Hope is a contextual concept that has significant effects on human well-being. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Herth Hope Index (P-HHI) among Iranian patients with cancer.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 320 patients with cancer from September to December 2020. After translating the HHI into Persian, content, convergent and discriminant, construct validity (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis), and reliability of the P-HHI were assessed.

The results of exploratory factor analysis showed that the P-HHI was composed of two factors: Life Expectancy and Thinking Positive, which explained 55.20% of the total variance.

The research revealed that the P-HHI has acceptable validity and reliability, which can be used to measure the hope concept among Iranian patients with cancer.

The Mayo Normative Studies (MNS) represents a robust dataset that provides demographically corrected norms for the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. We report MNS application to an independent cohort to evaluate whether MNS norms accurately adjust for age, sex, and education differences in subjects from a different geographic region of the country. As secondary goals, we examined item-level patterns, recognition benefit compared to delayed free recall, and derived Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) confidence intervals (CIs) to facilitate clinical performance characterization.

Participants from the Emory Healthy Brain Study (463 women, 200 men) who were administered the AVLT were analyzed to demonstrate expected demographic group differences. AVLT scores were transformed using MNS normative correction to characterize the success of MNS demographic adjustment.

Expected demographic effects were observed across all primary raw AVLT scores. Depending on sample size, MNS normative adjustment either eliminated or minimized all observed statistically significant AVLT differences. Estimated CIs yielded broad CI ranges exceeding the standard deviation of each measure. The recognition performance benefit across age ranged from 2.7 words (SD = 2.3) in the 50–54-year-old group to 4.7 words (SD = 2.7) in the 70–75-year-old group.

These findings demonstrate generalizability of MNS normative correction to an independent sample from a different geographic region, with demographic adjusted performance differences close to overall performance levels near the expected value of T = 50. A large recognition performance benefit is commonly observed in the normal aging process and by itself does not necessarily suggest a pathological retrieval deficit.

The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Bone Marrow Transplant Version 4 (FACT-BMT) is a widely used instrument to assess quality of life in individuals treated with bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Our aim was to determine the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the FACT-BMT in patients undergoing BMT.

Patients between the age of 20 and 65 years and who had undergone BMT at least 3 months before the study were included. Validity was determined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. To determine convergent validity, the European Cancer Research and Treatment Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire–Cancer30 (EORTC QLQ-C30), the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI), and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance score were used. Cronbach's alpha, intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), and item-total correlation (ITC) values were calculated to assess the reliability of the FACT-BMT.

Totally, 114 patients (F/M: 47/67) treated with BMT (mean age: 49.50 ± 12.50 years) were included. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis revealed that the FACT-BMT and the Bone Marrow Transplantation Subscale (BMTS) had sufficient fit. The FACT-BMT was moderately to strongly correlated with the EORTC QLQ-C30, the BFI, and the ECOG performance score (p < 0.001). Cronbach's alpha and ICC values of the FACT-BMT were acceptable (0.925 and 0.956, respectively). The ITC values of each item of the FACT-BMT were also acceptable (ranged from 0.296 to 0.737). Patients undergoing autologous BMT had a significantly higher BMTS score than those undergoing allogeneic BMT (p < 0.05).

The Turkish version of the FACT-BMT is valid, reliable, and sensitive to changes in quality of life in patients undergoing BMT.

The spiritual well-being scale (SWBS) is a widely used clinical scale which should be evaluated for Iranian patients with cancer. The aim of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the SWBS in Iranian patients with cancer.

This cross-sectional, methodological study was conducted among Iranian patients with cancer (n = 400). The participants were recruited using convenience sampling. The content, construct, convergent and discriminant validity, and reliability of the Persian version of the SWBS were evaluated.

A two-factor structure for the scale was indicated with the factors being: connecting with God and meaningless life that explained 54.18% of the total variance of the concept of spiritual well-being. The results demonstrated the model had a good fit. Cronbach's alpha, McDonald's omega, and the inter-item correlation values of the factors indicated good internal consistency of the scale.

These results suggest that the Persian version of the SWBS is a reliable and valid measure to assess the spiritual well-being of patients with cancer through 16 items related to connecting with God and meaningless life.

Rey’s Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) is a widely used word list memory test. We update normative data to include adjustment for verbal memory performance differences between men and women and illustrate the effect of this sex adjustment and the importance of excluding participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from normative samples.

This study advances the Mayo’s Older Americans Normative Studies (MOANS) by using a new population-based sample through the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, which randomly samples residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota, from age- and sex-stratified groups. Regression-based normative T-score formulas were derived from 4428 cognitively unimpaired adults aged 30–91 years. Fully adjusted T-scores correct for age, sex, and education. We also derived T-scores that correct for (1) age or (2) age and sex. Test-retest reliability data are provided.

From raw score analyses, sex explained a significant amount of variance in performance above and beyond age (8–10%). Applying original age-adjusted MOANS norms to the current sample resulted in significantly fewer-than-expected participants with low delayed recall performance, particularly in women. After application of new T-scores adjusted only for age, even in normative data derived from this sample, these age-adjusted T-scores showed scores <40 T occurred more frequently among men and less frequently among women relative to T-scores that also adjusted for sex.

Our findings highlight the importance of using normative data that adjust for sex with measures of verbal memory and provide new normative data that allow for this adjustment for the AVLT.

To validate and evaluate a short answer question paper and objective structured clinical examination. Validity and effect on overall performance were considered.

Students completed a voluntary short answer question paper during their otolaryngology attachment. Short answer question paper results were collated and compared to the essay examination and new end of year objective structured clinical examination.

The study comprised 160 students. Questions were validated for internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.76). Correlations were determined for: short answer question paper and essay results (r = 0.477), short answer question paper and objective structured clinical examination results (r = 0.355), and objective structured clinical examination and essay results (r = 0.292). On unpaired t-tests comparing the short answer question paper group and non-short answer question paper group, essay results were 1.2 marks higher (p = 0.45) and the objective structured clinical examination results were 0.09 marks lower (p = 0.74) in the short answer question paper group.

Two new valid summative assessments of student ability have been introduced, which contribute to an enhanced programme of assessment to drive student learning.

To describe the relative validity and reliability of the FFQ used for assessing nutrient intakes of participants in the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS).

A total of 132 subjects (sixty-one males and seventy-one females) were included in the study. Dietary data were collected monthly by means of twelve 24 h dietary recalls (24hDR). Subjects completed two, 168-item semi-quantitative FFQ. Blood and urine samples were taken every season for measurement of plasma biomarkers and urinary N and K.

Mean age and BMI of the participants were 35·5 (sd 16·8) years and 25·5 (sd 5·2) kg/m2, respectively. The mean energy-adjusted and deattenuated correlation coefficients for overall nutrient intake between the 24hDR and FFQ2 were 0·44 and 0·37 in ≤35-year-olds and >35-year-olds, respectively, and for individual nutrients ranged from 0·24 to 0·71 in men (mean r = 0·53) and from 0·11 to 0·60 in women (mean r = 0·39). The mean energy-adjusted reliability coefficients varied from 0·48 in ≤35-year-olds to 0·65 in >35-year-olds, and ranged from 0·41 to 0·79 in men (mean r = 0·59) and from 0·39 to 0·74 in women (mean r = 0·60). The FFQ2 and 24hDR produced exact agreement rates ranging between 39·6 % and 68·3 % in men and between 39·6 % and 54·1 % in women. The ranges of questionnaire validity coefficients, with the sample correlation between the questionnaires and biochemical marker as the lower limit and the estimate obtained by the method of triads as the upper limit, were 0·21–0·56 (protein) and 0·37–0·61 (K).

The FFQ developed for the TLGS has reasonable relative validity and reliability for nutrient intakes in Tehranian adults.