Part 1
1. Choose a paper describing the development or validation of a measure of relevance in health disparities research (please give full citation)
DAYA S. SANDHU and BADIOLAH R. ASRABADI (1994) DEVELOPMENT OF AN ACCULTURATIVE STRESS SCALE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS1. Psychological Reports: Volume 75, Issue , pp. 435-448.
doi: 10.2466/pr0.1994.75.1.435
2. What was the definition of the construct (social factor)?
Construct was defined as acculturative stress, which is psychological impact of adaptation to a new culture.
3. How did the authors provide evidence on the validity of the measure? Could you think of additional approaches to validating the measure?
Authors used a 36-item scale in Likert format that was designed to assess the acculturative stress of international students in which perceived discrimination, homesickness, fear, guilt, perceived hatred and stress due to cultural shock were measured. People from all over the world have responded well to faces when rating pain. So, instead of Likert format, perhaps using a scale of faces for the different parameters would have been more beneficial. Giving the survey in their native language might help as well.
5. Describe the implications of a lack of measurement validity or reliability for future research applications.
Lack of measurement validity can raise a lot of questions about reliability of results and conclusions can be invalidated if results cannot be trusted.
Part 2:
1.Find a paper describing a health disparity (give full citation)
Arbona C, Olvera N, Rodriguez N, Hagan J, Linares A, Wiesner M (2010). Acculturative stress among documented and undocumented Latino Immigrants in the United States. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Science (32)3 362-384. DOI: 10.1177/0739986310373210
2. Summarize the construct and measurement of the dimension of disparity (e.g. race, SES) and the outcome measured (ex: self-rated health)
Construct was undocumented status in Latinos in the United States. The Hispanic Stress Inventory was used to assess acculturative stress and the outcome measured was fear of deportation.
3. What is the evidence for the validity and reliability of the measures?
They used Hispanic Stress Inventory form (HIS-I) as it was developed to assess levels of strains associated with the unique experiences Latino immigrants in the United States. In regards to validity and reliability of this measure, the article quotes Cervantes et al (1991) in which it was reported that subscales of the HIS-I correlated positively and significantly with measures of psychological symptomatology. Also, the scales’ scores have shown adequate levels of internal consistency with immigrants from Mexico and Central America.
4. What is the reference category used for the disparity measure? Why does this reference category make sense (or not) for this research question?
Reference category used was documented Latino immigrants. It makes sense given that experimental group is also made up of immigrants, however, the only difference is documented vs undocumented. Now, this sample is looking at undocumented Latino immigrants throughout the country whereas I feel like it would have been better if they had focused on one specific state. States vary widely in how accepting they are of undocumented immigrants so their experiences might be altered by the state the experimental group was living in at the time.
5. How is the disparity quantified? Is this an absolute or relative measure or are both provided? Describe which type of measure you would prefer for this research area, or, if both, why?
Disparity was quantified using the Hispanic Stress Inventory form. Absolute measure was not provided, but relative measure was obtained by dividing the experimental over the reference resulting in a percentage.