Abstract
Objectives: To examine the validity of self reported data on parents' home safety practices of using smoke alarms and stair gates, and having syrup of ipecac.
Setting: Families from a pediatric continuity clinic in a large, urban teaching hospital with infants from birth to 6 months were enrolled in the study.
Methods: As part of a randomized controlled trial to promote home safety, parents' responses to personal interviews were compared to observations made in the respondents' homes two to four weeks after the interview. Positive and negative predictive values, sensitivity, and specificity were computed and compared between the intervention and control group families.
Results: Sensitivities were high among the four safety practices. Specificities were much lower and fell into a much wider range than sensitivities. The positive predictive values were low and the negative predictive values were high. No differences in these indicators of validity were found between intervention and control group families.
Conclusions: If the main interest in an evaluation is on the relative difference between study groups, rather than the absolute value of the outcome measure, our results suggest that self reported data may be of acceptable validity. However, when assessing a patient's risk, clinicians need to recognize the problem of over-reporting of safety practices.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (47.8 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Gielen A. C., Wilson M. E., McDonald E. M., Serwint J. R., Andrews J. S., Hwang W. T., Wang M. C. Randomized trial of enhanced anticipatory guidance for injury prevention. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2001 Jan;155(1):42–49. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.155.1.42. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gielen Andrea Carlson, McDonald Eileen M., Wilson Modena E. H., Hwang Wei-Ting, Serwint Janet R., Andrews John S., Wang Mei-Cheng. Effects of improved access to safety counseling, products, and home visits on parents' safety practices: results of a randomized trial. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002 Jan;156(1):33–40. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.156.1.33. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kogan M. D., Overpeck M. D., Fingerhut L. A. Medically attended nonfatal injuries among preschool-age children: national estimates. Am J Prev Med. 1995 Mar-Apr;11(2):99–104. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mickalide A. Threats to measurement validity in self reported data can be overcome. Inj Prev. 1997 Mar;3(1):7–8. doi: 10.1136/ip.3.1.7. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Nelson D. E. Validity of self reported data on injury prevention behavior: lessons from observational and self reported surveys of safety belt use in the US. Inj Prev. 1996 Mar;2(1):67–69. doi: 10.1136/ip.2.1.67. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Robertson L. S. The validity of self-reported behavioral risk factors: seatbelt and alcohol use. J Trauma. 1992 Jan;32(1):58–59. doi: 10.1097/00005373-199201000-00012. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Scheidt P. C., Harel Y., Trumble A. C., Jones D. H., Overpeck M. D., Bijur P. E. The epidemiology of nonfatal injuries among US children and youth. Am J Public Health. 1995 Jul;85(7):932–938. doi: 10.2105/ajph.85.7.932. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Scott I. You can't believe all that you're told: the issue of unvalidated questionnaires. Inj Prev. 1997 Mar;3(1):5–6. doi: 10.1136/ip.3.1.5. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]