[Health questionnaire: concept and methodology]

Content Validation of an Instrument for the Assessment of School Teachers' Levels of Knowledge of Diabetes through Expert Judgment

The objective of this study was to describe the content validation, through expert judgment, of a questionnaire for determining the level of knowledge that school teachers have of diabetes in order to design relevant educational interventions to improve the health of school-aged children. This psychometric study involved 15 experts who assessed each of the items in the instrument. The results revealed that the strength of agreement shown by the questionnaire ranged from substantial to almost perfect in its four dimensions, with the characteristics of “sufficiency” and “relevance” having the highest scores (0.982 and 0.903, respectively) based on the judgments made by the participating experts. Regarding statistical significance, the characteristics “sufficiency”, with p < 0.001, and “relevance”, with p = 0.001, were particularly relevant. The overall degree of understandability for the new version of the instrument was high (91.54%). The psychometric results obtained from validation of the “grado de conocimientos sobre diabetes en docentes del ámbito escolar” (Spanish for “level of knowledge of diabetes in school teachers”)—GCDDaE questionnaire through expert judgment and the pre-test indicate that it is recommended for use as it is both relevant and quick and easy to administer.

[Detecting and measuring functional and organic disease in general population: Development and validation of TOPYPS clinical scale]

OBJECTIVE

To develop and validate the TOPYPS scale, an instrument designed to: (i)detect with a high degree of suspicion the most frequent functional pathologies according to standard diagnostic criteria, and (ii)to assess the physical health in the general population quickly, comprehensive and reliable.

DESIGN

Validation of a scale.

LOCATION

Primary Care Centre, Barcelona.

PARTICIPANTS

The scale was administered to 67 randomly selected adults.

MEASUREMENTS

TOPYPS scale was administered to 67 adults randomly selected from a primary care setting in Barcelona, Spain. TOPYPS has six sections based on body systems, each one scored according to the degree of interference in daily activity, type of treatment received, and prognostic of the reported illnesses in each section. Test-retest reliability completions were on two separate occasions one week apart. Validity was then tested by comparing the results with the clinical examination conducted by two different specialists in general practice (gold standard).

RESULTS

Repeatability (test-retest) and inter-rater agreement for each of the six sections and for the total score were satisfactory. Validity was acceptable both for content and construct, according to their correlation with the gold standard.

CONCLUSIONS

TOPYPS displayed good psychometrical properties. It is a suitable tool to detect and measure functional and organic diseases in general population.

[Reliability and external validity of a questionnaire to assess the knowledge about risk and cardiovascular disease and in patients attending Spanish community pharmacies]

Objetivos

Determinar la fiabilidad test-retest de un cuestionario, con validación preliminar, para valorar el conocimiento sobre riesgo cardiovascular (RCV) y enfermedad cardiovascular, en pacientes atendidos en farmacias comunitarias de España. Complementar la validez externa, estableciendo la relación entre una actividad educativa y el aumento del conocimiento sobre RCV y enfermedad cardiovascular.

Diseño

Subanálisis del estudio clínico controlado EMDADER-CV, en el que se aplicó un cuestionario de conocimiento sobre RCV en 4 momentos.

Emplazamiento

Farmacia comunitaria española.

Participantes

Trescientos veintitrés pacientes del grupo control, de los 640 que finalizaron el estudio.

Mediciones principales

Coeficiente de correlación intraclase para evaluar la fiabilidad en 3 comparaciones (postactividad educativa con semana 16, postactividad educativa con semana 32, y semana 16 con semana 32); y prueba no paramétrica de Friedman para establecer la relación entre una actividad educativa oral y escrita con el aumento del conocimiento.

Resultados

Para los 323 pacientes, en las 3 comparaciones, los valores del coeficiente de correlación intraclase fueron 0,624; 0,608 y 0,801 (fiabilidad aceptable-buena a excelente). Por su parte, la prueba de Friedman mostró relación entre la actividad educativa y el aumento del conocimiento, estadísticamente significativa (p < 0,0001).

Conclusiones

Acorde con el coeficiente de correlación intraclase, el cuestionario orientado a valorar el conocimiento sobre el RCV y enfermedad cardiovascular tiene una fiabilidad entre aceptable y excelente, lo cual, sumado a la validación previa, indica que dicho instrumento cumple los criterios de validez y fiabilidad. Además, el cuestionario evidencia capacidad de relacionar un aumento en el conocimiento con una intervención educativa, característica que complementa su validez externa.

[Quality of life in patients with knee and hip osteoarthritis]

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the quality of life in patients with knee and hip osteoarthritis through self-assessment and those made by the physician.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

An observational and cross-sectional multicenter study in which 628 traumatologists or rheumatologists evaluated 1,849 patients with knee and/or hip osteoarthritis, aged ≥ 50 years old, and representative of 49 Spanish provinces. Each researcher evaluated three patients and also completed the SF-12v2 health questionnaire. The patients completed the WOMAC and SF-12v2 questionnaires.

RESULTS

The patients were 68.5 ± 9.5 years old, 61.5% had knee osteoarthritis, 19% had hip osteoarthritis, and 19.5% in both locations. Older patients and those who had both knee and hip osteoarthritis had a poorer quality of life, according to patients and researchers. Physical health perceived by the researchers was better than patients reported (36.74 ± 8.6 and 35.21 ± 8.53; respectively, p<0.001), and the mental health score was similar between physicians and patients. Kellgren/Lawrence scale and test Timed Up & Go predict better the quality of life, assessed by WOMAC and SF-12v2 questionnaires.

DISCUSSION

This is the Spanish study on quality of life in osteoarthritis of the knee and hip of larger amplitude and number of patients.

CONCLUSION

These results could be considered as reference values of Spanish population aged ≥ 50 years with knee or hip osteoarthritis.

Utilização de questionários validados para mensurar a adesão ao tratamento da hipertensão arterial: uma revisão integrativa

Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar na produção científica da saúde coletiva quais questionários validados estão sendo utilizados para avaliar a adesão ao tratamento da hipertensão. Trata-se de uma Revisão Integrativa realizada nas bases de dados SciELO, MEDLINE e LILACS. Foram selecionados nove estudos que utilizaram sete questionários: Teste de Moriski-Green, Cuestionário de Valoración de Adherencia, Cuestionário MBG, Questionário QAM-Q, Teste de Haynes, Escala de Conductas em Salud e Hill-Bone compliance Scale. Concluímos que a avaliação da adesão ao tratamento da hipertensão ainda é campo aberto para pesquisa, os diferentes instrumentos utilizados têm suas limitações e não há um método ideal.

[Reference values of the Spanish version of the SF-12v2 for the diabetic population]

OBJECTIVE

Perceived health status questionnaires provide important information for health outcomes research. Reference measures are required to interpret the health-related quality of life questionnaires belonging to the short form (SF) health survey family. Previous studies have provided these reference measures for the Spanish general population, but not for specific disease conditions. The aim of the present study was to obtain diabetic population-based norms for the Spanish version of the 12-item short form health survey version II (SF-12v2) in the region of Murcia (Spain).

METHODS

We performed a cross-sectional telephone survey in 1,500 non-institutionalized patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes, aged 18 years or older and representative of the region of Murcia. The central position, dispersion statistics and percentiles were calculated for each of the eight SF-12v2 scales and summary components (physical and mental).

RESULTS

The mental component summary (MCS) (mean: 50.5+/-12.8) was higher than the physical component summary (PCS) (42.5+/-11.8). By sex, men had more favorable MCS (53.6+/-11.6) and PCS (44.9+/-11.2) scores than women (MCS: 47.7+/-13.2; PCS: 40.3+/-11.9). The dimension with the highest score was vitality (men: 57.2+/-11.1; women: 51.9+/-12.1), while that with the lowest score was general health (men: 39.0+/-9.7; women: 35.8+/-10.0). When the groups were stratified by age, scores continued to be higher in men than in women.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of the present study should be taken as the diabetic population-based norms for the Spanish version of the SF-12v2 in the region of Murcia. These results may be useful to establish therapeutics targets, as well as for comparisons with the general, healthy and ill populations.

Environmental and personal correlates of fruit and vegetable consumption in low income, urban Mexican children

BACKGROUND

Epidemiological evidence suggests that populations with high fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption have a lower risk for childhood obesity, cancer and cardiovascular diseases. There are no studies that address the correlates of FV intake in Mexican children; therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the frequency of FV consumption by children in Mexico City's low income state schools and their personal (preferences, expectancy, knowledge and self-efficacy) and environmental (accessibility and person in charge of cooking at home) correlates.

METHODS

A validated questionnaire to assess accessibility, expectancy, self-efficacy, preference and knowledge; and a 2-day dietary recall were used to assess the FV intake and its correlates in 327 children. Statistical analysis included chi-square and stepwise logistic regression.

RESULTS

Average consumption of FV was once a day with a higher proportion of girls consuming FV 3 or more times per day (15.2% versus 6.7%; P < 0.01). The environmental factors that influenced a higher consumption of FV were the mother being responsible for cooking at home (P < 0.02) and accessibility to FV (P < 0.01); whereas the personal factors were self-efficacy (P < 0.05) and preference (P < 0.03) to vegetables.

CONCLUSION

Correlates of fruit and vegetable consumption in children from Mexico City's State Schools were being female and accessibility to fruits and vegetables. Home and school environments are decisive for the children to increase FV consumption. Creative ways to encourage FV consumption in boys should be explored. These factors should be considered when designing programmes aimed at increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables in children.

[Perception of primary health care medical staff of their functions, and training and knowledge in occupational health]

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the perception of primary health care medical staff (PHCMS) have on their functions in occupational risk prevention (ORP), as well as their knowledge and skills on the subject of occupational health (OH).

DESIGN

Descriptive cross-sectional study.

SETTING

Health Department 20 of Alicante province, Spain.

PARTICIPANTS

All PHCMS (N=104), with a participation of 80% (N=83).

PRIMARY MEASUREMENTS

The participants self-completed a questionnaire specifically developed for the study. Sixteen questions were established and covered functions in ORP and skills for developing them, as well as the amount and usefulness of training received on the subject of OH.

RESULTS

The PHCMS did not perceive that they had functions as regards ORP (median [Me], 2; interquartile range [IR], 1-3). To a greater extent they considered themselves capable of identifying whether an illness seen in their clinic was of work origin or not (Me, 3; IR, 3-4). Training in OH as a medical student and in their medical internship (MIR) was identified as of minor importance (55.4% and 60%, respectively, of those surveyed scored a value of 1 in the questionnaire). The PHCMS obviously considered that better training in OH would help them in their daily professional activity. High scores were obtained for this (response options greater than or equal to 4) in more than 70% of the interviewees.

CONCLUSIONS

Training in OH must be encouraged so that PHCMS are seen to be health personnel with functions in ORP and are able to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills in OH for their routine medical practice.

Impacto de los motivos comunes de consulta en el sentimiento de vitalidad y en el rendimiento físico de personas mayores de 65 años

OBJECTIVES

To measure two functional dimensions (vitality and physical function) involved in the quality of life of the over-65s and to find what relationship they maintain with the commonest reasons for consultation.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional, descriptive study.

SETTING

Primary care.

PARTICIPANTS

Randomised sample of 179 patients over 65 from 14 primary care clinics in Navarra.

METHODS

SF-36 quality-of-life questionnaire and most common reasons for consultation. Personal and family details and ongoing drug prescription were also recorded.

RESULTS

The most common reasons for consultation were insomnia (31.8%), arthrosis (48%), and urinary symptoms (16.2%). The greatest differences in the SF-36 scales occurred in patients with insomnia. In the multiple regression models, inverse associations were found for each of the reasons for consultation with the vitality and physical function dimensions. Vitality was associated with urinary symptoms, with an adjusted beta coefficient of -11.2 points (95% CI, -18.6 to -3.7). Insomnia was associated with significant decline in vitality and physical function, with beta of -7.7 points (95% CI, -13.9 to -1.5) and -10.3 points (95% CI, -19.1 to -1.6), respectively. Arthrosis symptoms behaved in a similar way.

CONCLUSIONS

The most common pathologies or symptoms causing primary care consultations in the over-65s affect significantly the quality-of-life dimensions relating to the pursuit of normal daily life.

Calidad de vida relacionada con la salud en la mujer española durante la perimenopausia y posmenopausia. Desarrollo y validación de la Escala Cervantes

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

There are numerous health-related quality of life questionnaires but only a few are specific for the menopause. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a specific scale, the Cervantes Scale, for menopause in Spanish women.

SUBJECTS AND METHOD

This cross-sectional study included a pilot phase, construction of the questionnaire, validation, and test-retest reliability. A population-based sample of 2,274 women ponderated by age groups and education levels was used in the validation phase. Internal consistency was assessed with the Cronbach's alpha analysis.

RESULTS

The final questionnaire included 31 items ("menopause and health" with 15 items made up of vasomotor symptoms, health and aging, "sexuality" with 4 items, "couple relationship" with 3 items and "psychical domain" with 9 items). The Cronbach's (coefficient of the scale was 0.9092. The correlation coefficient of the test-retest was r=0.847 (p<.001). The Cervantes Scale is short, easy to administer (about 7 minutes), has a minimal score of 0 and a maximal score of 155 (from better to worse quality of life) and scores can be compared to reference values in younger women and women of the same age.

CONCLUSIONS

The Cervantes Scale is included in the new generation of instruments of health-related quality of life specific for the menopause and is intended to be used in Spanish women aged between 45 and 64 years.