Barbara Gandek's research while affiliated with University of Massachusetts Medical School and other places

Publications (84)

Article
Full-text available
Background Interpretation of health-related quality of life (QOL) outcomes requires improved methods to control for the effects of multiple chronic conditions (MCC). This study systematically compared legacy and improved method effects of aggregating MCC on the accuracy of predictions of QOL outcomes. Methods Online surveys administered generic ph...
Article
Full-text available
Objective: The objective of this study was to develop the classification system for version of the SF-6D (SF-6Dv2) from the SF-36v2. SF-6Dv2 is an improved version of SF-6D, one of the most widely used generic measures of health for the calculation of quality-adjusted life years. Study design and setting: A 3-step process was undertaken to gener...
Article
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Background: Physical function (PF) is a core patient-reported outcome domain in clinical trials in rheumatic diseases. Frequently used PF measures have ceiling effects, leading to large sample size requirements and low sensitivity to change. In most of these instruments, the response category that indicates the highest PF level is the statement tha...
Presentation
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Objective: To investigate whether an extended response scale increases the range of measurement in static PROMIS® Physical Function (PF) measures. Methods: In the course of PROMIS wave 1 data collection, a 5-item PF short form was presented in three different item formats. Two of these formats are used in the PROMIS PF item bank, both utilizing a r...
Article
Full-text available
Background To document the development and evaluation of the Quality of life Disease Impact Scale (QDIS®), a measure that standardizes item content and scoring across chronic conditions and provides a summary, norm-based QOL impact score for each disease. MethodsA bank of 49 disease impact items was constructed from previously-used descriptions of...
Conference Paper
Aim: An essential step in the development of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) is the determination of the specific item format, including item content and wording. Using the example of measuring physical function (PF), respective item content can focus on either a person’s capability or on a person’s performance, while respective item wording may e...
Article
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Assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is well established in clinical research, but ceiling effects in validated tools might prevent detection of changes in well respondents. Tobacco Quality of Life Impact Tool (TQOLITv1) uses conceptual and psychometric advances to enhance detection of HRQoL changes. In a 6-month, forced-switch stud...
Article
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Background and aimThyroid diseases are prevalent and chronic. With treatment, quality of life is restored in most, but not all patients. Construct validity of the thyroid-related quality of life questionnaire, ThyPRO, has been established by multi-trait scaling, but not evaluated with more elaborate methods. The purpose of the present study was to...
Article
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Objective To document the development and psychometric evaluation of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Physical Function (PF) item bank and static instruments. Study Design and Setting The items were evaluated using qualitative and quantitative methods. A total of 16,065 adults answered item subsets (n > 2,200/i...
Article
Introduction: The aim of this study is to report normative data for the Short-Form 36 version 2 (SF-36v2) for assessing health-related quality of life, in the Singapore general population. Materials and methods: Data for English and Chinese-speaking participants of the Singapore Prospective Study Programme were analysed. The SF-36v2 scores were...
Article
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The SF-36 physical functioning scale (PF-10) and the Health Assessment Questionnaire disability index (HAQ-DI) are the most frequently used instruments for measuring self-reported physical function in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The objective of this study was to develop a crosswalk between scores on the PF-10 and HAQ-DI in RA. Item response theory...
Article
Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the measurement properties of the Singapore English and Chinese versions of the Short-Form 36 version 2 (SF-36v2) Questionnaire, an improved version of the widely used SF-36, for assessing health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a multi-ethnic urban Asian population in Singapore. Methods: SF-36v2 scores and data o...
Article
Computerized adaptive tests (CATs) have abundant theoretical advantages over established static instruments, which could improve ambulatory monitoring of patient-reported outcomes (PROs). However, an empirical demonstration of their practical benefits is warranted. We reviewed the literature and evaluated existing data to discuss the potential of C...
Article
The two-component factor structure underlying Short Form-36 (SF-36) summary scores may not be valid worldwide. We studied a three-component model of SF-36 scores in Japan. The SF-36 scores came from representative samples of the population of Japan. Factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used. The two-component model gave physical co...
Article
Full-text available
Physical function is a key component of patient-reported outcome (PRO) assessment in rheumatology. Modern psychometric methods, such as Item Response Theory (IRT) and Computerized Adaptive Testing, can materially improve measurement precision at the item level. We present the qualitative and quantitative item-evaluation process for developing the P...
Article
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The SF-36((R)) Health Survey (Version 2; SF-36) was evaluated among older Vietnamese Americans to determine whether underlying dimensions of physical and mental health were similar to those of other groups in the United States. Field testing of participants from senior centers. The study provided support for the reliability and validity of the SF-3...
Article
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To measure participation outcomes with a computerized adaptive test (CAT) and compare CAT and traditional fixed-length surveys in terms of score agreement, respondent burden, discriminant validity, and responsiveness. Longitudinal, prospective cohort study of patients interviewed approximately 2 weeks after discharge from inpatient rehabilitation a...
Article
To evaluate a patient-reported participation measure constructed within the framework of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health. The Participation Measure for Post-Acute Care (PM-PAC) contains 51 items that assess participation in nine domains: mobility; role functioning; community, social, and civic life; domestic...
Article
To examine score agreement, precision, validity, efficiency, and responsiveness of a computerized adaptive testing (CAT) version of the Activity Measure for Post-Acute Care (AM-PAC-CAT) in a prospective, 3-month follow-up sample of inpatient rehabilitation patients recently discharged home. Longitudinal, prospective 1-group cohort study of patients...
Article
To find out whether the SF-36 physical and mental health summary (PCS and MCS) scales are valid and equivalent in the Chinese population in Hong Kong (HK). The SF-36 data of a cross-sectional study on 2,410 Chinese adults randomly selected from the general population in HK were analyzed. The hypothesized two-factor structure of the physical and men...
Article
Full-text available
Objective(s): To develop and validate the Iranian version of the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) for use in health related quality of life assessment in Iran. Methods: A culturally comparable questionnaire was developed and pilot tested. Then, the Iranian version of the SF-36 was administered to a random sample of 4163 healthy individuals aged 15...
Article
Chinese is the world's largest ethnic group but few health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures have been tested on them. The aim of this study was to determine if the standard SF-12 was valid and equivalent for a Chinese population. The SF-36 data of 2410 Chinese adults randomly selected from the general population of Hong Kong (HK) were analy...
Article
Objective: To evaluate computerized adaptive testing (CAT) measures of rehabilitation outcomes. Study Design: Physical functioning questions were calibrated via item response theory (IRT) and administered with CAT software. Subjects: 485 adults interviewed during postacute care rehabilitation (simulation study) and 26 adults who completed CAT and p...
Article
Few studies and no international comparisons have examined the impact of multiple chronic conditions on populations using a comprehensive health-related quality of life (HRQL) questionnaire. The impact of common chronic conditions on HRQL among the general populations of eight countries was assessed. Cross-sectional mail and interview surveys were...
Article
Full-text available
Data quality and scoring assumptions for the SF-36 Health Survey were evaluated among the elderly and disabled, using 1998 Cohort I baseline Medicare HOS data (n=177,714). Missing data rates were low, and scoring assumptions were met. Internal consistency reliability was 0.83 to 0.93 for the eight scales and 0.94 and 0.89, respectively, for the phy...
Article
The process of translating the Short-Form Headache Impact Test (HIT-6) in 27 countries and the comparability of the content of the translations is discussed. HIT-6 translations were developed using a standard forward-backward translation process, including a cognitive debriefing step and international harmonization of the translations. Prior to tra...
Article
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The feasibility of using the SF-36 in non-Western cultures is important for researchers seeking to understand cultural influences upon health status perceptions. This paper reports on the performance of the Taiwan version of the SF-36, including the implications of cultural influences. A total of 1191 volunteered subjects from the general populatio...
Article
To establish a multidimensional profile of the health status in a population of southeastern Mexico and analyze the psychometric properties of a translation of the SF-36 survey authorized by the International Quality of Life Assessment Project. The SF-36 was administered to 257 volunteers of a clinic and a control group in a governmental institutio...
Article
Objective. To establish a multidimensional profile of the health status in a population of southeastern Mexico and analyze the psychometric properties of a translation of the SF-36 survey authorized by the International Quality of Life Assessment Project. Material and methods. The SF-36 was administered to 257 volunteers of a clinic and a con- trol...
Article
Objective. To establish a multidimensional profile of the health status in a population of southeastern Mexico and analyze the psychometric properties of a translation of the SF-36 survey authorized by the International Quality of Life Assessment Project. Material and methods. The SF-36 was administered to 257 volunteers of a clinic and a control g...
Article
The objective of this study was to assess the validity of a Kiswahili translation of the SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36) among an urban population in Tanzania, using the method of known-groups validation. People were randomly selected from a demographic surveillance system in Dar es Salaam. The representative sample consisted of 3,802 adults (15 years...
Article
The objective of the study was to translate and adapt the SF-36 Health Survey for use in Tanzania and to test the psychometric properties of the Kiswahili SF-36. A cross-sectional study was conducted as part of a household survey of a representative sample of the adult population of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The IQOLA method of forward and backward...
Article
Objective: The aim of this study was to establish normative values of the SF-36 Health Survey of the Chinese adult population in Hong Kong so that local references for meaningful interpretation of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measurements would be available. Design: A cross-sectional telephone survey. Subject: Chinese adults aged 18 years...
Article
Objetivo. Establecer, con la Encuesta SF-36, un perfil multidimensional del estado de salud de una población del sureste de México y analizar las propiedades psicométricas de una traducción de la Encuesta SF-36 autorizada por el Proyecto Internacional de Evaluación de la Calidad de Vida. Material y métodos. La SF-36 se aplicó a 257 participantes vo...
Article
The similarity in meaning assigned to response choice labels from the SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36) was evaluated across countries. Convenience samples of judges (range, 10 to 117; median = 48) from 13 countries rated translations of response choice labels, using a variation of the Thurstone method of equal appearing intervals. Judges marked a point...
Article
Full-text available
Following the translation development stage, the second research stage of the IQOLA Project tests the assumptions underlying item scoring and scale construction. This article provides detailed information on the research methods used by the IQOLA Project to evaluate data quality, scaling and scoring assumptions, and the reliability of the SF-36 sca...
Article
Increasingly, translated and culturally adapted health-related quality of life measures are being used in cross-cultural research. To assess comparability of results, researchers need to know the comparability of the content of the questionnaires used in different countries. Based on an item-by-item discussion among International Quality of Life As...
Article
This article briefly summarizes methods used in the empirical validation of translations of the SF-36 Health Survey. In addition, information about the IQOLA Project norming protocol and 13 general population norming samples analyzed in this supplement is provided.
Article
Cross-sectional data from a representative sample of the general population in Japan were analyzed to test the validity of Japanese SF-36 Health Survey scales as measures of physical and mental health. Results from psychometric and clinical tests of validity were compared. Principal components analyses were used to test for the hypothesized physica...
Article
A crucial prerequisite to the use of the SF-36 Health Survey in multinational studies is the reproduction of the conceptual model underlying its scoring and interpretation. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test these aspects of the construct validity of the SF-36 in ten IQOLA countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands...
Article
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Data from general population surveys (n = 1483 to 9151) in nine European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) were analyzed to cross-validate the selection of questionnaire items for the SF-12 Health Survey and scoring algorithms for 12-item physical and mental component summary...
Article
This article describes the methods adopted by the International Quality of Life Assessment (IQOLA) project to translate the SF-36 Health Survey. Translation methods included the production of forward and backward translations, use of difficulty and quality ratings, pilot testing, and cross-cultural comparison of the translation work. Experience to...
Article
The psychometric properties of the Belgian Dutch and French translations of the SF-36 Health Survey were evaluated in a sample of 4448 Belgian patients with angina enrolled in a 6-month treatment study. Missing data were rare (<2%), and tests of both item internal consistency and item discriminant validity were satisfactory in both languages. Cronb...
Article
Data from general population samples in 11 countries (n = 1483 to 9151) were used to assess data quality and test the assumptions underlying the construction and scoring of multi-item scales from the SF-36 Health Survey. Across all countries, the rate of item-level missing data generally was low, although slightly higher for items printed in the gr...
Article
Few health-related quality of life (HRQOL) survey instruments are available to the Chinese, although many have been developed for Western populations. This article describes the testing of the acceptability, conceptual equivalence, scaling assumptions and construct validity of a Chinese (HK [Hong Kong]) version fo the MOS SF-36 Health Survey. A Chi...
Article
Full-text available
This article presents information about the development and evaluation of the SF-36 Health Survey, a 36-item generic measure of health status. It summarizes studies of reliability and validity and provides administrative and interpretation guidelines for the SF-36. A brief history of the International Quality of Life Assessment (IQOLA) Project is a...
Article
Rasch models for polytomous items were used to assess the scaling assumptions and compare item response patterns in the 10-item SF-36 physical functioning scale (PF-10) for general population respondents in Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Rasch model of physical functioning developed...
Article
Data from general population surveys (n = 1771 to 9151) in nine European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) were analyzed to test the algorithms used to score physical and mental component summary measures (PCS-36/MCS-36) based on the SF-36 Health Survey. Scoring coefficients...
Article
Outcome measures are rapidly becoming standard tools in the assessment of clinical effectiveness and in the measurement of health status in populations. In this article we document the development of a self-administered Chinese version of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and report the results of psychometric test...
Article
Following the translation development stage, the second research stage of the IQOLA Project tests the assumptions underlying item scoring and scale construction. This article provides detailed information on the research methods used by the IQOLA Project to evaluate data quality, scaling and scoring assumptions, and the reliability of the SF-36 sca...
Article
The similarity in meaning assigned to response choice labels from the SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36) was evaluated across countries. Convenience samples of judges (range, 10 to 117; median = 48) from 13 countries rated translations of response choice labels, using a variation of the Thurstone method of equal appearing intervals. Judges marked a point...
Article
Rasch models for polytomous items were used to assess the scaling assumptions and compare item response patterns in the 10-item SF-36 physical functioning scale (PF-10) for general population respondents in Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Rasch model of physical functioning developed...
Article
Studies of the factor structure of the SF-36 Health Survey are an important step in its construct validation. Its structure is also the psychometric basis for scoring physical and mental health summary scales, which are proving useful in simplifying and interpreting statistical analyses. To test the generalizability of the SF-36 factor structure, p...
Article
This article describes the methods adopted by the International Quality of Life Assessment (IQOLA) project to translate the SF-36 Health Survey. Translation methods included the production of forward and backward translations, use of difficulty and quality ratings, pilot testing, and cross-cultural comparison of the translation work. Experience to...
Article
This article briefly summarizes methods used in the empirical validation of translations of the SF-36 Health Survey. In addition, information about the IQOLA Project norming protocol and 13 general population norming samples analyzed in this supplement is provided.
Article
Full-text available
Increasingly, translated and culturally adapted health-related quality of life measures are being used in cross-cultural research. To assess comparability of results, researchers need to know the comparability of the content of the questionnaires used in different countries. Based on an item-by-item discussion among International Quality of Life As...
Article
A 69-item questionnaire measuring generic functioning and well-being and disease-specific health outcomes was developed and tested using the pre-treatment data from patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) participating in two randomized trials of interferon alpha-2b (n = 157). The questionnaire included all eight scales from the SF-36 and measures...
Article
To culturally adapt and translate for use in French- and English-speaking areas of Canada the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), a carefully developed and standardized measure that is useful for assessing the outcomes for care. For the Canadian French version, the methods involved forward and backward translations, qua...
Article
To measure the functional status and well-being of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and compare them with those of a general population group and six disease comparison groups. The subjects of the study were patients with CFS (n = 223) from a CFS clinic, a population-based control sample (n = 2,474), and disease comparison groups with...
Article
PURPOSE: To measure the functional status and well-being of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and compare them with those of a general population group and six disease comparison groups. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The subjects of the study were patients with CFS (n = 223) from a CFS clinic, a population-based control sample (n = 2,474), and...
Article
To identify physician and practice characteristics associated with a physician's propensity to involve patients in diagnostic and treatment decisions, or participatory decision-making style. A representative cross-sectional sample of patients participating in the Medical Outcomes Study characterized each physician's style by using a self-reported q...
Article
This article identifies the characteristics of patients and office visits associated with decreased mutual decision-making between physicians and patients. In the baseline cross-sectional survey of the Medical Outcomes Study we measured specific patient characteristics hypothesized to influence participatory decisionmaking (PDM) styles of physician...
Article
There is growing demand for translations of health status questionnaires for use in multinational drug therapy studies and for population comparisons of health statistics. The International Quality of Life Assessment (IQOLA) Project is conducting a three-stage research program to determine the feasibility of translating the SF-36 Health Survey, wid...
Article
There is growing demand for translations of health status questionnaires for use in multinational drug therapy studies and for population comparisons of health statistics. The International Quality of Life Assessment (IQOLA) Project is conducting a three-stage research program to determine the feasibility of translating the SF-36 Health Survey, wid...
Article
Compare adult migraineurs' health related quality of life to adults in the general U.S. population reporting no chronic conditions, and to samples of patients with other chronic conditions. Subjects (n = 845) were surveyed 2-6 months after participation in a placebo-controlled clinical trial and asked to complete a questionnaire including the SF-36...
Article
In Reply. —We could not agree more with Dr Younes' comments. We should be setting a standard for excellence of 100% and doing everything that we can to find the most cost-effective ways to reach it. All sectors of the health care industry have much room for improvement.
Article
Objective. —To determine how patients in different kinds of practices—solo or single specialty (SOLO), multispecialty group (MSG), or health maintenance organizations (HMOs)—and with fee-for-service (FFS) or prepaid physician payment arrangements evaluate their medical care.
Article
Full-text available
The International Quality of Life Assesment (IQOLA) Project is a 4-year project to translate and adapt the widely used MOS SF-36 Health Survey Questionnaire in up to 15 countries and validate, norm, and document the new translations as required for their use in international studies of health outcomes. In addition to the eight-scale SF-36 health pr...

Citations

... The SF-6D is a preference-based HSU instrument that was developed based on 11 items of the Short Form-36, which was designed to measure 6 dimensions of HRQoL: physical functioning, role limitation, social functioning, pain, mental health, and vitality [20]. SF-6Dv2 is a new instrument that was developed based on 10 items of SF-36 to overcome some limitations of SF-6D [21,36]. By far, limited empirical evidence is available regarding its relative performance against the original SF-6D [37]. ...
... Item response theory (IRT) methods can be used to calibrate any number of items measuring the same latent construct on a common metric, resulting in an IRT-calibrated item bank [14,15]. Such item banks typically include items relevant to various patient populations of interest, allowing for comparisons of scores across different customized item subsets such as population-specific short forms [9,16,17]. Moreover, IRT calibration enables computerized adaptive testing (CAT), that is, the automatized individualization of administered items during assessment [18]. ...
... The SF-36 questionnaire, used to assess quality of life, is comprised of 36 items, grouped into eight scales: (1) physical functioning, (2) role limitations due to physical health problems, (3) role limitations due to personal or emotional problems, (4) emotional well-being, (5) energy/fatigue, (6) social functioning, (7) bodily pain, and (8) general health perceptions. Scores are coded, summed, and transformed onto a scale of 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better self-assessed health and well-being [35,36]. As a guide, a five-point difference between group scores is clinically and socially relevant [35]. ...
... In addition to sociodemographic variables and the presence of a comorbid chronic respiratory condition (asthma and/ or COPD), known to lower HRQOL [23] and increase the prevalence of respiratory symptoms, both sampling groups (probability sample and opt-in sample) were administered the same survey modules in the following order: new generic QGEN ® items under development [24] (not analysed here); standardised checklist for comorbid conditions [25]; SF-36 HRQOL Survey [23]; ratings of health now versus 3 months ago; acute respiratory symptoms; and impact of COVID-19 outbreak on personal life (not included as covariate). In addition to the above 94 items, as many as 72 additional items (median = 6) measured the HRQOL impact attributed to each chronic respiratory condition present. ...
... During treatment, quality of life was impaired. On the other hand, after reaching SVR, the quality of life of these patients was improved compared to their status before reaching SVR [17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. To date, there are no studies which examined the effect of DAAs on the long-term quality of life of these patients. ...
... [24,26] This adaptive logic is the next step when more reliable individualized estimates (e.g., likelihood of treatment relief ) are needed [16]. Feasibility, respondent burden reduction, and clinical utility of such adaptive logic were supported in a national registry pilot study before and after joint replacement, where responsiveness and high correlations between QDIS-OA, QDIS-MCC, and generic PCS outcomes were statistically significant despite a very small sample [83]. Other findings suggest there are points beyond which additional measurement precision may not be worth the burden and cost [26,41]. ...