Honors Thesis Archive

Author	Steven P. Weldon
Title	Psychometric Properties of the Psychosocial Risk Factor Survey
Department	Psychology
Advisor	Jeff Brookings
Year	2003
Honors	University Honors
Full Text	View Thesis (182 KB)
Abstract	The Psychosocial Risk Factor Survey (PRFS) was developed to measure depression, anxiety, anger, social support and emotional guardedness in patients with coronary and pulmonary heart problems. The purpose of this study was to provide preliminary evidence on the psychometric properties of the PRFS scales and items. The Beck Depression Inventory 2 (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory 2 (STAXI-II) and the Life Stressors and Social Resources Inventory-Adult Form (LISRES-A) were administered, along with the PRFS, to a sample of 52 patients and 15 college students. Significant differences between patients and nonpatients were found on PRFS Depression and Social Support with patients scoring higher on Depression and non-patients scoring higher on Social Support. A series of psychometric analyses were performed to evaluate the PRFS items and reduce the length of the scales. Sixty-six items were deleted, based on a series of item analysis criteria, without compromising the internal consistency reliabilities or convergent validities of the scales. The results were generally revealing of the content validity of the PRFS scales, but more research on the criterion-related validity of the PRFS scales is needed, using larger patient samples.