Properties of the weighted log‐rank test in the design of confirmatory studies with delayed effects

Proportional hazards are a common assumption when designing confirmatory clinical trials in oncology. This assumption not only affects the analysis part but also the sample size calculation. The presence of delayed effects causes a change in the hazard ratio while the trial is ongoing since at the beginning we do not observe any difference between treatment arms, and after some unknown time point, the differences between treatment arms will start to appear. Hence, the proportional hazards assumption no longer holds, and both sample size calculation and analysis methods to be used should be reconsidered. The weighted log‐rank test allows a weighting for early, middle, and late differences through the Fleming and Harrington class of weights and is proven to be more efficient when the proportional hazards assumption does not hold. The Fleming and Harrington class of weights, along with the estimated delay, can be incorporated into the sample size calculation in order to maintain the desired power once the treatment arm differences start to appear. In this article, we explore the impact of delayed effects in group sequential and adaptive group sequential designs and make an empirical evaluation in terms of power and type‐I error rate of the of the weighted log‐rank test in a simulated scenario with fixed values of the Fleming and Harrington class of weights. We also give some practical recommendations regarding which methodology should be used in the presence of delayed effects depending on certain characteristics of the trial.     

Adaptation of the short version of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-12) into Spanish / Adaptación al español de la versión reducida del Cuestionario de Capital Psicológico (PCQ-12)

Psychological capital (PsyCap) has been a topic of increasing interest in the last decade. However, there is a lack of validated instruments in Spanish to map PsyCap and its consequences for individuals’ well-being. Consequently, the goal of this study is to adapt the 12-item short version of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-12) to the Spanish context by analysing its internal consistency and reliability, factor solution and external validity. Results indicated that the PCQ-12 exhibited good Cronbach’s alpha (.87) and omega coefficient (.93) values in a sample from a vehicle inspection company (n = 798). As expected, results also revealed that a second-order factor structure provided the best fit. Moreover, PsyCap is associated with increased job engagement (β = .579; R²_adjusted = .333), decreased job burnout (β = ?.409; R²_adjusted = .166), and lower psychological distress (β = ?.349; R²_adjusted = .121) (all p < .01), which provided additional support for using the PCQ-12 in the Spanish context. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

The Aging Semantic Differential in Mandarin Chinese: Measuring Attitudes toward Older Adults in China

ABSTRACT

The Aging Semantic Differential (ASD) is the most widely used instrument to measure young people’s attitudes towards older adults. This study translated the ASD to Mandarin and examined its psychometric properties. The Mandarin-ASD contains three latent factors (Personality and Mental Health, Societal Participation, and Physical) that have high internal reliability and reasonable discriminate validity. Social work researchers, practitioners and allied professionals may utilize the ASD-Mandarin instrument to measure young people’s attitudes towards older adults in China. We issue a call for a universal-ASD that can be applied across different cultural contexts.     

Psychometric properties of the “parent-child relationship inventory” (PCRI) in a portuguese forensic sample

In Portugal, there is a gap regarding psychological tests validated for forensic contexts, particularly those related to child custody issues. The Parent–Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI) is one of the most used instruments in child custody contexts. This study aimed to analyze the psychometric properties of PCRI in a Portuguese forensic sample. PCRI factorial structure and psychometric properties were analyzed in a sample of 144 parents involved in child custody assessments. The questionnaire showed good internal consistency, except for the parental support, autonomy, and role orientation scales. It also showed good discriminant capacity. The confirmatory factor analysis did not replicate the 7-factor model proposed by Gerard. The results were discussed based on the use of PCRI in the context of child custody assessment.     

Influence in covariance structure analysis: with an application to confirmatory factor analysis

Influence functions are derived for the parameters in covariance structure analysis, where the parameters are estimated by minimizing a discrepancy function between the assumed covariance matrix and the sample covariance matrix. The case of confirmatory factor analysis is studied precisely with a numerical example. Comparing with a general procedure called one-step estimation, the proposed procedure has two advantages:1) computing cost is cheaper, 2) the property that arbitrary influence can be decomposed into a fi-nite number of components discussed by Tanaka and Castano-Tostado(1990) can be used for efficient computing and the characterization of a covariance structure model from the sensitivity perspective. A numerical comparison is made among the confirmatory factor analysis and some procedures of ex-ploratory factor analysis by using the decomposition mentioned above.     

The Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS)

SUMMARY

The Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS; Bride, Robinson, Yegidis, & Figley, 2004) is an easy to administer 17-itemself-report measure of secondary trauma. Bride et al. (2004) reported a measure of three domains of traumatic stress specifically associated with secondary exposure to trauma: intrusion, avoidance, and arousal. The STSS was reported to have high levels of internal consistency reliability and indicated evidence of convergent, discriminant, and factorial validity. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reliability and validity of the STSS with a national, random sample of mental health social workers. To assess the fit of the data to the three-factor structure proposed by Bride et al., a confirmatory factor analysis was performed on data from 275 social workers who indicated exposure to client trauma. The model fit the data adequately although high factor intercorrelations strongly suggest a unidimensional scale. Subsequent confirmatory factor analysis of a unidimensional scale and a second order factor analysis yielded similar results. Findings indicate the need for further scale validation. Challenges remain for measuring and distinctly differentiating between secondary trauma symptoms of arousal, avoidance, and intrusion. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Inferactive data analysis

We describe inferactive data analysis, so-named to denote an interactive approach to data analysis with an emphasis on inference after data analysis. Our approach is a compromise between Tukey's exploratory and confirmatory data analysis allowing also for Bayesian data analysis. We see this as a useful step in concrete providing tools (with statistical guarantees) for current data scientists. The basis of inference we use is (a conditional approach to) selective inference, in particular its randomized form. The relevant reference distributions are constructed from what we call a DAG-DAG—a Data Analysis Generative DAG, and a selective change of variables formula is crucial to any practical implementation of inferactive data analysis via sampling these distributions. We discuss a canonical example of an incomplete cross-validation test statistic to discriminate between black box models, and a real HIV dataset example to illustrate inference after making multiple queries on data.     

我国高校校报编辑工作压力量表编制

从高校校报编辑工作特点和双重角色入手,以文献研究和已有相关量表为基础,结合访谈和开放式问卷所获得资料,编制高校校报编辑工作压力问卷。对测试数据进行探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析。探索性因素分析的结果表明,高校校报编辑的压力主要来自职业发展、工作特征、领导支持、工作负荷、生活保障、行业竞争6个方面;验证性因素分析结果表明,所提取的6个因素与构想模型拟合较好,编制的高校校报编辑工作压力量表的信度、效度均达到心理测量学的要求,可以作为今后测量高校校报编辑工作压力的工具。     

Factorial Invariance of the Indecision Scale of the Career Decision Scale: A Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Results of a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (N= 686) indicated factorial invariance of a 3‐factor model of the Indecision scale of the Career Decision Scale (CDS; Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico, & Koschier, 1976 ). Differential item function was not observed when ΔCFI (comparative fit index) was used for comparison of models, thus indicating strong measurement invariance across gender. Men had significantly greater latent means for all 3 dimensions of career indecision. Given the multidimensional structure, use of the CDS may provide an initial step to help practitioners identify possible factors that are responsible for a client's career indecision. Clients may need assistance for initiating a career search, information to help them identify career possibilities for a chosen major, or detailed information concerning several possible careers that are under consideration.