Health Measurement Scales: A Practical Guide to Their Development and Use - Softcover

Streiner, David L.; Norman, Geoffrey R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192620479 ISBN 13: 9780192620477

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1991

Synopsis

The increased awareness of the impact of health care on the quality of human life means that clinical researchers working in a wide spectrum of disciplines need information about "soft" measures such as pain, depression, or function. A sound, scientific, and reproducible system of measurement is required by clinicians and researchers in disciplines such as psychiatry, rheumatology, oncology and other health professions such as nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. Based on a graduate course developed by the authors at McMaster University, this book describes the principles of measurement, developed in education and psychology, for a health sciences audience. The book discusses both traditional topics in measurement, eg item selection and reliability, and contemporary topics such as generalizability theory and latent tract theory, covering all the steps necessary in developing a new measurement scale, from the initial literature search to the design and analysis of reliability and validity studies. Many of the standard topics are addressed using a minimum of algebra and technical vocabulary. Although the examples are drawn from health sciences, the book should also be useful to all students of measurement in the social and behavioural sciences.

About this title

Review:

This book is a useful resource that should have a fairly broad appeal for researchers needing to develop new measurement scales, researchers who need to critically appraise literature concerned with measurement tools, and anyone interested in an accessible overview of important measurement issues and methods. (The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry)

The text is well laid out with chapters covering basic concepts, devising the items, scaling responses, methods of administration and ethical considerations being easy to read. (Occupational Medicine)

This is a book that can be used as a key reference book by those who wish to study qualitative change in health status by the use of scales. (Occupational Medicine)

About the Author:

David Streiner attended the City College of New York, and then did his graduate work in clinical psychology at Syracuse University. In 1968, he joined the newly-formed Department of Psychiatry at McMaster University, and became the Chief Psychologist at the McMaster University Medical Centre. In 1980, he also became a member of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster, and was the Deputy Chair of CE&B for two years. He was one of the founding editors of Evidence-based Mental Health, and is currently editor of the Statistical Developments and Applications section of the Journal of Personality Assessment, as well as being on the editorial board of numerous other journals. Geoff Norman attended the University of Manitoba as an undergraduate, graduating with an honours degree in physics in 1965. He did graduate work in nuclear physics, obtaining a PhD in 1970. At that point he began a career in health sciences education, and subsequently obtained an M.A. in educational psychology from Michigan State University in 1977. He joined the faculty at McMaster in 1977, and has remained at McMaster for the next three decades. He has won numerous awards in medical education, including the Hubbard Award of the National Board of Medical Examiners (US), and lifetime achievement awards from the Medical Council of Canada and the American Educational Research Association, among others. In 2001, he was awarded a Canada Research Chair. In 2007, he was elected to the Royal Society of Canada. He has published over 200 papers in education, epidemiology, psychiatry and physics, as well as authoring and editing several books.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0192620479
• ISBN 13: 9780192620477
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 182