For the statistical consultant working with social science researchers the estimation of reliability and validity is a task frequently encountered. Measurement issues differ in the social sciences in that they are related to the quantification of abstract, intangible and unobservable constructs. In many instances, then, the meaning of quantities is only inferred. Let us begin by a general description of the paradigm that we are dealing with. Most concepts in the behavioral sciences have meaning within the context of the theory that they are a part of. Each concept, thus, has an operational definition which is governed by the overarching theory. If a concept is involved in the testing of hypothesis to support the theory it has to be measured. So the first decision that the research is faced with is \" how shall the concept be measured? \" That is the type of measure. At a very broad level the type of measure can be observational, self-report, interview, etc. These types ultimately take shape of a more specific form like observation of ongoing activity, observing video-taped events, self-report measures like questionnaires that can be open-ended or close-ended, Likert-type scales, interviews that are structured, semi-structured or unstructured and open-ended or close-ended. Needless to say, each type of measure has specific types of issues that need to be addressed to make the measurement meaningful, accurate, and efficient. Another important feature is the population for which the measure is intended. This decision is not entirely dependent on the theoretical paradigm but more to the immediate research question at hand. 6/14/2016 2 A third point that needs mentioning is the purpose of the scale or measure. What is it that the researcher wants to do with the measure? Is it developed for a specific study or is it developed with the anticipation of extensive use with similar populations? Once some of these decisions are made and a measure is developed, which is a careful and tedious process, the relevant questions to raise are \" how do we know that we are indeed measuring what we want to measure? \" since the construct that we are measuring is abstract, and \" can we be sure that if we repeated the measurement we will get the same result? \". The first question is related to validity and second to reliability. Validity and reliability are two important characteristics of behavioral measure and are referred to as …

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Validity and reliability.

AIM Children born preterm (at ≤32wks) are at risk of developing deficits in reading ability. This meta-analysis aims to determine whether or not school-aged preterm children perform worse than those born at term in single-word reading (decoding) and reading comprehension. METHOD Electronic databases were searched for studies published between 2000 and 2013, which assessed decoding or reading comprehension performance in English-speaking preterm and term-born children aged between 6 years and 13 years, and born after 1990. Standardized mean differences in decoding and reading comprehension scores were calculated. RESULTS Nine studies were suitable for analysis of decoding, and five for analysis of reading comprehension. Random-effects meta-analyses showed that children born preterm had significantly lower scores (reported as Cohen’s d values [d] with 95% confidence intervals [CIs]) than those born at term for decoding (d=0.42, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.27, p<0.001) and reading comprehension (d=0.57, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.46, p<0.001). Meta-regressions showed that lower gestational age was associated with larger differences in decoding (Q[1]=5.92, p=0.02) and reading comprehension (Q[1]=4.69, p=0.03) between preterm and term groups. Differences between groups increased with age for reading comprehension (Q[1]=5.10, p=0.02) and, although not significant, there was also a trend for increased group differences for decoding (Q[1]=3.44, p=0.06). INTERPRETATION Preterm children perform worse than peers born at term on decoding and reading comprehension. These findings suggest that preterm children should receive more ongoing monitoring for reading difficulties throughout their education.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/dmcn.12652

Reading abilities in school-aged preterm children: a review and meta-analysis.

The effects of blended learning on knowledge, skills, and satisfaction in nursing students: A meta-analysis

Objectives The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of educational interventions in digital collaborative learning implemented in nursing education. Design A systematic literature review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) was carried out in accordance with Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) and Centre for Reviews and Dissemination guidelines and the PRISMA statement. Data sources CINAHL (EBSCO), ERIC, MEDLINE (Ovid) and Scopus databases were used to identify original peer-reviewed RCT studies published between 2003 and 2018. Review method The 'hits' were systematically screened by title, abstract and full text by two authors acting independently. The quality of the selected original studies was evaluated using the quality assessment criteria of the JBI and Cochrane collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials. The studies were analysed by narrative synthesis. Results Five peer-reviewed RCT studies were included in the review. All participants in these studies (647 in total) were nursing students exposed to educational interventions in various nursing programme courses. The reviewed studies indicated that digital collaborative learning increased students' knowledge and nursing skills. The results show that collaborative learning in digital learning environments enhanced nursing students' interaction and collaborative skills, problem-solving skills, satisfaction and motivation for learning. Conclusion Collaborative learning in digital learning environments has encouraging effects in enhancing nursing students' knowledge, competence, satisfaction and problem-solving skills. Moreover, evidence-based digital collaborative learning is becoming increasingly effective in nursing education, as available tools and teachers' abilities to use them are improving and providing new learning activities to boost students' learning outcomes in higher education. Thus, its systematic use in digital collaborative learning environments in various nursing courses is recommended.

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Digital collaborative learning in nursing education: a systematic review.

This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) toward COVID-19 among youth in Bangladesh. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from 5 May to 25 May 2020. People aged between 18 and 35 years were approached via social media to complete an online questionnaire that consisted of socio-demographic information and KAP toward COVID-19. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and logistic regression analyses were conducted. Out of 707 survey participants, 57.1% were male, the majority were students (60.3%), aged 24-29 years (61.5%), having a bachelor’s degree (57%), having family income 25,000-50,000 BDT (40.5%) and living in urban areas (64.4%). Participants gathered information on COVID-19 mostly through social media (70.4%). Overall, 61.2% had adequate knowledge with 78.9% having a positive attitudes toward COVID-19 and only 51.6% had good practices. Most (86.8%) of the participants were confident that COVID-19 will be successfully controlled and Bangladesh was handling the COVID-19 health crisis well (84.2%). Only 75.2% of participants always washed their hands with soap or hand-sanitizer, and 70.6% wore a mask when going outside the home. Factors associated with adequate knowledge were being female, having a master’s degree and above, and living in an urban area (p < 0.05). Participants having adequate knowledge of COVID-19 had higher likelihood of positive attitudes (OR: 6.41, 95% CI = 2.34–25.56, p < 0.001) and good practices (OR: 8.93, 95% CI = 3.92–38.42, p < 0.001). The findings highlight the need for tailored education programs for COVID-19 which incorporates consideration of associated factors to improve the level of public knowledge, attitudes, and practices.

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Knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to the COVID-19 pandemic among Bangladeshi youth: a web-based cross-sectional analysis.

Collaborative Learning in Higher Nursing Education: A Systematic Review

This study aims to understand the knowledge, attitudes and practices of COVID-19 in the Chinese context and to provide insights for developing targeted outbreak prevention and control measures among the general public. We conducted an online survey of urban and rural residents in Henan Province. A total of 517 valid questionnaires were collected via the online platform. The mean scores for knowledge and practice were 5.57/9 and 2.04/3, respectively. More than 90% of the participants believed COVID-19 was serious and preventable, were concerned about the disease process, and actively engaged in learning related knowledge. Our results showed that the COVID-19 knowledge level was significantly different among groups with different ages, genders, education levels and marital statuses; COVID-19 practice was significantly different among different regions. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that education level, female sex, unmarried status, and health care worker status had a significant impact on COVID-19 knowledge; urban area was associated with a higher practice score; COVID-19 knowledge was significantly associated with residents' attitude toward preventive measures that can prevent COVID-19 infection; urban area was significantly related to the willingness to go to a fever clinic to check for suspected infection. We found that Chinese urban and rural residents held a moderate level of COVID-19 knowledge and practice and showed a positive attitude toward the disease. It is necessary to develop relevant education programs targeting the general population in China to improve COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes and practices, particularly for rural and undereducated residents.

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Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of COVID-19 Among Urban and Rural Residents in China: A Cross-sectional Study.

Effects of a mixed media education intervention program on increasing knowledge, attitude, and compliance with standard precautions among nursing students: A randomized controlled trial

Aims and objectives
The aim of this study was to improve the postoperative handover process and immediate postoperative patient outcomes. The objective was to implement a postoperative handover protocol in the neurosurgical intensive care unit of a tertiary teaching hospital.

Background
Postoperative handover is a multidisciplinary collaborative medical activity that involves information transfer, sequenced tasks and high-quality teamwork. Evidence suggests that a lack of a standardised postoperative handover protocol adversely influences care quality and potentially compromises patient safety. As there is a lack of such protocols in China, there is an identified need for improvement.

Design
This was a pretest/post-test study with follow-up after three months.

Methods
A postoperative handover protocol that included a postoperative handover checklist, a standardised handover pathway and core team member involvement was developed based on research evidence and expert opinions and was then implemented and evaluated.

Results
Following the implementation of this protocol, improved teamwork was achieved, surgeons were more frequently present at bedside handovers, the rate of transferring key messages increased, the rate of ventilator weaning within the first six hours of neurosurgical intensive care unit admission increased, and the ventilation duration per patient decreased without any clinical incident occurring in the first 24 hours after neurosurgical intensive care unit admission.

Conclusions
Following the implementation of a tailored standardised handover protocol, communication, teamwork and short-term patient outcomes were improved.

Relevance to clinical practice
This clinically based research highlights the need for policy makers and administrators to create unit-specific protocols for improving postoperative handovers.

Improving the postoperative handover process in the intensive care unit of a tertiary teaching hospital.

Aim

To examine the effect of an educational intervention on parental readiness for premature infant discharge from neonatal intensive care units.



Background

Low readiness for discharge can result in negative healthcare outcomes for infants and their parents. However, few studies have examined the effect of discharge education programmes on parental readiness for premature infant discharge in Chinese critical care settings.



Design

A quasi-experimental study.



Methods

Between October 2011–March 2012, 154 parents of premature infants were recruited from neonatal intensive care units of two tertiary hospitals in Central China. These parents were assigned to either the intervention or control group based on their entry order. Parents in the intervention group received two sessions of 60-minute discharge education along with hospital routine care; parents in the control group only received hospital routine care. Parental readiness for discharge and quality of discharge education were assessed on the day of infant discharge from neonatal intensive care units. Independent samples t-test and linear regression were used to analyse the data.



Results

Parental readiness for premature infant discharge was in the moderate level. Independent samples t-test showed that both mean scores of parental discharge readiness and discharge teaching quality from the intervention group were significantly higher than those in the control group. Linear regression analysis showed that discharge teaching quality explained 39·7% of the variance in parental readiness for premature infant discharge.



Conclusion

Discharge education can improve parental readiness for premature infant discharge. Quality of discharge teaching can significantly predict parental readiness for premature infant discharge.

Jun Zhang

Papers

Collaborative Learning in Higher Nursing Education: A Systematic Review

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of COVID-19 Among Urban and Rural Residents in China: A Cross-sectional Study.

Effects of a mixed media education intervention program on increasing knowledge, attitude, and compliance with standard precautions among nursing students: A randomized controlled trial

Improving the postoperative handover process in the intensive care unit of a tertiary teaching hospital.

Effect of an educational intervention on parental readiness for premature infant discharge from the neonatal intensive care units