Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Pretesting”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,099 records · Page 61Linked to original sources
PubMed2006

Health care workers' hand decontamination practices: an Irish study.

The primary purpose of this quasi-experimental research is to observe health care workers' compliance with hand-hygiene guidelines during patient care in an intensive care unit in Ireland before (pretest) and after (posttest) implementation of a multifaceted hand-hygiene program. Health care workers' attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge in relation to compliance with handwashing guidelines were also investigated. A convenience sample of nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, and care assistants (n = 73 observational participants, n = 62 questionnaire respondents) was used. Data (N = 314 observations, 62 questionnaires) were analyzed descriptively and cross-tabulated using chi-square (Pearson's) and Mann-Whitney statistical tests. Results revealed that a significant shift (32%) occurred in health care workers' compliance with handwashing guidelines (pretest 51%, posttest 83%, p < .001) following the interventional hand-hygiene program. Significant changes were also found in relation to health care workers' attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge (p < .05).

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2001

Evaluation of the effectiveness of a youth leadership class in the prevention of depression in adolescents.

Depression in adolescence is a common and potentially life-threatening health problem. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of prevention strategies on decreasing the rate of depression in adolescents. A class addressing specific skills identified as having an impact on adolescent depression was taught to youth participating in the program. The nonequivalent control group design was used. The sample consisted of 7th- and 8th-grade students in either the Youth Leadership class or a computer class of a California middle school. The Childhood Depression Inventory was the instrument used. Nine control group subjects and 11 experimental group subjects completed both the pretest and the posttest. The analysis of the data revealed no statistically significant differences between the control and experimental groups. This study should be repeated with larger sample sizes and with greater attention to the timing of pretests and posttests.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

How well do physicians, pharmacists, and psychologists assess tardive dyskinesia movements?

OBJECTIVE: To measure and compare the tardive dyskinesia assessment ability of physicians, pharmacists, and psychologists prior to and after formal training. METHOD: One hundred twenty-two physicians, 82 pharmacists, and 78 psychologists participated in assessment training with the Dyskinesia Identification System Condensed User Scale (DISCUS). Participants were shown one of three videotapes as a pretest before training and as a posttest after training. Inter- and intraprofessional comparisons were made on total score, body area scores, and individual item scores. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used. If significant differences were found, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted. To identify where significant effects occurred, the Tukey test was used. RESULTS: The group as a whole improved from a pretest total point difference from criteria of 6.3 +/- 5.7 SD to a posttest difference of 2.8 +/- 2.8 SD (df = 2, f = 84.32, p < 0.001). This training effect occurred for six of the seven videotape testing sequences used. Physicians, pharmacists, and psychologists did not significantly differ from each other before or after training. All three professions significantly improved as a result of training. A subgroup of 39 psychiatrists within the physician group showed similar results. CONCLUSIONS: Untrained raters, regardless of profession, are not necessarily accurate in quantifying dyskinetic movements. Brief but formal training significantly improves accuracy.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1994

The Brief Symptom Inventory as an Outcome Measure for Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients

The utility of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) as an outcome measure for adolescent psychiatric inpatients was evaluated. The BSI was administered to 88 male and 100 female psychiatric inpatients at admission and discharge. There were statistically significant mean score changes from pretest to posttest on most BSI indices, with effect sizes ranging between small and medium. Statistical analyses produced generally equivalent results, whether T scores or raw scores were used as dependent variables. However, the ability of the BSI to detect pretest to posttest change reliably for individual patients was quite limited. The degree of symptom distress reported by adolescent inpatients, moreover, did not differ greatly from those found in normative data for adolescent non-patients. It is possible that this relative lack of discrimination between adolescent inpatients and non-patients may be associated with limitations inherent in using self-report inventories with adolescent populations.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

A comparison of two Native American Navigator formats: face-to-face and telephone.

The study was designed to test the relative effectiveness of a Navigator intervention delivered face-to-face or by telephone to urban Native American women. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated using a design that included a pretest, random assignment to face-to-face or telephone group, and posttest. The Social Cognitive Theory-based intervention was a tailored education program developed to address individual risk factors for breast cancer. At posttest, self-reported mammograms in the past year increased from 29% to 41.3% in the telephone group and from 34.4% to 45.2% in the face-to-face group. There was no difference in change from pretest to posttest between the telephone and face-to-face groups. Navigators can be effective in increasing adherence to recommendations for screening mammography among urban American Indian women.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Experiences of beginning health educators and changes in their high school students' health behaviors and attitudes.

This study explored the instructional experiences of beginning health educators and changes in their high school students' health-related behaviors and attitudes. Qualitative data were collected through observations and personal interviews from five novice health teachers two times per week over an 8-week period. Quantitative data were collected from 92 high school student participants using a 60-item survey with a pretest/posttest administration. Dependent t tests were calculated to detect mean differences between total sample pretest and posttest scores with a significance level, where p < .05. Mean raw scores were calculated in 12 health categories to detect differences between pretest and posttest scores for each of the five individual health classes. A deeper understanding of beginning health teachers' practices, thoughts, and potential effectiveness offered insight into the interplay between teaching, learning, and health. The contribution to the enhancement of professional teacher preparation programs is provided.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

The effect of sex education on adolescents' use of condoms: applying the Solomon four-group design.

A school-based sex education program was developed in order to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. A Solomon four-group design, with random assignment to the different conditions, was used to evaluate an intervention based on cognitive social learning theory and social influence theory. The main goal of the intervention was to increase use of condoms. A stratified sample of 124 classes (2,411 students) was drawn at random from all the upper secondary schools (high schools/colleges) in one county in Norway. The results indicate a consistent interaction between pretest and intervention, which seems to have an effect on condom use. Pretest or intervention alone did not contribute to this effect. The interaction effect appeared among the students with few sexual partners. Several possible explanations to the observed interaction effect and the implication for future interventions are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Improving breast cancer control among Latinas: evaluation of a theory-based educational program.

The study evaluated a theory-based breast cancer control program specially developed for less acculturated Latinas. The authors used a quasi-experimental design with random assignment of Latinas into experimental (n = 51) or control (n = 37) groups that completed one pretest and two posttest surveys. The experimental group received the educational program, which was based on Bandura's self-efficacy theory and Freire's empowerment pedagogy. Outcome measures included knowledge, perceived self-efficacy, attitudes, breast self-examination (BSE) skills, and mammogram use. At posttest 1, controlling for pretest scores, the experimental group was significantly more likely than the control group to have more medically recognized knowledge (sum of square [SS] = 17.0, F = 6.58, p < .01), have less medically recognized knowledge (SS = 128.8, F = 39.24, p < .001), greater sense of perceived self-efficacy (SS = 316.5, F = 9.63, p < .01), and greater adeptness in the conduct of BSE (SS = 234.8, F = 153.33, p < .001). Cancer control programs designed for less acculturated women should use informal and interactive educational methods that incorporate skill-enhancing and empowering techniques.

Acculturation↗
PubMed2007

Effects of high-intensity endurance and resistance exercise on HIV metabolic abnormalities: a pilot study.

The purposes of this pilot study were to examine the effects of a 16-week supervised high-intensity combined endurance and resistance exercise training program on HIV-associated metabolic abnormalities (abdominal adiposity, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance) and to explore methodological issues related to the design and implementation of the research protocol in preparation for a randomized controlled trial. A one-group pretest-posttest design was used, with outcomes measured at baseline and within 1 week after the conclusion of the training program. The exercise program consisted of 16 weeks (preceded by a 2-week phase-in period) of three endurance sessions (20 min at 70%-80% of VO (2max)) and two resistance sessions per week (one set of 8-10 repetitions at 80% of one-repetition maximum on seven exercises). Outcome measures included lipid levels (total, high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides), visceral and subcutaneous adipose area measured by electron beam tomography, fat and lean mass of trunk and limbs measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and insulin sensitivity measured by the homeostatic model assessment. Nine participants were recruited, 5 of whom completed the intervention and had pretest and posttest data available for analyses. Aerobic capacity and strength improved over the course of the intervention. Statistically significant decreases were found for total and trunk fat mass (1,324.9 g [+/-733.6] and 992.8 g [+/-733.6], respectively). Triglycerides decreased by 59 mg/dL (+/-69.88), and insulin sensitivity decreased by 15.7% (+/-41.7%), neither of which was a statistically significant change. Results suggest that further testing of the combined exercise intervention in a randomized controlled design is warranted.

Absorptiometry, Photon↗
PubMed1996

Serum house dust mite antibodies: predictor of increased bronchial responsiveness in adults of a community.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the presence of serum specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies was associated with increased bronchial responsiveness in adults. We studied cross-sectionally a random community sample of 18-73 year old adults, of whom 83% (n = 489) performed bronchial responsiveness testing as well as serum measurements of five specific IgE antibodies. In the crude data, 39% of those with house dust mite antibodies (n = 18) had a bronchial responsiveness < or = 32 g.L-1 methacholine compared with 19% in subjects without any of the five specific IgE antibodies (n = 453). The corresponding percentages for subjects with timothy antibodies (n = 16) was 25%, birch antibodies (n = 13) 23%, cat antibodies (n = 10) 40% and mould antibodies (n = 2) 50%. When assessing the multivariate relationship between the presence of one specific IgE antibody and degree of bronchial responsiveness we used a semi-proportional hazards model with the response as a 20% fall in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) from pretest value. Covariates included in the model were: gender, age, pretest FEV1, smoking habits, pack-years, season and other specific IgE antibodies than that examined. The presence of house dust mite antibodies was a significant predictor (p < 0.01) of increased bronchial responsiveness in never- and ex-smokers. Indoor allergic sensitization (house dust mite, cat and mould) was a significant predictor of increased bronchial responsiveness, while outdoor allergic sensitization (timothy and birch) was not. Excluding subjects with obstructive lung disease (n = 39) or including the covariate log total serum IgE as a potential confounder yielded the same result. Thus, in this community, indoor allergic sensitization rather than allergic sensitization per se was related to increased bronchial responsiveness after adjusting for other relevant covariates.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Impact of stress reduction on negative school behavior in adolescents.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of stress reduction via the Transcendental Meditation program on school rule infractions in adolescents. METHODS: Forty-five African American adolescents (ages 15-18 years) with high normal systolic blood pressure were randomly assigned to either Transcendental Meditation (n = 25) or health education control (n = 20) groups. The meditation group engaged in 15-min sessions at home and at school each day for 4 months. The control group was presented 15-min sessions of health education at school each day for 4 months. Primary outcome measures were changes in absenteeism, school rule infractions and suspension days during the four-month pretest period prior to randomization compared with the four-month intervention period. RESULTS: Comparing the pretest and intervention periods, the meditation group exhibited a mean decrease of 6.4 absentee periods compared to an increase of 4.8 in the control group (p <.05). The meditation group exhibited a mean decrease of 0.1 infractions over the four months compared to an increase of 0.3 in the control group (p <.03). There was a mean reduction of 0.3 suspension days due to behavior-related problems in the meditation group compared to an increase of 1.2 in the control group (p <.04). CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that the Transcendental Meditation program conducted in the school setting has a beneficial impact upon absenteeism, rule infractions, and suspension rates in African American adolescents.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed2002

The effect of an educational intervention on promoting breast self-examination in older African American and Caucasian women.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To test the efficacy of innovative, age- and race-sensitive, self-monitored, video breast health kits in increasing knowledge about breast cancer risk and screening and breast self-examination (BSE) proficiency. DESIGN: Quasi-experimental pretest and post-test design. SETTING: Dual-site study in community-based settings in the Northeast and Southeast United States. SAMPLE: 328 women (206 in the intervention group, 122 in the control group) aged 60 or older; predominantly African American (77%); mean education of 10.8 years; annual income below $10,000 (50%). METHODS: Individual pretest and post-test interviews conducted by nurses at two-week intervals assessed knowledge about breast cancer risk and screening and BSE proficiency as demonstrated on vested breast models. Intervention subjects used video breast health kits in ethnic editions designed for the study. Control subjects received educational pamphlets. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES: Dependent variables were knowledge about breast health and BSE proficiency measured by demonstration of inspection and palpation skills and detection of lumps in a simulation model. FINDINGS: Three multiple analyses of covariance revealed statistically significant differences in outcome variables between the intervention and control groups. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention was effective in increasing knowledge about breast cancer risk and screening and BSE proficiency in this sample of older women. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: These and other educational interventions designed specifically for age and race sensitivity may enhance cancer screening with vulnerable populations. Future studies with more diverse multicultural groups are needed to improve understanding of how to best influence breast health behaviors of older women.

Black or African American↗
PubMed2004

Age-related differences in elevated plus maze behavior between adolescent and adult rats.

Adolescence is a time of considerable transformations, often associated with increases in risk taking and novelty-seeking behaviors. Little is known of a possible age-dependent expression of anxiety-related behaviors in novel or potentially dangerous situations. The present study explored age differences in anxiogenic and anxiolytic stimuli between adolescent and adult Sprague-Dawley rats using the elevated plus maze (EPM). Data were compared across several experiments using factor analysis of multiple EPM measures. Under some circumstances, adolescents revealed a relatively low behavioral anxiety profile compared to adults, whereas in other situations results revealed the opposite pattern. Characteristics of the pretest circumstances altered considerably the nature of the conclusions reached regarding age-related changes in anxiogenic and anxiolytic stimuli. In general, anxiety measures in adolescents were less affected by variations in pretest conditions compared to the same variables in adults, suggesting possible adolescent immaturity of brain mechanisms involved in the regulation of anxiety.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2005

Attitudes and judgment of emergency physicians in the management of patients with acute headache.

OBJECTIVES: There is little evidence guiding physicians in the evaluation of acute headache to rule out nontraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). The authors assessed emergency physicians in: 1) their pretest accuracy for predicting SAH, 2) their comfort with not ordering either head computed tomography (CT) or lumbar puncture (LP) in patients with acute headache, and 3) their comfort with not ordering head CT before performing LP in patients with acute headache. METHODS: This two-and-a-half-year prospective cohort study was conducted in three tertiary care university emergency departments with 51 emergency physicians. Consecutive patients more than 15 years of age with a nontraumatic, acute headache (onset to peak headache less than one hour) and normal results on neurologic examination were enrolled. Patients known to have cerebrospinal fluid shunt, aneurysm, or brain neoplasm, and patients with recurrent headaches of the same intensity/character as their current headache were excluded. Physicians recorded their pretest probability for SAH and their comfort with performing either no tests or an LP without first obtaining head CT. RESULTS: The authors enrolled 747 patients (mean age 42.8 years; 60.1% female; 77.0% their worst headache; 83.4% had CT and/or LP), including 50 (6.7%) with SAHs. Physicians reported being "uncomfortable" or "very uncomfortable" with performing no test in 75.4% of cases and being "uncomfortable" or "very uncomfortable" with performing LP without CT in 49.6% of cases. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for SAH was 0.85 (95% CI = 0.80 to 0.91). CONCLUSIONS: Physicians were able to moderately discriminate SAH from other causes of headache before diagnostic testing.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2006

Emergency medicine practitioner knowledge and use of decision rules for the evaluation of patients with suspected pulmonary embolism: variations by practice setting and training level.

BACKGROUND: Several clinical decision rules (CDRs) have been validated for pretest probability assessment of pulmonary embolism (PE), but the authors are unaware of any data quantifying and characterizing their use in emergency departments. OBJECTIVES: To characterize clinicians' knowledge of and attitudes toward two commonly used CDRs for PE. METHODS: By using a modified Delphi approach, the authors developed a two-page paper survey including 15 multiple-choice questions. The questions were designed to determine the respondents' familiarity, frequency of use, and comprehension of the Canadian and Charlotte rules. The survey also queried the frequency of use of unstructured (gestalt) pretest probability assessment and reasons why physicians choose not to use decision rules. The surveys were sent to physicians, physician assistants, and medical students at 32 academic and community hospitals in the United States and the United Kingdom. RESULTS: Respondents included 555 clinicians; 443 (80%) work in academic practice, and 112 (20%) are community based. Significantly more academic practitioners (73%) than community practitioners (49%) indicated familiarity with at least one of the two decision rules. Among all respondents familiar with a rule, 50% reported using it in more than half of applicable cases. A significant number of these respondents could not correctly identify a key component of the rule (23% for the Charlotte rule and 43% for the Canadian rule). Fifty-seven percent of all respondents indicated use of gestalt rather than a decision rule in more than half of cases. CONCLUSIONS: Academic clinicians were more likely to report familiarity with either of these two specific decision rules. Only one half of all clinicians reporting familiarity with the rules use them in more than 50% of applicable cases. Spontaneous recall of the specific elements of the rules was low to moderate. Future work should consider clinical gestalt in the evaluation of patients with possible PE.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Diagnosing liver metastases: a Bayesian analysis.

Clinicians frequently perform tests to determine whether patients have liver metastases. Optimal use of a laboratory test requires that the clinician know the test's operating characteristics (its sensitivity and specificity) and have an estimate of the pretest probability that disease is present. We have surveyed studies that examined the value of four biochemical and three imaging tests in establishing a diagnosis of hepatic metastases in patients who underwent an invasive procedure to establish the presence or absence of disease. We have pooled the data from these studies to arrive at values for the sensitivity and specificity of each of these tests, and calculated the predictive values for these tests over a wide range of pretest probabilities of disease. Several examples illustrate how this information may be used clinically. We provide a framework for the optimal interpretation of these commonly ordered tests and indicate the data needed for their complete analysis.

Bayes Theorem↗
PubMed2001

Brain auditory activation measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in neonates.

This study presents a new measure of the hemodynamic changes to an auditory stimulus in newborns. Nineteen newborns born at 28-41 wk and aged 1 to 49 d were studied in waking and/or sleeping state, for a median time of 4 min 40 s before, 2 min 40 s during, and 3 min 5 s after an acustic stimulus (tonal sweep of frequency increasing from 2 to 4 kHz, intensity 90 dB SPL) originating 5 cm from the external auditory meatus. The emitter and detector optodes were placed over the left or right temporal region, corresponding to T3 or T4 EEG electrodes. The concentration changes in cerebral chromophores Delta[HbO2], Delta[Hb] and Deltaoxidized-reduced cytochrome aa(3) were recorded every 5 s. Changes in cerebral blood volume were calculated from the changes in total Hb x 0.89/large vessel Hb concentration. Increased oxyhemoglobin, Delta[HbO2], total Hb, Delta[Hb (sum)], and cerebral blood volume, DeltaCBV, were found in 13/19 neonates, with the exception of a neonate who only had increased in Delta[Hb], Delta[Hb (sum)] and DeltaCBV. During the stimulation phase there was a significant increase in DeltaCBV (t test, p = 0.00006) in the responsive newborns from a mean value of 0.006 (+/-0.02) mL/100 g in the pretest phase to 0.09 (+/-0.06) mL/100 g during the auditory stimulus. After the test DeltaCBV decreased to 0.04 (+/-0.07) mL/100 g (t test, p = 0.01), so did Delta[Hb (sum)] (p = 0.02). Hemodynamic responses of the subjects who showed increases in Delta[Hb (sum)] and Delta[HbO(2)] were analyzed to study the Delta[Hb]. The responder subjects could be classified into two groups according to Delta[Hb] changes: 8/13 (61.5%) showed an increase of Delta[Hb] (pattern A), while 5/13 (38.4%) showed a decrease (pattern B) (t test, p = 0.03). These two patterns did not show differences related to Delta[HbO(2)] and Delta[Hb (sum)]. The DeltaCBV changes in nonresponders presented a decrease during the test phase (t test, p = 0.04). CBV did not return to pretest values, suggesting a fronto-temporal brain pathway for storing unusual sounds. The increase in CBV followed the local increase in oxyhemoglobin and total Hb concentrations due to a greater use of oxygen in the homolateral temporal cortex of the newborns.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2006

Effects of prior attention training on child dyslexics' response to composition instruction.

Twenty children (Grades 4 to 6) who met research criteria for dyslexia were randomly assigned to a treatment (attention training) or contact control (reading fluency training) group during their regular language arts block at a school that had emphasized multisensory, structured language treatment for reading disability. A university team provided either individual attention training (sustained, selective, alternating, and divided attention) or reading fluency training during the first 10 sessions and group composition instruction during the next 10 sessions. Analysis of variance evaluated the significance of Treatment x Session interactions from pretest to midtest (before composition instruction began) and midtest to posttest (when compositon instruction ends). Treatment x Time interactions were not significant between pretest and midtest, but the Treatment x Time interactions were significant from midtest to posttest for Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, Second Edition Written Composition and Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Verbal Fluency (attention treatment group improved more over time). Individual children showed the same pattern as group results. For child dyslexics in upper elementary school, attention training did not transfer directly to improved composition but prior attention training led to faster improvement in composing and oral verbal fluency once composition instruction was introduced. Effective instruction for dyslexia may depend on the sequencing as well as the nature of instructional components and require specialized instruction for writing as well as reading.

Achievement↗