Kanwar Hamza Shuja, Muhammad Aqeel and Rimsha Sarfaraz
Chronic pain is a global community health and human rights issue. Proper health care is an important necessity for every human being and access for treatment is every human’s…
Abstract
Purpose
Chronic pain is a global community health and human rights issue. Proper health care is an important necessity for every human being and access for treatment is every human’s right. Likewise, it is significant that proper instruments should be administered to assess these clinical issues. It is equally necessary to reassess these tools accordingly to diverse cultures, especially subjective tools to check their validity and cultural specification. The purpose of this study is to adapt and examine the factorial structure of 20 items and three-factor structure, pain anxiety symptoms scale (McCracken and Dhingra, 2002). As literature evidence suggested of a three-factor structure (Cho, 2010).
Design/methodology/approach
Primarily, the scale was translated into Urdu language using the forward-backward method. Afterward, a reliability assessment and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for construct validity, on an osteoporosis patients’ sample (N = 250) was performed. Subsequently, an Obliman method exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted on an osteoporosis sample (N = 500) for factor structuring followed by validity and reliability analysis.
Findings
The initial findings demonstrated a high internal consistency of the translated version of the scale (α = 0.85) and an acceptable test-retest reliability (r = 0.69). CFA displayed a high inter-correlation between scale and its subscales. However, CFA suggested a three-factor model. Consequently, EFA proposed a three-factor, 19 item scale, namely, behavioral; cognitive; and physical subscale, which demonstrated high alpha reliability (α.= 0.86). Other results indicated the scale to have a significant predictive and convergent validity for depression and positive and negative affect.
Originality/value
The present study is novel in its approach as the present study not only tried to adapt the original Pain Anxiety Symptom Scale to Pakistani culture but has also checked the factorial structure of the original scale. The results achieved in the process suggested a three-factor structure scale with 19 items in opposition to the original four structured, 20 items scale.
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Muhammad Aqeel, Jaffar Abbas, Kanwar Hamza Shuja, Tasnim Rehna, Arash Ziapour, Ishrat Yousaf and Tehmina Karamat
Since the emergence of a coronavirus disease (2019-nCoV) in December 2019, the whole world is in a state of chaos. Isolation strategy with quarantine is a useful model in…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the emergence of a coronavirus disease (2019-nCoV) in December 2019, the whole world is in a state of chaos. Isolation strategy with quarantine is a useful model in controlling transmission and rapid spread. As a result, people remained at home and disrupted their outside daily activities. It led to the closure of educational institutes, which is a source of many students to cope with numerous personal and familial issues. This study aims to focus on exploring the relationships and potential mediational pathways between mental health problems, illness perception, anxiety and depression disorders.
Design/methodology/approach
The study incorporated snowball sampling techniques through a cross-sectional, Web-based survey and recruited 500 students from different universities of twin cities, Rawalpindi and Islamabad from March 23 to April 15, 2020, during the coronavirus outbreak lockdown. The study used four instruments, Beck Depression Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire and The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale for assessing depression, anxiety, illness perception and mental health disorders.
Findings
The findings indicated normal (43.2%), mild (20.5%), moderate (13.6%) and severe (22.7%) levels of anxiety prevalence in students. Results specified a normal (65.9%), mild (9.10%), moderate (9.12%) and severe (15.90%) depression prevalence and findings stipulated that anxiety disorder prevalence was higher than depression disorder. The correlational results specified a negative and significant relationship between mental health, illness perception, anxiety and depression symptoms. The multiple regression analysis stated that anxiety and depression disorders mediated the relationship between mental health and present illness perception. The perception of illness exhibited a relation to depression and anxiety disorders.
Originality/value
The study proposed a model to address mental health problems during the lockdown. The (2019-nCoV) illness perception developed mental disorders, including anxiety and depression, which has declined individuals’ mental health. There is an urgent need for ongoing clinical examination and management to address psychological disorders and findings suggest assessing mental health to combatting the pandemic worldwide. Findings recommend developing strategies to promote mental health-care facilities during COVID-19 wide-ranging disasters. These results highlight the impending importance of devising strategies to treat mental health problems.
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Kanwar Hamza Shuja, Muhammad Aqeel and Kainat Raza Khan
Attaining equality between women and men and eliminating all forms of discrimination are fundamental human rights and United Nations values. Nevertheless, women globally suffer…
Abstract
Purpose
Attaining equality between women and men and eliminating all forms of discrimination are fundamental human rights and United Nations values. Nevertheless, women globally suffer violations of their human rights throughout their lives. This necessitates investigation of the attitude that people hold towards women empowerment, which is defined as their ability to practice their rights, freedom and attain resources within a framework of gender inequality. The purpose of this study is to develop an instrument to measure attitudes regarding women’s empowerment, which can develop better understanding and future interventions to counter these negative attitudes for better social and health care, including mental and physical health.
Design/methodology/approach
The factorial structure, reliability, content validity and impact of gender on factor structure of scale were examined among university students (N = 500) in study with male (n = 180) and female (n = 320) population.
Findings
Exploratory factor analysis using direct oblimin method based on principal component analysis indicated a three-factor, 16-item scale including subscales of personal freedom; equal rights and women empowerment-related fears. Instrument exhibited decent reliability (0.80) and content validity in both male and female university students with a t = −7.64, p = 0.00, suggesting a highly significant difference between the two genders on the developed scale.
Research limitations/implications
The major limitation was that the sample was obtained from student population; therefore, it will not be entirely correct to generalize it to the whole population of Pakistan. Similarly, there are issues regarding the availability of students because of a busy schedule or not having interest to take part in the study that led to variance in the sample. Lastly, the current scale is developed based on exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and it should be further enhanced using item response theory in future. Future studies need to include samples from different populations in Pakistan to bring out a more generalized view and try to minimize the variances in sample as much as possible for better results.
Practical implications
The scale is constructed using the basic features of women empowerment at its core and is applicable in various settings to measure the attitude towards women empowerment. It will be a helpful tool to be used in various health, employment and educational settings. Moreover, this instrument can be applied for research purpose of measuring attitude as a predictor in combination with other variables such as domestic violence and harassment.
Social implications
Empowering of women is one of the main agendas of 2019 of United Nations for Asian countries where women are not given equal rights, because of which suffer socially and economically from various problems along with issues regarding physical and mental health. By identifying the attitudes of general population, their causes for their attitudes can help in betterment of the women empowerment process.
Originality/value
This paper in discussion is an original work and has been performed with the purpose of assessing attitudes of males and females regarding women empowerment as the previous measures are either not psychometric valid or are in interview or survey form. The current developed scale is an attempt to develop an instrument that can be globally used.
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Mahnoor Mahmood Bhatti, Kanwar Hamza Shuja, Muhammad Aqeel, Zainab Bokhari, Syeda Nasreen Gulzar, Tabassum Fatima and Manahil Sama
Gaslighting a form of abusive manipulation both emotional and psychological is a growing phenomenon in recent times. However, as of yet, there is a scarcity of a valid and…
Abstract
Purpose
Gaslighting a form of abusive manipulation both emotional and psychological is a growing phenomenon in recent times. However, as of yet, there is a scarcity of a valid and reliable instrument which can measure the severity of gaslighting in victims of interpersonal relationships abuse. The purpose of this study is the development of an instrument which can effectively measure gaslighting in victims and is psychometrically reliable and valid.
Design/methodology/approach
Since the aim of the study was the development of a scale first a sample of eight women who were victims of domestic abuse was taken for the focus group. Afterwards using purposive sampling a sample of 20 women for the pilot study and a sample of 150 women for the main study was taken with age range 18–40 (M = 23.38, S.D = 4.03). For the development of scale theoretical basis along with a focus group was conducted to establish an item pool. Afterwards, subject matter experts helped in establishing contend validity followed by Velicer’s minimum average partial (MAP) method and maximum likelihood factor analysis (FA) was performed for the establishment of the factorial structure of the instrument.
Findings
Velicer’s MAP method and Maximum Likelihood FA suggested two factor structures including peer disagreement and loss of self-trust. Instrument displayed high alpha reliability of α = 0.934, with α = 0.927 and α = 0.854, for the subscale, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
Though all necessary steps were taken to minimize the limitations of the present study, however, some limitations do exist which needs to be addressed. The foremost limitation of the present scale is that it is being developed with only a female sample, however, the inclusion of a male sample in future studies can help in identifying whether men also are victims of gaslighting from peers and other family members or not. The second limitation is of validity though necessary validities have been established future studies should study on establishing further validities to further refine the instrument. Additionally, the scale has only been validated and tested on female samples future studies should be conducted on other specific groups or samples to develop norms. Moreover, testing the scale on other cultures could also help in establishing cross cultural validation of the instrument. Finally, though the scale assumes a higher level of scores suggests a higher level of victimization, a proper cutoff score can help in further identifying proper victims from the normal level of gaslighting.
Practical implications
The present instrument has its applicability in several domains the most important being in the criminal justice system as gaslighting comes under gaslighting and even in the UK is considered as a criminal offense. This instrument can help in determining the severity of gaslighting in victims. Likewise, it can be used in clinical settings for psychologists to identify possible cases of gaslighting victims which can enable them to provide specific help and treatment for them. Moreover, researchers can also benefit from the instrument as it can enable them to explore gaslighting with other possible variables which can help them explore the concept of gaslighting even further.
Originality/value
This paper is a novel study and has been completed with the purpose of evaluating the effects of gaslighting in victims of interpersonal relationships abuse as the earlier measures are either not psychometrically valid or cannot be generalized to a wider population. The present established scale is an effort to construct an instrument that can be used worldwide.
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Faiqa Naz, Kanwar Hamza Shuja, Muhammad Aqeel, Saima Ehsan, Atqa Noor, Dua Butt, Hajra Gul, Ushba Rafaqat, Amna Khan and Shafaq Gulzamir
There is an ever-increasing number of patients suffering from various forms of acute and chronic pain and getting treatment for such ailments is a basic human right. Opioid…
Abstract
Purpose
There is an ever-increasing number of patients suffering from various forms of acute and chronic pain and getting treatment for such ailments is a basic human right. Opioid analgesics remain one way of managing and attending to such patients. However, due to the prevalence of opiophobia, many doctors avoid prescribing opioid-based medicines, even at the cost of patients suffering leading to a hindrance in providing optimal health care. Up till now, there has been no reliable and valid instrument to measure the severity of opiophobia in doctors. For this reason, the purpose of this study is to represent the construction of a precise and reliable instrument for measuring opiophobia along with its validation for doctors in Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews and theoretical knowledge relating to opiophobia were used as the basis for the purpose of generating an item pool. The generated item pool was evaluated by subject matter experts for content validity and inter-rater reliability, followed by Velicer’s minimum average partial method and maximum likelihood factor analysis for establishing the factorial structure of the scale. As opiophobia in doctors prevails the most and causes a lower ratio of prescription of opioid analgesics. The present sample selected for the study was that of n = 100 doctors (men = 50; women = 50) from various hospitals, treating patients with chronic pain, in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Findings
A two-factor structure was suggested by Velicer’s minimum average partial method and maximum likelihood factor analysis, which were labeled as fear of opioid analgesics and justified acceptance of opioids. The developed opiophobia questionnaire along with its subscales displayed appropriate levels of reliability α = 0.733, α = 0.760 and α = 0.725, respectively, suggesting the scale to be reliable.
Research limitations/implications
Like any other study, this study also tried to address every essential aspect, but still lacked at some places which should be considered and catered for in future studies. In the first place the sample size was very limited which was due to the fact, the study was conducted during a pandemic and physically going for data collection was unavailable, thus leading to consequent sample size. It is recommended a correspondent study can be conducted with larger sample size, so they can get more reliable results with greater precision and power. Then, they will have the advantage of a small margin of error. The second limitation was the study involved only doctors as that was the main focus of the present study. However, other hospital staff such as nurses should also be incorporated to assess their level of opiophobia. The current scale suggests the severity of opiophobia with higher scores though no cutoff point has been suggested. Future studies should try and incorporate a cutoff point to assess the difference between doctors who have conventional levels of reservations against opioids and those suffering from opiophobia. Another limitation was that the present scale did not establish additional validities such as convergent and divergent validity. Future studies should collect data from a larger sample to establish these validities to further refine the scale.
Practical implications
This instrument can be immensely effective in identifying doctors who have concerns and fears about prescribing opioids to patients with chronic pain. The findings acquired on such a scale can help in developing appropriate academic and psychological interventions which can help such doctors to overcome their opiophobia. This can enable more doctors to prescribe appropriate medicine to their patients instead of letting them suffer from pain. Additionally, researchers can equally benefit from the instrument as it can enable them to investigate opiophobia with other possible variables.
Social implications
Developing such a scale about the fear faced by doctors while treating patients would be very useful as it is not possible to take such fear when it comes to a patient’s life. This fear is also common among patients where they have a fear about the undesirable effects, addiction of drugs and fear of dying. Better awareness should be given to them which will be helpful for successful and less painful treatment in hospitals.
Originality/value
This scale is an original work with the aim of accessing opiophobia among doctors toward (chronic) patients with severe pain. There was a lot of research work that has been done on opiophobia in developed countries and few Pakistani researchers have also worked on opiophobia and its impact on pain management but still, no scale has been developed to measure the extent or tendency of opiophobia among doctors or patients. This scale can be used globally on both men and women doctors to access the tendency of opiophobia among them.