Calibration of an Item Pool for Assessing the Burden of Headaches: An Application of Item Response Theory to the Headache Impact Test (HIT™)

Background: Measurement of headache impact is important in clinical trials, case detection, and the clinical monitoring of patients. Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) of headache impact has potential advantages over traditional fixed-length tests in terms of precision, relevance, real-time quality...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Quality of Life Research. - Springer Science + Business Media. - 12(2003), 8, Seite 913-933
1. Verfasser: Bjorner, Jakob B. (VerfasserIn)
Weitere Verfasser: Kosinski, Mark, Ware,, John E.
Format: Online-Aufsatz
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: 2003
Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk:Quality of Life Research
Schlagworte:Computerized adaptive testing Disability Headache Health status Impact Item response theory Migraine Quality of life Questionnaires Severity mehr... Tension headache Health sciences Applied sciences Education Mathematics Behavioral sciences
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Background: Measurement of headache impact is important in clinical trials, case detection, and the clinical monitoring of patients. Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) of headache impact has potential advantages over traditional fixed-length tests in terms of precision, relevance, real-time quality control and flexibility. Objective: To develop an item pool that can be used for a computerized adaptive test of headache impact. Methods: We analyzed responses to four well-known tests of headache impact from a population-based sample of recent headache sufferers (n = 1016). We used confirmatory factor analysis for categorical data and analyses based on item response theory (IRT). Results: In factor analyses, we found very high correlations between the factors hypothesized by the original test constructers, both within and between the original questionnaires. These results suggest that a single score of headache impact is sufficient. We established a pool of 47 items which fitted the generalized partial credit IRT model. By simulating a computerized adaptive health test we showed that an adaptive test of only five items had a very high concordance with the score based on all items and that different worst-case item selection scenarios did not lead to bias. Conclusion: We have established a headache impact item pool that can be used in CAT of headache impact.
ISSN:15732649