The Short Form Health Survey SF-36 is a well-known generic health-related quality of life measure that has widely been used worldwide. However, given the cultural, social and ethnic differences in some countries, it might not follow the intended structure of the instrument. Hence, this study aims to determine the psychometric properties of the Malay version of Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) among postpartum mothers. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1-month postpartum mothers attending Obstetric and Gynecology clinic, Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital, Kelantan, Malaysia. Reliability was estimated using internal consistency and the factor structure was extracted by performing confirmatory factor analysis using SPSS v. 20 and AMOS v. 20. A total of 108 women responded. The mean (SD) score for the Physical Component Summary (PCS) score and Mental Component Summary (MCS) score were 43.3 (7.08) and 42.4 (6.87) respectively. The Cronbach alpha for PCS-12 was 0.749 and MCS-12 was 0.701. Spearman correlations of individual items and the SF-12 component summary scores showed PF, RP, BP and GH items correlated higher with the PCS score, whereas the VT, SF, RE, and MH items correlated higher with the MCS score lending support to its good convergent validity. The confirmatory factor solution showed final model with two factors structure and six items each with acceptable factor loadings, satisfactory absolute and parsimonious fitness (RMSEA=0.1, x2/df=2.4). The psychometric tests of the Malay version of SF-12 generally showed acceptable validity and reliability among postpartum women.
Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Mothers

No abstract available.
Data Interpretation, Statistical ; Biometry ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Models, Statistical ; Regression Analysis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze recent citation trends in an attempt to improve the impact factor (IF) of the Journal of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine (JKEM). Data from 2001~2012 in the Korean Medical Citation Index (KoMCI) was compared with the average citation data of other Korean emergency medicine-related journals. METHODS: All citation data from all journals listed in the KoMCI and the Web of Science were obtained. The chronological changes in the annual number of published articles and reference citations, total citations and self-citations per paper, IF and impact factor excluding self-citations (ZIF) were described and compared for Korean EM-related journals and the JKEM. RESULTS: The annual number of articles published in JKEM was significantly larger than other EM-related journals. The number of Korean journal references per article is 2.13 papers on JKEM. The mean IF of the KoMCI was 0.153 and the ZIF was 0.050 for 12 years. The annual IF (ZIF) of JKEM has gradually decreased from 0.245(0.102) in 2010 to 0.118(0.035) in 2012. However, other EM-related journals have shown increases in these factors since 2009. The IF calculated from the Web of Science was zero until 2010, but soared from 0.008 to 0.016 from 2011 to 2012, respectively. CONCLUSION: The citation status of JKEM has steadily decreased over the past 2 years. To make JKEM as a highly-cited journal, an awareness of the academic status of JKEM and active advertising from journal members on the importance of the IF are needed to encourage the citation of its papers.
Emergencies ; Emergency Medicine* ; Factor Analysis, Statistical*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to correct the statistical errors in the previous article on "The Development of the 'Mental Fitness' Scale" (MFS) and to confirm the validity of factor structure via confirmatory factor analysis. METHODS: Based on re-analysis of the factor structure of 25 preliminary items using the original dataset, we identified 22 items of the MFS and assessed test-retest reliability. Concurrent validity was assessed by correlating the new set of MFS with total scores of the Beck Depression Inventory and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. We also performed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in order to verify the factor structure resulting from the exploratory factor analysis. RESULTS: Re-analysis yielded five factors of 22 items, which is different from four factors of 20 items in the previous paper. 'Self-understanding' was added as one of the five factors. The test-retest reliability coefficients were significantly high, ranging between 0.57-0.73. Internal consistency was computed, and Cronbach's alpha for five factors ranged between 0.67-0.86, and was 0.91 for the total score. Concurrent validity and discriminant validity were both significant. The validity of five factor structure based on CFA was verified as root mean square error of approximation was significant. CONCLUSION: Based on results of confirmatory factor analysis, the validity and utility of the revised MFS was increased.
Appointments and Schedules ; Depression ; Factor Analysis, Statistical*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the factor structures related to the Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (MOCI) in middle school students. METHODS: A total of 1,175 7th grade students from four middle schools in Paju city completed the MOCI, Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (CES-D), and Self Esteem Scale (SES). An exploratory factor (maximum likelihood method with oblique rotation) and correlation analyses were subsequently performed. RESULTS: The two main factors related to the MOCI were 'intrusive thought' and 'contamination'. 'Intrusive thought' was positively correlated with the CES-D and negatively associated with the SES. 'Contamination' had a negative correlation with self-esteem as measured by the SES. CONCLUSION: The results of this study revealed a two-factor structure of obsessive and compulsive symptoms in middle school students.
Adolescent ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Humans ; Self Concept

Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Humans ; Tuberculosis ; mortality

PURPOSE: To explore spatial and temporal characteristics of glaucomatous visual field (VF) progression through multi-way decomposition of data. METHODS: Six serial VF exams with intervals of 6.0 ± 1.0 months in 121 pre-perimetric glaucoma eyes and 80 perimetric glaucoma eyes were arranged into a three-dimensional cube. The data were decomposed using parallel factor analysis. RESULTS: Three tri-linear components (i.e., spatial scores, temporal loadings, and subject-specific loadings) were identified. Component 1 clearly showed differences between superior and inferior hemispheres, linear trends over time, and wide variability in perimetric glaucoma. Findings were compatible with well-known characteristics of glaucomatous VF defects. Component 2 showed nasal and central areas in contrast with superior, inferior, and temporal peripheral locations, whereas component 3 showed a contrast between nasal and temporal hemispheres. Both components 2 and 3 failed to show clear temporal trends. CONCLUSIONS: Identification of spatio-temporal patterns shows new possibilities for a multi-way decomposition methodology for earlier diagnosis and prediction of glaucomatous VF progression.
Diagnosis ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Glaucoma ; Visual Fields

The purpose of this study was to reevaluate the sho of goshuyuto, which has been established in an unscientific manner, and to create a new concept of the sho of goshuyuto. Eighty-four patients suffering from chronic headache were instructed to orally consume 7.5g. day of a spray-dried powder of goshuyuto (TJ-31) for 4 weeks. Before consuming the TJ-31, all subjects underwent Kampo examinations that were based on 43 diagnostic items. After the 4-week period of medication, all the subjects were classified as either responders or nonresponders. After excluding insignificant items from the 43 diagnostic items, discriminant analysis, which discriminated between responders and nonresponders, was conducted. Of the 80 subjects who completed the trial period, 57 were judged to be responders and 23 to be nonresponders. “Cold feet,” “fluid and gas retention in the stomach,” “kyokyo-kuman,” “tenderness at side of navel,” and “pulsation at abdomen” were selected by stepwise selection. The results of the discriminant analysis using these 5 items suggest that 28 subjects were misclassified and that the misclassification rate was 35%. Of the actual 23 nonresponders, 20 were accurately discriminated as nonresponders. The 5 selected items are suggested to be more useful in selecting the nonresponders than the responders. In conclusion, the empirically established sho of goshuyuto seemed to not be abele to completely explain the indication of goshuyuto. However, the inclusion of “tenderness at side of navel” and “pulsation at abdomen,” as new components comprising the sho of goshuyuto, may facilitate a more accurate indication of goshuyuto.
Statistical Analysis ; Emotional tenderness ; week ; Discriminant Analysis ; Abdomen

OBJECTIVE: The Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) is a globally recognized measure of stress coping methods. However, research into the applicability of the CISS in a Korean context is still in its infancy. The aim of this study is to assess and report the validity of the CISS in Korean adults for the first time. METHODS: Three hundred and two Korean adults who currently have no distressing problems requiring psychiatric treatment completed the Korean version of the CISS. Principal component analysis was used to extract factors in the process of exploratory factor analysis. RESULTS: The result displayed a clear pattern matrix, and a high level of internal consistency was shown by Chronbach's alpha. The items classified under task-oriented and emotion-oriented coping presented adequate factorial validity, and only three items grouped under avoidance-oriented coping loaded poorly or loaded onto factors differing from the original. CONCLUSION: These results seem to indicate that the CISS may indeed be both applicable and useful in gauging the coping styles of Korean adults. However, the ambiguous meanings of certain items under avoidance-oriented coping would require adjustment for the purposes of future study.
Adult* ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Humans ; Principal Component Analysis ; Psychometrics*

In biomedical research, researchers frequently use statistical procedures such as the t-test, standard analysis of variance (ANOVA), or the repeated measures ANOVA to compare means between the groups of interest. There are frequently some misuses in applying these procedures since the conditions of the experiments or statistical assumptions necessary to apply these procedures are not fully taken into consideration. In this paper, we demonstrate the correct use of repeated measures ANOVA to prevent or minimize ethical or scientific problems due to its misuse. We also describe the appropriate use of multiple comparison tests for follow-up analysis in repeated measures ANOVA. Finally, we demonstrate the use of repeated measures ANOVA by using real data and the statistical software package SPSS (SPSS Inc., USA).
*Analysis of Variance ; Chemistry, Clinical ; *Models, Statistical ; Multivariate Analysis ; Reproducibility of Results