TY - JOUR T1 - Developing an initial physical function item bank from existing sources JF - Journal of Applied Measurement Y1 - 2003 A1 - Bode, R. K. A1 - Cella, D. A1 - Lai, J. S. A1 - Heinemann, A. W. KW - *Databases KW - *Sickness Impact Profile KW - Adaptation, Psychological KW - Data Collection KW - Humans KW - Neoplasms/*physiopathology/psychology/therapy KW - Psychometrics KW - Quality of Life/*psychology KW - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. KW - United States AB - The objective of this article is to illustrate incremental item banking using health-related quality of life data collected from two samples of patients receiving cancer treatment. The kinds of decisions one faces in establishing an item bank for computerized adaptive testing are also illustrated. Pre-calibration procedures include: identifying common items across databases; creating a new database with data from each pool; reverse-scoring "negative" items; identifying rating scales used in items; identifying pivot points in each rating scale; pivot anchoring items at comparable rating scale categories; and identifying items in each instrument that measure the construct of interest. A series of calibrations were conducted in which a small proportion of new items were added to the common core and misfitting items were identified and deleted until an initial item bank has been developed. VL - 4 N1 - 1529-7713Journal Article ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Item banking to improve, shorten and computerized self-reported fatigue: an illustration of steps to create a core item bank from the FACIT-Fatigue Scale JF - Quality of Life Research Y1 - 2003 A1 - Lai, J-S. A1 - Crane, P. K. A1 - Cella, D. A1 - Chang, C-H. A1 - Bode, R. K. A1 - Heinemann, A. W. KW - *Health Status Indicators KW - *Questionnaires KW - Adult KW - Fatigue/*diagnosis/etiology KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - Neoplasms/complications KW - Psychometrics KW - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't KW - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. KW - Sickness Impact Profile AB - Fatigue is a common symptom among cancer patients and the general population. Due to its subjective nature, fatigue has been difficult to effectively and efficiently assess. Modern computerized adaptive testing (CAT) can enable precise assessment of fatigue using a small number of items from a fatigue item bank. CAT enables brief assessment by selecting questions from an item bank that provide the maximum amount of information given a person's previous responses. This article illustrates steps to prepare such an item bank, using 13 items from the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy Fatigue Subscale (FACIT-F) as the basis. Samples included 1022 cancer patients and 1010 people from the general population. An Item Response Theory (IRT)-based rating scale model, a polytomous extension of the Rasch dichotomous model was utilized. Nine items demonstrating acceptable psychometric properties were selected and positioned on the fatigue continuum. The fatigue levels measured by these nine items along with their response categories covered 66.8% of the general population and 82.6% of the cancer patients. Although the operational CAT algorithms to handle polytomously scored items are still in progress, we illustrated how CAT may work by using nine core items to measure level of fatigue. Using this illustration, a fatigue measure comparable to its full-length 13-item scale administration was obtained using four items. The resulting item bank can serve as a core to which will be added a psychometrically sound and operational item bank covering the entire fatigue continuum. VL - 12 N1 - 0962-9343Journal Article ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Measuring quality of life in chronic illness: the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy measurement system JF - Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Y1 - 2002 A1 - Cella, D. A1 - Nowinski, C. J. KW - *Chronic Disease KW - *Quality of Life KW - *Rehabilitation KW - Adult KW - Comparative Study KW - Health Status Indicators KW - Humans KW - Psychometrics KW - Questionnaires KW - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. KW - Sensitivity and Specificity AB - We focus on quality of life (QOL) measurement as applied to chronic illness. There are 2 major types of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) instruments-generic health status and targeted. Generic instruments offer the opportunity to compare results across patient and population cohorts, and some can provide normative or benchmark data from which to interpret results. Targeted instruments ask questions that focus more on the specific condition or treatment under study and, as a result, tend to be more responsive to clinically important changes than generic instruments. Each type of instrument has a place in the assessment of HRQOL in chronic illness, and consideration of the relative advantages and disadvantages of the 2 options best drives choice of instrument. The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) system of HRQOL measurement is a hybrid of the 2 approaches. The FACIT system combines a core general measure with supplemental measures targeted toward specific diseases, conditions, or treatments. Thus, it capitalizes on the strengths of each type of measure. Recently, FACIT questionnaires were administered to a representative sample of the general population with results used to derive FACIT norms. These normative data can be used for benchmarking and to better understand changes in HRQOL that are often seen in clinical trials. Future directions in HRQOL assessment include test equating, item banking, and computerized adaptive testing. VL - 83 N1 - 0003-9993Journal Article ER -