Issues in the development of an item bank.
OBJECTIVE
To describe and illustrate 2 issues involved in the development of an item bank that can be used to improve measurement across settings and over time.


METHODS
Secondary (psychometric) analysis of data collected on existing quality of life (QOL) instruments.


METHODS
Five cancer clinics in hospital settings in various parts of the United States; 523 solo or group practices in 3 major US cities; and an inpatient rehabilitation hospital in a large metropolitan area.


METHODS
Illustration 1: 399 persons being treated for or having a history of cancer, 170 persons being treated for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), 328 persons with stroke assessed during and after acute rehabilitation, and 433 persons being treated for multiple sclerosis. Illustration 2: 1714 persons with cancer and/or HIV participating in a large-scale multisite study, 3429 persons with prevalent treatable chronic health conditions, and 125 persons with stage IV metastatic breast cancer.


METHODS
Not applicable.


METHODS
QOL as measured by 10 different instruments.


RESULTS
The illustrations show that (1). core items, which functioned similarly across 4 diagnostic groups, can be identified and used to construct instruments measuring physical function that are tailored to each of these groups, and (2). items from 3 separate datasets can be linked to create a dataset that can serve as an initial pain item bank.


CONCLUSIONS
The methodology exists to develop item banks to develop better measures of QOL.
Bode
Rita K
RK
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Institute of Health Services Research & Policy Studies, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. r-bode@northwestern.edu
Lai
Jin-Shei
JS
Cella
David
D
Heinemann
Allen W
AW
D000208:Acute Disease / Q000523:psychology; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005544:Forecasting; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D010810:Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012046:Rehabilitation / Q000592:standards*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D020521:Stroke / Q000523:psychology; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States