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BACKGROUND: The assessment of hopelessness plays a significant role in preventing various psychological disorders and major life events within the general population. However, the psychometric properties of the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) have been a subject of controversy, primarily studied in clinical groups. The aim of the present study was to gain new psychometric insights and propose a new short version of the BHS for the general population using the Item Response Theory (IRT) approach. METHODS: A total of 2164 Argentinean individuals completed the BHS alongside the Inventory of Suicide Orientation-30. We compared IRT models with two and three parameters for the original BHS version, exploring the removal of redundant and less informative items. Convergent and discriminant validity was also examined. RESULTS: Our results support the 2PL model for the BHS-19. In addition, the BHS-10 short version adequately depicted the same range of the measured trait as the original version, showing reasonable measurement accuracy in the middle-high levels of the trait (marginal reliability = 0.70, Cronbach's α = 0.86). Notably, a positive correlation was found between the factorial score of BHS-10, BHS-19, and suicide orientation. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, our findings support the use of a simplified version as a practical and valuable tool for both research and clinical practice in the future.

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Cognitive decline, particularly in dementia, presents complex challenges in early detection and diagnosis. While Item Response Theory (IRT) has been instrumental in identifying patterns of cognitive impairment through psychometric tests, its parametric models often require large sample sizes and strict assumptions. This creates a need for more adaptable, less demanding analytical methods. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Mokken scale analysis (MSA), a nonparametric IRT model, in identifying hierarchical patterns of cognitive impairment from psychometric tests. Using data from 1164 adults over 60 years old, we applied MSA to the orientation subscale of ACE-III. Our analysis involved calculating scalability, monotone homogeneity, invariant item ordering (IIO) and response functions. The MSA effectively retrieved the hierarchical order of cognitive impairment patterns. Most items showed strong scalability and consistent patterns of cognitive performance. However, challenges with IIO were observed, particularly with items having adjacent difficulty parameters. The findings highlight MSA's potential as a practical alternative to parametric IRT models in cognitive impairment research. Its ability to provide valuable insights into patterns of cognitive deterioration, coupled with less stringent requirements, makes it a useful tool for clinicians and researchers.

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BACKGROUND: Health literacy (HL) is a key component of health promotion and sustainability and contributes to well-being. Despite its global relevance, HL is an under-researched topic in South America but is now debuting its exploration in Brazil. To leverage its benefits for South America, the mere translation of validated tools into Portuguese is insufficient. Rather, it is necessary to examine their validity. This study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the European Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLS-EU-BR47) using the Item Response Theory (IRT) in a population-based sample of adults in Brazil. METHODS: A cross-sectional online study was conducted across Brazil and included 1028 participants aged 18 years and above (80% women). Cronbach's alpha, McDonald's omega, factor analysis, graded responses model, Item Characteristic Curve, HL levels based on this, HL standard calculation, IRT, and regular score correlation were computed. RESULTS: The instrument exhibit high reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.95). Factor analysis yielded one factor. IRT was appropriate for data analysis because it allowed quality evaluation of items and constructed a scale to quantify HL. The 47 items and latent features of respondents in the same unit of measurement are positioned in the construction of the HLS-EU-BR47 instrument. The percentages of individuals at each HL level, calculated using IRT, were found to be comparable to those obtained through the standard computation, e.g., 3.2% of people reported very low HL versus 10.8% inadequate HL, 56.2% reported low HL versus 39.5% problematic HL, 31.1% had moderate HL versus 30.1% sufficient HL, and 9.5% had high HL versus 19.7% with excellent HL. The mean HL scores were comparable between women and men (33.9 vs. 33.7, P = 0.36). CONCLUSION: This study provides new evidence of the validity of a widely used HL instrument for the population of South America (in this case, Brazil). This tool can be utilized by citizens, health professionals, and regional/national policymakers to inform the development of initiatives to assess and improve the HL of individuals, groups, and communities. Further studies are needed to confirm and extend the findings and to explore the influence of local cultures and practices in the vast Brazilian territory on HL.

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BACKGROUND: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders for upper limbs (UL-WMSDs) form a complex of occupational diseases common to many professions worldwide. UL-WMSDs are manifested in most cases by pain, resulting in musculoskeletal discomfort. OBJECTIVE: This research aimed to evaluate the perception of musculoskeletal discomfort in workers from the interior of the Brazilian states of Alagoas and Bahia through the construction of a scale to assess musculoskeletal discomfort for upper limb. METHODS: The discomfort assessment scale was constructed from self-reported pain symptoms by 420 workers from the inner regions of the Brazilian states of Alagoas and Bahia. The reliability and dimensionality of the collected data were analyzed by McDonald's Omega and exploratory factor analysis, respectively. Item Response Theory (IRT) was used to create parameters for the discomfort scale. RESULTS: The musculoskeletal discomfort metric was constructed from the workers' response with six levels (varying from minimum discomfort to maximum discomfort). At the lowest level of the scale, workers indicated symptoms in the shoulders and wrists were rare. At the highest level of the scale, daily pain symptoms are reported in all regions of the upper limbs. The shoulders are the last region to develop extreme pain symptoms. CONCLUSION: The metric was created to present satisfactory psychometric properties and capable measurement of the workers' level of musculoskeletal discomfort based on self-reported pain symptoms. Therefore, the metric can support measuring discomfort, contributing to decisions that improve a healthier occupational environment for the worker.

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BACKGROUND: Experiential avoidance (EA) is a psychological mechanism associated with several mental health disorders and is regarded as a relevant target by third-generation cognitive behavioral therapies. It has been mainly assessed through self-report questionnaires, and the AAQ-II is the most used tool. Its psychometric evidence has been mostly tested through the classical test theory (CTT) and very scarcely assessed through Item Response Theory (IRT). METHODS: We used the Graded Response Model to examine its psychometric properties in Spanish-speaking university students (n = 1503; women = 995 (66.2%), mean age = 19.29, SD = 2.45). We tested whether the empirical data fit the model's predictions and estimated the dispersion of persons and items along the experiential avoidance continuum. Moreover, we examined category probability curves to identify the response probability of each answer. Likewise, an item-person map was made where the measurement of persons and items, both on the same scale and along the experiential avoidance continuum, could be observed jointly. Finally, we tested the gender invariance of the scale. RESULTS: We found that the values of the individuals and the items were in the established range to be considered an adequate measure of EA. Additionally, we observed high discrimination indices for all items. The current version with seven answer options could not be optimal and should be tested in future studies. Finally, we found evidence of differential functioning by gender in one of the seven items of the instrument. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that the AAQ-II is a suitable tool for measuring EA and accurately classifying and differentiating EA levels in university students.

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Objective: To calibrate the 25 items from the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) patient-reported outcome measure (PROM), using item response theory (IRT), into 1 or more item banks, and assess reliability, validity, and administration efficiency of scores derived from computerized adaptive test (CAT) or short form (SF) administration modes. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Outpatient rehabilitation clinics. Participants: Patients (N=28,815; women=69%; mean age [SD]=60 [18]) included in a large national dataset and assessed for dizziness-related conditions who responded to all DHI items at intake. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: IRT model assumptions of unidimensionality, local item independence, item fit, and presence of differential item functioning (DIF) were evaluated. Generated scores were assessed for reliability, validity, and administration efficiency. Results: Patients were treated in 976 clinics from 49 US states for either vestibular-, brain injury-, or neck-related impairments. Three unidimensional item banks were calibrated, creating 3 distinct PROMs for Dizziness Functional Status (DFS, 13 items), Dizziness Positional Status (DPS, 4 items), and Dizziness Emotional Status (DES, 6 items). Two items did not fit into any domain. A DFS-CAT and a DFS 7-item SF were developed. Except for 2 items by age groups and 1 item by main impairment, no items were flagged for DIF; DIF impact was negligible. Median reliability estimates were 0.91, 0.72, and 0.79 for the DFS, DPS, and DES, respectively. Scores discriminated between patient groups in clinically logical ways and had a large effect size (>0.8), with acceptable floor and ceiling effects (<15%), except for a floor effect for DPS (20.4%). DFS-CAT scores were generated using a median of 8 items; they correlated highly with full-bank scores (r=0.99). Conclusion: The 3 dizziness impact PROMs demonstrated moderate to high reliability, were valid, and highly responsive to change; thus, they are suitable for research and routine clinical administration.

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BACKGROUND: Potential childhood traumatic experiences increase risk for mental and physical health disorders and their precise assessment can help to promote health prevention and promotion strategies for countries with limited data and measurement strategies like Colombia. OBJECTIVE: The goal of the present study is to strengthen evidence for the validity of scores from an adapted version of the Early Trauma Inventory self report-short form (ETI-SF) using Item Response Theory and by assessing factorial invariance across gender and education level. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The study assessed a total of 1909 Colombian participants (66.16 % women, 32.16 % men, 1.68 % other gender; age range 18-72 years old). METHODS: Participants answered the ETI-SF via a web-based sampling strategy. RESULTS: The total scores of the scale showed good reliability coefficients (α = 0.81 and ω = 0.60). A specific analysis for the subscales showed good reliability for the emotional, physical, and sexual trauma subscales (αs and ωs >0.64), while general trauma showed lower than accepted reliability values (α =0.56 and ω = 0.37). Most of the individual items of the scale showed good calibration. The factorial invariance analysis suggests the possibility of some gender and educational differences. CONCLUSIONS: The study confirms particularly high rates of potential childhood traumatic experiences in Colombia and complement data for specific trauma types. Overall, the ETI-SF is confirmed as useful for Colombia, which highlights this scale as a good tool to use for public health assessment. Future research can continue the integration of diverse methods for estimating the quality of the scale.

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BACKGROUND: A psychometric study of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale (FACES III) has been conducted in Spanish-speaking countries from the perspective of the classical test theory. However, this approach has limitations that affect the psychometric understanding of this scale. OBJECTIVE: Accordingly, this study used the item response theory to investigate the psychometric performance of the items. Furthermore, it evaluated the differential performance of the items for Colombia and Chile. METHOD: For this purpose, 518 health science students from both countries participated. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used. RESULTS: The study results revealed that the cohesion and adaptability items presented adequate discrimination and difficulty indices. In addition, items 5, 8, 13, 17, and 19 of cohesion indicated differential functioning between students from both countries, with Chilean students exhibiting a greater discriminatory power. Further, the Colombian group exhibited a greater discriminatory power for item 18 of adaptability. CONCLUSIONS: The study concluded that the items of FACES III indicated adequate psychometric performance in terms of their discriminative capacity and difficulty in Chile and Colombia.

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The current study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Spanish language version of the 14-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-S) in a population of pregnant women who speak Spanish in Peru using item response theory (IRT). Our study consisted of 5,435 pregnant women who participated in the Pregnancy Outcomes Maternal and Infant Study (PrOMIS) cohort in Peru. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to determine dimensionality of the scale in this population, and item response theory was conducted to determine the applicability of the PSS. The PSS consisted of a 2-factor questionnaire measuring perceived stress and coping capacity accounting for 77% of variability. The IRT analysis showed differences in item difficulty and discrimination. Item difficulty represents the level of the latent construct where 50% of respondents endorse a particular response, and item discrimination determines the rate of change of the probability of endorsing an item for differing ability levels. For the first factor, perceived stress, item 12 was the least difficult and item 2 was the most difficult. For the second factor, coping capacity, item 9 was the least difficult and item 6 was the most difficult. The Spanish version of the 14-item PSS can be a useful assessment tool for perceived stress, but more IRT should be done to delve further into the psychometric properties of the questionnaire to inform clinicians and policy makers more appropriately.

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A personalidade é um construto central na pesquisa psicológica, podendo ser definida como uma estrutura relativamente estável do ser humano que influencia seus comportamentos diante de acontecimentos diários. Este estudo objetivou desenvolver e obter evidências de validade baseadas na estrutura interna do Inventário de Avaliação dos Cinco Grandes Fatores e Facetas de Personalidade (IACGF-F). A Teoria dos Cinco Grandes Fatores de Personalidade foi utilizada como referencial teórico para elaboração dos itens. Para o estudo piloto, 150 sujeitos responderam à versão do instrumento composta por 151 itens e questionário sociodemográfico. O estudo final contou com 285 sujeitos com média de idade de 22,6 anos que responderam à versão do IACGF-F com 129 itens, além do questionário sociodemográfico. Foi realizado um conjunto de sete análises fatoriais exploratórias, estimação da fidedignidade, bem como calibração dos parâmetros dos itens a partir da TRI. A versão final do instrumento ficou composta por 103 itens distribuídos em cinco fatores com variação de cinco a seis facetas por fator. Foram encontrados bons índices de fidedignidade (alfas entre 0,85 e 0,96), além de bons índices de dificuldade e discriminação. Sugere-se a utilização do IACGF-F em pesquisas nas quais a avaliação mais detalhada das facetas se faz necessária.

Personality is a central construct in psychological research and can be defined as a relatively stable structure of human beings that influences their behavior in the face of daily events. The purpose of this study wasd to develop and obtain validity evidence based on the internal structure of the Inventory for Assessment of the Big Five Personality Factors and Facets (PAIBFF-F). The Big Five Personality Factor Theory was used as the theoretical framework for item development. For the pilot study, 150 subjects answered the initial version of the instrument, which consisted of 151 items and a sociodemographic questionnaire. The final study included 285 subjects with a mean age of 22.6 years who answered a version of the PAIBFF-F with 129 items and sociodemographic questionnaire. Seven exploratory factor analyses, reliability estimation, as well as calibration of the item parameters from TRI were performed. The final version of the instrument was composed of 103 items distributed in five factors with a variation of five to six facets per factor. Good reliability indices were found (alphas between 0.85 and 0.96), in addition to good difficulty and discrimination indices. We suggest the use of the IACGF-P in research in which a more detailed evaluation of the facets is required.