The development of the SGI-16: a shortened sensory gating deficit and distractibility questionnaire for adults with ADHD

Validation of the Dutch Sensory Gating Inventory (D-SGI): Psychometric properties and a Confirmatory factor analysis

The Sensory Gating Inventory (SGI) is an established self-report questionnaire that is used to assess the capacity for filtering redundant or irrelevant environmental stimuli. Translation and cross-cultural validation of the SGI are necessary to make this tool available to Dutch speaking populations. This study, therefore, aimed to design and validate a Dutch Sensory Gating Inventory (D-SGI). To this end, a forward-backward translation was performed and 469 native Dutch speakers filled in the questionnaire. A confirmatory factor analysis assessed the psychometric properties of the D-SGI. Additionally, test-retest reliability was measured. Results confirmed satisfactory similarity between the original English SGI and the D-SGI in terms of psychometric properties for the factor structure. Internal consistency and discriminant validity were also satisfactory. Overall test-retest reliability was excellent (ICC = 0.91, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.87-0.93]). These findings confirm that the D-SGI is a psychometrically sound self-report measure that allows assessing the phenomenological dimensions of sensory gating in Dutch. Moreover, the D-SGI is publicly available. This establishes the D-SGI as a new tool for the assessment of sensory gating dimensions in general- and clinical Dutch speaking populations.

The Sensory Gating Inventory-Brief

The Sensory Gating Inventory (SGI) is a 36-item measure used to assess an individual's subjective ability to modulate, filter, over-include, discriminate, attend to, and tolerate sensory stimuli. Due to its theoretical and empirical link with sensory processing deficits, this measure has been used extensively in studies of psychosis and other psychopathology. The current work fills a need within the field for a briefer measure of sensory gating aberrations that maintains the original measure's utility. For this purpose, large samples (total n = 1552) were recruited from 2 independent sites for item reduction/selection and brief measure validation, respectively. These samples reflected subgroups of individuals with a psychosis-spectrum disorder, at high risk for a psychosis-spectrum disorder, nonpsychiatric controls, and nonpsychosis psychiatric controls. Factor analyses and item-response models were used to create the SGI-Brief (SGI-B; 10 Likert-rated items), a unidimensional self-report measure that retains the original SGI's transdiagnostic (ie, present across disorders) utility and content breadth. Findings show that the SGI-B has excellent psychometric properties (alpha = 0.92) and demonstrates external validity through strong associations with measures of psychotic symptomatology, theoretically linked measures of personality (eg, perceptual dysregulation), and modest associations with laboratory-based sensory processing tasks in the auditory and visual domains on par with the original version. Accordingly, the SGI-B will be a valuable tool for dimensional and transdiagnostic examination of sensory gating abnormalities within clinical science research, while reducing administrator and participant burden.

Self-Reported Sensory Gating and Stress-Related Hypertension

BACKGROUND

Increasing evidence views hypertension as a stress-induced disorder. Stressors must be "gated" by the brain before any inflammatory or immune processes that contribute to hypertension are initiated. No studies were found that examined sensory gating in relation to hypertension.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the study was to determine if disturbances in self-reported sensory gating could differentiate normotensive from hypertensive young adults.

METHODS

A nonmatched, case-control design was used. We administered an online survey to 163 young adult participants. Participants were predominantly female, in their mid-20s, well educated, and approximately evenly distributed by race and hypertension status. The Sensory Gating Inventory (SGI) measured gating disturbances.

RESULTS

The mean SGI scores were significantly higher among persons diagnosed with hypertension, reflecting a moderate effect size of sensory gating. After adjusting for confounders, however, the normotensive and hypertensive groups were not significantly different on their SGI scores.

DISCUSSION

With an observed moderate effect size of 0.35, but low power, more research is warranted regarding the role of gating disturbances in the development of stress-induced hypertension. Clinically, the SGI may be important for screening patients who would benefit from ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to identify persons with masked hypertension.

Developing the Persian Version of Sensory Gating Inventory and Assessing Its Validity and Reliability

Introduction:

Sensory Gating Inventory (SGI) measures behavioral aspects of Sensory Gating (SG), which filters irrelevant sensory inputs into the higher cortex. It modifies sensitivity to sensory stimuli. Abnormal SG leads to overloading of information in the brain and its subsequent dysfunction. Electrophysiological techniques cannot assess the behavioral aspects of SG. We aimed to design the Persian version of SGI with high validity and reliability.

Methods:

After a forward and then backward translation of the original SGI, we assessed the content validity and construct validity of the Persian version. A total of 405 participants filled the Persian version of SGI. To assess test-retest reliability, 100 participants filled the inventory again 7–10 days later. The content validity ratio and index, as well as confirmatory factor analysis, were computed, too. Finally, the Cronbach’s alpha, Cohen’s kappa, and intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated.

Results:

The content validity ratios of all items of the inventory were more than 60%, which means that they were necessary according to the experts’ opinions. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the fitness of the 4-factor structure of the original Inventory. The test-retest reliability using the intraclass correlation coefficient and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were also high for the four subscales. The Cohen’s kappa coefficients revealed moderate to substantial level of agreement between the first and second scores for all items.

Conclusion:

The Persian version of SGI has good and acceptable psychometric properties. It can be used as a valid and reliable tool for studying behavioral aspects of SG in Persian speaking population.