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Measures

Page Last Updated:  06/09/2009


Standard Reporting Guidelines

See Data Sharing policies.

Summary Measurement Table

Measures/Construct Grid - This grid is a graphic cross-site comparison of populations, constructs, and measures.  Please contact jwhelduser@srph.tamhsc.edu for any needed updates or corrections.

Cross-Site Measures

Outcomes/Quality of Life

Depression

The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) is a 20-item instrument developed by the National Institute of Mental Health to measure the frequency and severity of symptoms of depression in the general population. In recent years, shorter versions of the CES-D have been described and validated. The following 5-item instrument provides a brief instrument to measure baseline depression and change over time.

Physical Activity

It is useful to get a measure of time spent in different types of activities and to be able to get an assessment of whether individuals are meeting public health recommendations.  See the P4H report for a contrast of different measures.  There are pros and cons to each of the three most used measures.

BRFSS - Physical Activity Questions
BRFSS CDC Website
BRFSS Measures
BRFSS Codebook

Dietary Behaviors/Nutrition

The Behavior Change Consortium Nutrition Working Group (BCC NWG) used a variety of screeners to measure fruit/vegetable intake, fat consumption, and stage of change. This report provides a summary of measures used in BCC NWG.

There are two NCI screeners:

Here is a quick 2-item screen for fruit/vegetable intake:

Start the Conversation (STC) was developed to facilitate the discussion of diet behavior between the primary care physician and patient.

Smoking

At a minimum we recommend determining if someone smokes and if so, number of cigarettes.  The Society of Nicotine and Tobacco Research has identified a highly recommended set of measures for those conducting cessation studies.

Alcohol/Substance Abuse

There are a few brief items that will provide baseline assessments and track changes over time.

Demographic Measures

The questions are based on CDC's national health survey, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). If you want to read more about BRFSS, the web address is http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/index.htm. There are interactive databases available on the site that can be helpful to obtain prevalence estimates for target populations and recruitment.

Recommended Behavioral Measures

Prescription for Health (P4H) Report

This manuscript is based on a report which was prepared to address criteria for selection of brief practical lifestyle measures for use in clinical settings--or any settings where a really short instrument is needed for multi-behavioral assessment.  This report gives pros and cons of some of the most widely used measures. 

For additional and updated materials related to these measures, please see the Prescription for Health Website at: http://www.prescriptionforhealth.org/about/program.html or contact investigators directly. Full information about the range of "Starting the Conversation assessments is available at http://www.ncpreventionpartners.org/

Practical and Relevant Self-Report Measures of Patient Health Behaviors for Primary Care Research

Mammography

Cost Measures

Other Scales

Recommended Checklist of Items to Include
When Reporting a Clinical Trial

1. CONSORT statement

The CONSORT statement is an important research tool that takes an evidence-based approach to improve the quality of reports of randomized trials. The statement is available in several languages and has been endorsed by prominent medical journals such as The Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. Its critical value to researchers, health care providers, peer reviewers, and journal editors, and health policy makers is the guarantee of integrity in the reported results of research.
 

Key Reference:  Altman DG, Schulz KF, Moher D, Egger M, Davidoff F, Elbourne D, Gøtzsche PC, Lang T, for the CONSORT group. The revised CONSORT statement for reporting randomized trials: explanation and elaboration. Annals of Internal Medicine 2001;134:663-694

See Consort Web Page http://www.consort-statement.org/

2. Evidence-Based Behavioral Medicine: What is it and How Do We Achieve it

See Davidson et. al.  article in Annals of Behavioral Medicine (2003; 26: 161-171) for Consort Statement on Reporting and Reviewing RCTs. Five additional evidence-based Behavioral Medicine Specific Guidelines are noted.

3. Addressing Study Reach and Translation

Seven additional items are proposed to address translation issues and external validity.

See Glasgow, R.E., Lichtenstein, E., Marcus, A.C.  (2003) Why Don’t We See More Translation of Health Promotion Research to Practice?  Rethinking the Efficacy to Effectiveness Transition.  American Journal of Public Health 93(8):1261-1267. 

4. TREND Statement for Non-Randomized Trials

AJPH has published the TREND statement for non-randomized studies, which
is equivalent to the CONSORT statement for randomized controlled trials.

 

Proposed Measures by PI (from proposals)

Beresford

DiClemente

Elliot

Friedman

Gorin

Hughes

Williams, P

Killen

Kirby

Klesges

Lapham

Lowe

Martinson

Wing

McKay

Rimer

Roll (Persistence of Behavior Change Grant)

Roll (Contingency Management Grant)

Toobert

Williams, G