Peter Theuns

The 'Distress Barometer': validation of method of combining the Distress Thermometer with a rated complaint scale

Objective: Screening instruments may enhance the clinicians ability to detect elevated levels of distress in cancer patients, but these are often neither suitable nor effective for the routine of daily care for cancer patients. The newly developed Distress Barometer (DB) was intended to provide medical doctors with a convenient tool to interpret ‘at single glance’ the nature and the intensity of distress in ambulatory cancer patients. The DB, i.e. a combination of the Distress Thermometer (DT) and a new tool, the Colored Complaint Scale was developed to improve the specificity of distress screening without decreasing the sensitivity of the Distress Thermometer.

Impact of the Number of Response Categories on Linearity and Sensitivity of Self-Anchoring Scales

Abstract. In this research, the relationship between the number of response categories and the linearity and sensitivity of self-anchoring scales is tested. According to the functional measurement paradigm, people integrate their impressions of stimuli using simple algebraic models. Then the integrated stimulus is transformed into an overt response on a rating scale. The combination of a particular algebraic integration rule along with a linear rating scale predicts specific patterns in a factorial plot. In two functional measurement experiments we manipulated the number of categories of different self-anchoring scales and attempted to replicate a specific pattern based on the integration rules found in previous research. For both experiments, the predicted pattern was observed for all scales. This indicates that the number of response categories does not impact on the linearity of the scale. Moreover, there is no relationship between the number of response categories and the sensitivity of the scale as m...

On the linearity of predefined and self-anchoring Visual Analogue Scales

Two functional measurement studies were conducted to test the effect of two types of end anchors on the linearity of Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) data. With the first type of end anchors, participants responded to the stimuli using a VAS with predefined end anchors. With the second type, respondents defined the end anchors in terms of their own assumptions, perceptions, goals and values. The results show that VASs can be considered as linear scales and that the type of end anchors used has no effect on the linearity of the VAS data.

Systematic screening for distress in oncology practice using the Distress Barometer: the impact on referrals to psychosocial care

This study evaluates how patterns of psychosocial referral of patients with elevated distress differ in a ‘systematic screening for distress’ condition versus a ‘usual practice’ condition in ambulatory oncology practice.

Cross-national comparability of the WHOQOL-BREF: A measurement invariance approach

PurposeTo evaluate whether the WHOQOL-BREF measures the QOL construct in the same way across nations.MethodsStudents from Flanders, Belgium and Iran completed the WHOQOL-BREF as part of a larger Quality of Life questionnaire. Their responses were compared using a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis.ResultsIn general, the QOL construct appears rather similar in both cultures; however, participants from both countries seem to respond differently to particular items of the WHOQOL-BREF. Especially for the physical and psychological domain, this is problematic, because none of their indicators works in the same way across samples.ConclusionsNotwithstanding some limitations of this study, it must be concluded that the WHOQOL-BREF should only be used with great caution in cross-national comparisons.

Enjoyment as a mediator in the relationship between task characteristics and work effort: An experience sampling study

We studied the mediating role of enjoyment in the relationship between task characteristics and work effort. To this end, an experience sampling study was implemented in which 50 employees reported on the characteristics of the task they were performing, their level of enjoyment, and their level of work effort five times a day for five working days. Results revealed that, at the concurrent level, task characteristics related to changes in task enjoyment, and that these changes were related to changes in work effort. Moreover, the relationships did not disappear when controlling for the three critical psychological states of the job characteristics model (i.e., experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility, and knowledge of the results). No cross-lagged relationships were found between enjoyment and work effort. Implications for studies on effort and motivation as well as practical implications are discussed.

Relating Specific Emotions to Intrinsic Motivation: On the Moderating Role of Positive and Negative Emotion Differentiation

Despite the fact that studies on self-determination theory have traditionally disregarded the explicit role of emotions in the motivation eliciting process, research attention for the affective antecedents of motivation is growing. We add to this emerging research field by testing the moderating role of emotion differentiation –individual differences in the extent to which people can differentiate between specific emotions– on the relationship between twelve specific emotions and intrinsic motivation. To this end, we conducted a daily diary study (N = 72) and an experience sampling study (N = 34). Results showed that the relationship between enthusiasm, cheerfulness, optimism, contentedness, gloominess, miserableness, uneasiness (in both studies 1 and 2), calmness, relaxation, tenseness, depression, worry (only in Study 1) on one hand and intrinsic motivation on the other hand was moderated by positive emotion differentiation for the positive emotions and by negative emotion differentiation for the negative emotions. Altogether, these findings suggest that for people who are unable to distinguish between different specific positive emotions the relationship between those specific positive emotions and intrinsic motivation is stronger, whereas the relationship between specific negative emotions and intrinsic motivation is weaker for people who are able to distinguish between the different specific negative emotions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The functional measurement experiment builder suite: Two Java-based programs to generate and run functional measurement experiments

We propose a free, easy-to-use computer program that does not requires prior knowledge of computer programming to generate and run experiments using textual or pictorial stimuli. Although the FM Experiment Builder suite was initially programmed for building and conducting FM experiments, it can also be applied for non-FM experiments that necessitate randomized, single, or multifactorial designs. The program is highly configurable, allowing multilingual use and a wide range of different response formats. The outputs of the experiments are Microsoft Excel compatible .xls files that allow easy copy-paste of the results into Weiss’s FM CalSTAT program (2006) or any other statistical package. Its Java-based structure is compatible with both Windows and Macintosh operating systems, and its compactness (<1 MB) makes it easily distributable over the Internet.

Long-term impact of stroke on patients’ health-related quality of life

Abstract Purpose: This international study aims to examine the size and determinants of the impact of stroke on five-year survivors’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in four different European countries. Method: Patients were recruited consecutively in four European rehabilitation centers. Five years after stroke, the EuroQol-visual analog scale (EQ-VAS) was administered in 226 first-ever stroke patients. Impact of stroke was determined by calculating EQ-VAS z-norm scores (= deviation – expressed in SD – of patients’ EQ-VAS level relative to their age-and gender-matched national population norms). Determinants of EQ-VAS z-norm scores were identified using multivariate linear regression analysis. Results: Five years post-stroke, patients’ mean EQ-VAS was 63.74 (SD = 19.33). Mean EQ-VAS z-norm score was −0.57 [95%CI: (−0.70)–(−0.42)]. Forty percent of the patients had an EQ-VAS z-norm score <−0.75 SD; 52% had an EQ-VAS z-norm score between −0.75 and +0.75 SD, only 8% scored >+0.75 SD. Higher patients’ levels of depression, anxiety and disability were associated with increasingly negative EQ-VAS z-norm scores (adjusted R2 = 0.392). Conclusions: Five years after stroke, mean HRQoL of stroke survivors showed large variability and was more than ½ SD below population norm. Forty percent had a HRQoL level below, 52% on, and 8% above population norm. The variability could only partially be explained by the variables considered in this study. Longitudinal studies are needed to increase our understanding of the size and determinants of the impact of stroke on the HRQoL of long-term stroke survivors. Implications for rehabilitation The current European concept of stroke rehabilitation is focused on the acute and sub-acute rehabilitation phase, i.e., in the first months after stroke. The results of this study show that at five years after stroke, the mean level of HRQoL of stroke survivors remains below the healthy population level. This finding shows the need for continuation of rehabilitation in the chronic phase. At five years after stroke, higher patients’ levels of depression, anxiety and disability were associated with lower scores for HRQoL. This finding implicates that chronic rehabilitation programs should be multi-faceted in order to increase long-term survivors’ psychosocial outcomes.

Sleepiness phenomics: modeling individual differences in subjective sleepiness profiles.

The present study investigates individual differences in subjective sleepiness profiles during 36 h of sustained wakefulness in a modified constant routine protocol. Twenty-three volunteers (11 females), aged between 18 and 47 yrs (M age = 30.41, SD = 10.26) enrolled in the study. Subjective sleepiness ratings were collected every 2 h by means of visual analogue scales. Circadian rhythmicity was assessed by means of salivary cortisol. Subjective sleepiness data were analyzed using functional principal component analysis (fPCA). Our results show that approximately 80% of the variance is accounted for by three functional components. The first component explains 50.28% of the variance and is characterized by a profile of exclusively positive loadings, representing vertical shifts from the mean sleepiness profile. Scores on this component are positively related to self-reported habitual sleep times and mean slow wave activity (SWA) during wake. Positive scores on the second component (18.40% of the variance) are characterized by a higher than average peak-to-trough amplitude in subjective sleepiness profiles. Participants with higher than average scores on this component show a significantly higher amplitude in salivary cortisol profiles as opposed to participants with lower than average scores. Participants with positive scores on the third component (10.09% of the variance) show higher than average levels of subjective sleepiness during morning hours, a buildup of wake effort occurring later and more afternoon sleepiness after sleep deprivation than negative scorers. Peak levels of salivary cortisol occur significantly later in these participants. Taken together, our results suggest that component 1 represents tonic differences in sleepiness profiles primarily related to mechanisms of sleep homeostasis, component 2 to circadian amplitude differences and component 3 to diurnal preference. However, since the components are additions to a mean profile, each of the three components is likely to correspond to a mixture of multiple physiological parameters, rather than to a single process. The approach shows interesting potential for (1) revealing unidentified physiological processes, (2) testing existing assumptions about regulatory mechanisms at the basis of interindividual variability in sleepiness profiles and (3) the specification of sleepiness phenotypes on a quantitative basis.