need for a brief, comprehensive, content valid, PBS measure that demonstrates equivalence in measurement across demographically diverse college students. The present study aimed to develop a psychometrically robust measure of PBS using item response theory (IRT) to address measurement and methodological issues including identifying optimal response anchors and items that represent the full range of the PBS construct for use with college men and women from different racial backgrounds. Participants were 503 college students enrolled in a midsized university in the Southern United States. IRT and differential item functioning (DIF) analyses of 68 PBS items extracted from 6 existing PBS measures resulted in a 20-item instrument, the Protective Drinking Practices Scale, with items that functioned equivalently for White and Black/African American college men and women. The measure also demonstrated good internal and external validity. Widespread use of this measure will help enhance the comparability of findings in PBS research, allowing for more targeted and impactful research on PBS as a mechanism of change. Suggestions for future research are provided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

While it is known that client factors account for the largest proportion of outcome variance across treatment modalities, little is known about how clients' characteristics affect the process and effectiveness of couple therapy. To further knowledge in this area, we created a brief, practice-friendly measure, the Expectation and Preference Scales for Couple Therapy (EPSCT). Three self-report scales assess clients' Outcome expectations (e.g., I expect our relationship to improve as a result of couple therapy) and role expectations for Self (e.g., I expect to listen to my partner's concerns) and Partner (e.g., I expect my partner to blame me). Three Cognitive-Behavioral, Emotionally Focused, and Family Systems preference scales use a forced-choice format to measure the comparative strength of respondents' preferences for interventions broadly reflective of each approach. A large item pool was developed from relevant literature and clinical experience and refined based on face and content analyses with two panels of experienced couple therapists and researchers. Across four studies with 1,175 participants, the scales' internal consistency reliabilities were similar and their construct validity was supported with confirmatory factor analyses and significant correlations with several established measures, including expectation measures developed for individual psychotherapy and measures of attitudes toward professional help seeking and valuing personal growth. Across all studies, participants had stronger role expectations for themselves than their partners, although gender effects differed by sample. We discuss how to use the 15-item EPSCT in clinical practice and in future research as a predictor of couple therapy processes and outcomes.Aunque se sabe que los factores de los clientes representan la mayor parte de la variación en los resultados a través de las modalidades de tratamiento diversas, no se sabe mucho acerca de cómo las características de los clientes afectan el proceso y efectividad de la terapia de pareja. Para avanzar el conocimiento en este campo, hemos creado una breve medida favorable a la práctica, las Escalas de expectativas y preferencias para terapia de pareja (EPSCT en inglés). Tres escalas de autoinforme evalúan las expectativas de resultados de los clientes (p.ej. Espero que nuestra relación mejore como resultado de la terapia de pareja) y las expectativas de roles para sí mismo (p.ej. Espero escuchar las preocupaciones de mi pareja) y para la pareja (p.ej. Espero que mi pareja me culpe). Tres escalas de preferencias cognitivo-conductiva, enfocada en emociones y de sistemas familiares emplean un formato de elección forzada para medir la fortaleza comparativa de las preferencias de los interrogados por intervenciones que reflejan cada enfoque a grandes rasgos. Se elaboró un conjunto amplio de ítems a partir de la literatura y experiencia clínica pertinentes y se refinó a base de análisis de apariencia y contenido con dos paneles de terapistas de pareja e investigadores experimentados. En la totalidad de cuatro estudios con 1175 participantes, las fiabilidades de coherencias internas fueron similares y su validez de constructo fue respaldada por análisis factoriales confirmatorios y correlaciones significativas con varias medidas ya establecidas, incluyendo medidas de expectativas desarrolladas para psicoterapias individuales y medidas de actitudes hacia la búsqueda de ayuda profesional y la valoración del crecimiento personal. En todos los estudios, los participantes mostraron expectativas de roles más fuertes para sí mismos que para sus parejas, aunque hubo diferencias en los efectos de género por muestra. Discutimos cómo usar el EPSCT con sus 15 ítems en la práctica clínica e investigaciones futuras como predictor de procesos y resultados de la terapia de pareja.众所周知,不同的治疗方法造成有差异的治疗结果很大程度的原因来自于受诊者,但是人们对于受诊疗的个体的差别到底如何影响了伴侣治疗的过程和有效性却知之甚少。为了增进对这方面的了解,我们编制了一个比较简洁的,使用友好的量表,伴侣治疗期待和偏好程度量表(EPSCT)。三个自测的量表用来测试受诊者结果预期(例如,我期待我们的关系在伴侣治疗后得到改善),对自我的角色期待(例如我期望倾听到对方的想法)和伴侣角色期待(例如我希望对方批评我。)偏好量表有三个种类即认知-行为的,专注情感的,和家庭系统的。研究中要求被测者必须作出选择,从而可以测量她们对于不同的介入方法的比较之后得出的偏好程度。很多选项都来自现有相关的文献和临床诊疗经验,并在和两组经验丰富的伴侣治疗师和研究者的讨论和内容分析之后提炼而成。在4项研究中,合起来有1175位参与者测试,结果表明这些量表的内部一致性和信度相似,结构效度也受验证性因子分析的支持,和几个已有的量表有很大的相关性。比如为个体心理治疗的期待量表,寻求专业帮助和注重个人成长的态度量表等。在所有的研究中,受试者对自身的角色期待要强于对对方的,不同的样本中性别的影响程度有差异。文中讨论了如何在实践中使用 15个项目的EPSCT和在未来的研究中如何可以用作伴侣治疗过程与结果的一个预测工具。.

The present study tested the psychometric properties of a new 20-item alcohol protective behavioral strategies (PBS) measure, the Protective Drinking Practices Scale (PDPS). Specifically, we evaluated measurement invariance of the PDPS in a sample of college students recruited nationally, tested the factor structure, evaluated construct validity, and explored potential short-form versions. Participants were 684 college student drinkers from throughout the United States (50.3% male; 65.6% White) obtained using Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) who completed measures of PBS use, hazardous drinking, alcohol-related negative consequences, alcohol use disorder (AUD) screening criteria, and depression. A differential item functioning analysis found that the PDPS items functioned similarly in the present sample and the original validation sample. Further, a unidimensional item response theory analysis confirmed the single PDPS factor structure identified in the original study. The PDPS demonstrated evidence of convergent validity with measures of hazardous drinking and alcohol-related negative consequences. Finally, five potential three-item PDPS short-form versions were generated, which all had strong correlations with the 20-item PDPS. Overall, these results suggest the PDPS functioned similarly in a United States college student sample with geographical diversity relative to a sample from a single Southeastern United States university, which has implications for future research and clinical work with college students. Future research should continue assessing the psychometric properties of the PDPS among diverse samples of college students and further elucidate an optimal PDPS short form for use in clinical screening and research contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

In this paper we examine how different types of participants in a physics Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) tend to use the existing course resources. We use data from the 2013 offering of the Massive Open Online Course 8.MReVx designed by the RELATE (REsearch in Learning Assessing and Tutoring Effectively) Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and offered on the edX platform. We propose six measures of student performance in a course, and, based on these measures, we divide the student population into clusters and analyze the resource usage of the students from each cluster. This course contains a wide variety of physics problems targeting various levels of thinking. Our analysis focuses on 1080 participants (out of 16,787 enrolled in the course) who attempted more than 50% of available problems, as this is an indicator of students who participated actively in the entire course.

Researchers analyzed data from elementary teachers (N = 233) to further establish the psychometric soundness of the Teacher My Class Inventory–Short Form. Supporting previous psychometric research, confirmatory factor analyses findings supported the factorial validity of the hypothesized five-factor solution. Internal reliability estimates were satisfactory for an attitudinal measure. Implications for practice are briefly discussed.

Background Perceived stress reflects a person’s feeling of how much stress the individual is under at a given time. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is a popular instrument measuring the extent to which individuals perceive situations in their life as excessive relative to the ability to cope. Based on a literature review, however, several issues related to the scale remain: (a) the dimensionality is not established, (b) little information about the individual items exists, and (c) much research is based on university student samples. To address these, this study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the Perceived Stress Scale (KPSS) using a military sample. Methods This study was conducted in South Korea with 373 military personnel, aged 19–30 years. Both classical test theory (CTT) and the Rasch rating scale model were used to examine the psychometric properties of the KPSS, including factor structure, concurrent validity, reliability, and item analyses. Results Internal consistency reliability for the overall and negative/positive perception subscales was.85, .85 and .86, respectively. Based on Rasch reliability, person and item reliability were .82 and .98, respectively. Person and item separation were 2.13 and 7.19, respectively. Concurrent validity was established, with significantly positive association with the measures of depression and negative association with the measure of life satisfaction. Findings from the CFA suggested that a bifactor model with two group factors was the best fit to the observed data. The RSM showed that all but one item had acceptable infit and outfit statistics, and item difficulty ranged from −.73 to 1.22. Besides, the RSM showed positive and moderate inter-item correlations ranging from .42 to .75. Conclusions The results provided evidence that a 10-item Korean version of the Perceived Stress Scale was a reliable and valid scale to measure perceived stress in military samples. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40359-019-0334-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The equating of tests is an essential processes in high-stakes, large-scale testing conducted over multiple forms or administrations. By adjusting for differences in difficulty and placing scores from different administrations of a test on a common scale, equating allows scores from these different forms and administrations to be directly compared to one another (Kolen & Brennan, 2004); as such, the importance of the accuracy of equating is paramount for any assessment program. Due to the increasingly fast turnaround times required of testing companies in the reporting of test scores, many testing programs rely on pre-equating methodologies. Although many testing companies report the use of pre-equating for some of their tests, there is very little research evidence supporting its use. This study seeks to determine the impact of accumulated error from the long-term use of pre-equating in an operational testing program. Results indicate that for some tests, the pre-equating and post-equating produc...

Researchers analyzed data collected from elementary school students (N = 893) to further establish the psychometric soundness of the My Class Inventory - Short Form Revised (MCI-SFR). A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted resulting in a good fit for a four-factor model, which corresponds to the instrument's four scales (Cohesion, Competitiveness, Friction, Satisfaction). Findings confirm the MCI-SFR as both a reliable and valid measure for assessing students’ perceptions of their classroom climate.

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to develop and validate a brief adolescent health literacy assessment tool (Rapid Estimate of Adolescent Literacy in Medicine Short Form [REALM-TeenS]). METHODS: We combined datasets from 2 existing research studies that used the REALM-Teen (n = 665) and conducted an item response theory analysis. The correlation between scores on the original 66-item REALM-Teen and the proposed REALM-TeenS was calculated, along with the decision consistency across forms with respect to grade level assignment of each adolescent and coefficient α. The proposed REALM-TeenS was validated with original REALM-Teen data from a third independent study (n = 174). RESULTS: Items with the largest discriminations across the scale, from low to high health literacy, were selected for inclusion in REALM-TeenS. From those, a set of 10 items was selected that maintained a reasonable level of SE across ability estimates and correlated highly (r = 0.92) with the original REALM-Teen scores. The coefficient α for the 10-item REALM-TeenS was .82. There was no evidence of model misfit (root mean square error of approximation < 0.001). In the validation sample, REALM-TeenS scores correlated highly with scores on the original REALM-Teen (r = 0.92), and the decision consistency across both forms was 80%. In pilot testing, administration took ∼20 seconds. CONCLUSIONS: The REALM-TeenS offers researchers and clinicians a brief validated screening tool that can be used to assess adolescent health literacy in a variety of settings. Scoring guidelines ensure that reading level assessment is appropriate by age and grade.

This study examines the convergent validity and divergent validity of the Student Engagement in School Success Skills (SESSS) survey. The SESSS is easy to administer (it takes fewer than 15 minutes to complete) and is used in schools to provide educators with useful information about students' use of skills and strategies related to school success. A total of 4,342 fifth graders completed the SESSS; the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) Cognitive Strategy Use, Self-Regulation, Self-Efficacy and Test Anxiety subscales; and the Self-Efficacy for Self-Regulated Learning (SESRL). The three subscales of the SESSS (Self-Direction of Learning, Support of Classmates' Learning and Self-Regulation of Arousal) correlated highly with the MSLQ Cognitive Strategy Use and Self-Regulation subscales, moderately correlated with the Self-Efficacy subscale and the SESRL, and did not correlate with the MSLQ Test Anxiety subscale. Future research is needed to use the SESSS subscales as discriminable dimensions.Keywords: school success, convergent validity, divergent validity, Student Engagement in School Success Skills survey, educatorsFor more than a decade, researchers have placed increased emphasis on evidence-based practice and a programmatic approach to school counseling (Carey, 2004; Green & Keys, 2001; Gysbers, 2004; Lapan, 2005; Myrick, 2003; Paisley & Hayes, 2003; Whiston, 2002, 2011). This emphasis from the school counseling profession reflects national initiatives. In 2001, the Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, was established to determine, through rigorous and relevant research, what interventions are effective and ineffective for improving student achievement and education outcomes. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), an initiative of the Institute of Education Sciences, was created in 2002 to identify studies that provide credible and reliable evidence of the effectiveness of education interventions. The purpose of WWC is to inform researchers, educators and policymakers of interventions designed to improve student outcomes.The American School Counselor Association's (ASCA, 2005) response to emerging national policy and initiatives included a call for school counselor-led interventions that contribute to increased student achievement as part of a comprehensive school counseling program. The need for more research to identify evidence-based interventions tying school counselors to improved student academic performance also surfaced in a school counseling Delphi study, which identified the most pressing research questions in the profession (Dimmitt, Carey, McGannon, & Henningson, 2005). The top priority cited by this Delphi study was the need to determine which school counseling interventions resulted in the greatest student achievement gains. In addition, five major reviews of school counseling research all discussed the need for more research to strengthen the link between school counselor interventions and student achievement (Brown & Trusty, 2005; Dimmitt, Carey, & Hatch, 2007; Whiston & Quinby, 2009; Whiston & Sexton, 1998; Whiston, Tai, Rahardja, & Eder, 2011). However, researchers continue to report limitations in the school counseling outcome research. Among the limitations are conclusions drawn from studies based on nonstandardized outcome assessments. For instance, in a review of school counseling studies, Brown and Trusty (2005) concluded that school counseling research has been limited by the lack of valid and reliable instruments that measure the skills, strategies and personal attributes associated with academic and social/relationship success. More recently, Whiston et al. (2011) completed a meta-analytic examination of school counseling interventions and also determined the dominance of nonstandardized outcome assessments in school counseling research as a significant limitation. These limitations continue to be a hindrance for the school counseling profession, given the goal of establishing evidence-based practices that link school counselor interventions to improved student outcomes. …

In this paper we use seven quantitative measures of student performance to compare the performance of students enrolled in three physics courses (two hybrid and one MOOC) that have some common features. We find that, despite the fact that these courses have different audiences, aims, and methods, the measures presented here place the students from all three courses on the same scale and reveal performance similarities. All measures are compared pairwise and the sign of the correlation between each pair is consistent for all courses. The percentage-based measures all positively correlate with each other and with Item Response Theory measure, while the measures based on average number of submissions positively correlate together but anti-correlate with some percent-based and IRT measures. Our findings suggest that for all course types students who get a higher fraction of problems correct tend to use fewer submissions to do so and have a higher IRT skill, while students in a MOOC choose more frequently to not attempt a problem upon opening it than students enrolled in hybrid courses.

We studied student learning in the MOOC 8.MReV Mechanics ReView, run on the edX.org open source platform. We studied learning in two ways. We administered 13 conceptual questions both before and after instruction, analyzing the results using standard techniques for pre- and posttesting. We also analyzed each week’s homework and test questions in the MOOC, including the pre- and posttests, using item response theory (IRT). This determined both an average ability and a relative improvement in ability over the course. The pre- and posttesting showed substantial learning: The students had a normalized gain slightly higher than typical values for a traditional course, but significantly lower than typical values for courses using interactive engagement pedagogy. Importantly, both the normalized gain and the IRT analysis of pre- and posttests showed that learning was the same for different cohorts selected on various criteria: level of education, preparation in math and physics, and overall ability in the course. We found a small positive correlation between relative improvement and prior educational attainment. We also compared homework performance of MIT freshmen taking a reformed on-campus course with the 8.MReV students, finding them to be considerably less skillful than the 8.MReV students., Google (Firm) (Faculty Award), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Science Foundation (U.S.)