title: A systematic review of the psychometric properties of bronchiolitis assessment tools.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of tools developed for the purpose of assessing infants with bronchiolitis.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Bronchiolitis is the leading cause of hospitalization in infants under the age of 1 year. Several bronchiolitis assessment tools have been developed primarily for use in randomized control trials of medical treatments for infants with bronchiolitis, however, the reliability and validity of many of these tools is not well reported.
  
  
  METHODS
  Systematic review.
  
  
  METHODS
  CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE and PubMed electronic databases were searched between January 1960-December 2015 using the key words 'bronchiolitis' and 'assessment' or 'screen' or 'tool' or 'scale' or 'score'.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic review of the psychometric properties of bronchiolitis assessment tools was undertaken using the COSMIN checklist.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fourteen studies meeting the inclusion criteria were reviewed and the methodological quality of the studies and reported psychometric properties of 11 instruments were assessed. Overall, the reliability and validity of bronchiolitis assessment tools was poorly established. Although several studies reported that their tools had good inter-rater reliability, the methodological quality of these studies was generally poor. Only one study underwent psychometric testing that was assessed as being of excellent quality. The Respiratory Distress Assessment Index was deemed to have undergone the most rigorous psychometric testing but had poor to moderate construct validity and considerable test-retest error.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Current bronchiolitis assessment tools lack clearly established reliability and validity and may not be sensitive to clinically meaningful outcomes for patients.
authors: Royal North Shore Hospital, St. Leonards, New South Wales, Australia.
authors: Clare J
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2304-3738
authors: CJ
authors: Davies
authors: Sydney Nursing School, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
authors: Donna
authors: D
authors: Waters
authors: NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Nursing, Menzies Health Institute, Queensland, Griffith University and Gold Coast Health, Southport, Queensland, Australia.
authors: Andrea
authors: A
authors: Marshall
mesh_terms: D001988:Bronchiolitis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012127:Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn / Q000175:diagnosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: bronchiolitis; bronchiolitis assessment tools; psychometric testing; reliability; systematic review; validity