Psychometric properties of the Persian version of Social Adaptation Self-evaluation Scale in community-dwelling older adults

Psychosocial determinants of functional independence among older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

In current years, the increase in older population has led to creating one of the main public health challenges, worldwide. Because of the special characteristics of older adults, this age group is exposed to possible problems, such as mental and physical disorders, that usually affect their functional independence. The study aimed to determine the psychosocial determinants (e.g., depression, social support, and self-efficacy) affecting functional independence among older population.

Methods

Our search was conducted on three international databases (Web of Sciences, PubMed/Medline, and Scopus) for all the observational studies (cross-sectional, cohort or longitudinal designs) on the social and psychological determinants of functional independence among older adults. Papers published in English without limitation of time were reviewed from inception to 26 August 2023. The quality assessment tool was the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). The I2 index was used to quantify the degree of heterogeneity among the studies. In the case of heterogeneity higher than 50%, the random effects model has been used for overall estimation of the effects; otherwise, the fixed effects model was used. The pooled associations were expressed as odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Stata version 14 software (StataCorp LP) was used for data analysis. The significance level was considered at 0.05.

Results

In the initial search, 6978 articles were retrieved, and finally, considering the inclusion criteria, 46 articles were examined. Finally, 18 articles were eligible for meta-analysis. The findings indicated that among all the determinants affecting functional independence among older adults, depression could lead to a 76% increase in functional dependence.

Conclusion

The findings provide a statistically significant relationship between psychosocial factors and functional independence. Depression was the strongest determinant of functional dependence among older adults.

Assessment of Psychological and Social Fitness in Healthy Adults Permanently Living at Very High Altitude

BACKGROUND

Environmental factors of high altitude, especially hypobaric hypoxia, may directly and persistently affect human physical and mental health. Our study was designed to assess the psychological and social fitness in healthy adults permanently living at very high altitude, i.e., an average elevation of 3650 m.

METHODS

In our observational study, 320 participants were included, among which 218 (68.1%) had resided in such a setting for more than 20 years. Participants underwent 138 assessments, including the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Symptom Check List 90 (SCL-90) and the Evaluation Scale of Human Adaptation Capability (ESHAC). SAS (20 items) and SCL-90 (90 items) were used to assess psychological fitness, and the ESHAC (28 items) was used to assess social fitness. Pearson analysis was used to assess correlations and Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine independent influencing factors.

RESULTS

The highest SAS score was 80 and the mean score was 43.26 ± 8.88, which was higher than the norm in China (p < 0.001). Sixty (18.8%) participants showed anxiety symptoms and 14 (4.4%) had moderate or severe anxiety. The average score of SCL-90 was 140.88 ± 44.77, and 96 (30.0%) participants showed SCL-90 scores ≥160. Compared with the norm, significant differences were shown in eight of the nine SCL-90 factor scores, i.e., somatization, obsessive-compulsive, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism. The average score of ESHAC was 19.92 ± 4.54, and 114 (35.6%) participants did not reach the qualifying standard. Significant correlations were observed between the SAS score, SCL-90 total and factor scores, and ESHAC scores. The Logistic regression analysis showed that being born at very high altitude was an independent influencing factor (AOR = 2.619; 95% CI, 1.629-4.211; p < 0.001) after controlling for other factors.

CONCLUSION

Permanently living at very high altitude can influence the psychological and social fitness of healthy adults.

Psychometric Properties of a Scale Measuring Patients' Perceptions Regarding Physical Activity Counseling by Physicians

This study developed a scale measuring patients' perceptions regarding physical activity (PA) counseling by physicians. Confirmatory factor analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were used to assess psychometric properties. The first factor extracted was "PA recommendation," which accounted for a variance of 45.1% out of total variance of 76.3% and comprises 5 items. The final scale yielded satisfactory psychometric properties including internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.75), convergent validity, discriminant validity, and predictive validity. Nine (9) items that makeup two factors (i.e., PA recommendation and follow-up) are potential measures of patients' perceptions regarding PA counseling by physicians in healthcare.

Construct validity and internal consistency of the Brazilian version of Leisure Attitude Measurement for the elderly

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the construct validity and internal consistency of the Brazilian version of Leisure Attitude Measurement for the elderly.

METHOD

Methodological study with a quantitative approach. The data were collected for three months through domiciliary visits to a random and representative sample of 384 elders. The internal consistency was measured through Cronbach alpha coefficient. Construct validity was evaluated through exploratory factor analysis. Factor extraction was conducted per principal components, following the Kaiser criterion, with rotation through Varimax solution.

RESULTS

The participants' mean age was 70,9 and they were mostly women, married, living with relatives, with one to four years of education, and with an income of up to one minimum wage. The final model of the instrument has conserved three factors, under the parsimony criterion, explaining 50% of data variance, with a total of 27 items distributed across the cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains, with an overall Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.89.

CONCLUSION

The proposed structural model has shown construct validity and an appropriate internal consistency, explaining 50% of data variability. Its application can promote the understanding of social reality and encourage a positive attitude and elderly engagement in leisure activities.

Model design artificial intelligence and research of adaptive network intrusion detection and defense system using fuzzy logic

Along with improvement of technology in network and continuous expansion of network economy and network applications, the Internet has gradually become an indispensable part of the modern society. However, an endless stream of hacker attacks and network virus events make network security issues stand out. Therefore, network security has become a hot spot in computer network research and development. This paper aims at establishing a real-time detection and dynamic defense security system and makes an in-depth study of intrusion detection technology and defense decision-making technology. The strategy involved in finding the intrusion behavior since the fuzzy base contains the better group of rules. We have utilized an automated fuzzy rule generation strategy. An adaptive network intrusion detection and defense system model is established, and the architecture of the model is discussed in detail. The platform independence, good self-adaptability, expansibility, multi-level data analysis and dynamic defense decision-making are expounded. The experiment proves that the model proposed in this article has a good self-adaptability and open construction, and effectively combines the functions of intrusion detection and defense decision-making.

Development of a Scale Measuring Nurses' Physical Activity Counseling in a Primary Care Facility: Implications for Healthcare Quality

This study constructed a scale for measuring nurses' physical activity (PA) counseling in healthcare from the points of view of regular patients. Confirmatory factor analysis produced a two-factor solution with 7 items. The first factor extracted was "follow-up", which accounted for a variance of 44.5% out of a total variance of 64.8% and comprises 4 items. The second factor, "PA recommendation", accounted for a variance of 20.3% and comprises 3 items. The final scale had a good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.75; factor loading ≥0.50) as well as satisfactory validity indicators.

Social adaptation status of Syrian refugee physicians living in Turkey

OBJECTIVES

Since the beginning of the civil war in Syria, over 3.5 million Syrians have fled to Turkey. Considering the massive burden of healthcare service needs of this population, the Turkish government has launched an initiative as employing Syrian doctors to provide health services to their citizens in Refugee Health Centres. In this study, we aimed to explore the social adaptation status of Syrian physicians living in Turkey using a structured questionnaire and the Social Adaptation Self Evaluation Scale (SASS).

METHODS

Between November 2016 and April 2018, 799 physicians who participated in "Syrian Physicians' Adaptation Training" were enrolled in the study and underwent a structured questionnaire that questioned socio-demographic data and the SASS. The participants were divided into two groups as having poor and normal/high SASS scores. The binary SASS groups were compared with some demographic data.

RESULTS

The median SASS score of the respondents was found as 43 (min. 10, max. 60, IQR 10) which can be accepted as normal. In the binary grouping, it was seen that 107 (13.39%) participants had poor social adaptation, whereas 692 (86.61%) participants had normal or high social adaptation scores. The physicians who were certain about not going back to Syria had significantly higher SASS scores.

CONCLUSION

The social adaptation scores of the Syrian physicians were considerably high. The adaptation status was found to be associated with some characteristics like living in Turkey for a long time and having pre-knowledge about the Turkish healthcare system.

Developing the perceived social support scale for older adults: A mixed-method study

Social support has an important impact on the well-being of the elderly. Some studies have shown that perceived social support is more important than received social support. Perceived social support has different definitions across different age groups and cultures. So, this sequential exploratory mixed-method study was designed to develop and validate a perceived social support scale for community-dwelling elderly. In the qualitative phase, the perspectives of the elderly on perceived social support were defined through directed content analysis. Then, an extensive item pool was designed based on the elderly's perception and review of the literature. In the quantitative phase, the validity (content, face, and construct) and reliability (internal consistency, stability) of the newly developed scale was assessed using the sampling of five hundred elderly. The final scale consists of 34 items with domains of “emotional support”, “practical support”, “spiritual support”, “negative interactions” and “satisfaction with support received” that explained 58% of the total variance of the scale. The internal consistency varied from Cronbach's α = 0.70 to 0.87 for the subscales and as 0.92 for the whole scale. The study showed that the scale as a valid and reliable instrument can be used for the proper measurement of perceived social support among the elderly.