Table 3.
DIF detection and magnitude results by item and demographic variable – Depersonalization subscale
| Item-Level sDRF Estimate (95% CI) [absolute item-level sDRF estimate expressed in item SD units] a | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demographic Variable (Reference group) | Focal group | DP1 (treat patients as objects) | DP2 (more callous) | DP3 (job hardening me) | DP4 (don’t care) | DP5 (patients blame me) |
| Gender (Male) | Female | 0.15 (0.08, 0.22) [0.13] § | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Age Category (≥ 65 years) | < 35 years | -- | -- | 0.02 (− 0.14, 0.16) [< 0.01] ¥ | 0.04 (− 0.11, 0.14) [0.03] ¥ | -- |
| 35–44 years | -- | 0.15 (0.00, 0.27) [0.08] ¥ | 0.03 (− 0.12, 0.17) [< 0.01] ¥ | -- | -- | |
| 45–54 years | -- | -- | − 0.20 (− 0.31, − 0.08) [0.10] § | 0.08 (− 0.01, 0.18) [0.06] ¥ | -- | |
| 55–64 years | -- | -- | − 0.14 (− 0.24, 0.03) [0.07] § | 0.04 (− 0.04, 0.12) [0.03] ¥ | -- | |
| Specialty (General Internal Medicine) | Anesthesiology | − 0.31 (− 0.52, − 0.09) [0.19] § | -- | -- | 0.40 (0.19, 0.56) [0.30] § | -- |
| Emergency medicine | − 0.27 (− 0.48, − 0.07) [0.17] † | -- | 0.38 (0.17, 0.59) [0.19] § | -- | -- | |
| Family medicine | -- | -- | 0.40 (0.21, 0.58) [0.20] § | -- | -- | |
| General pediatrics | -- | − 0.27 (− 0.46, − 0.06) [0.15] † | -- | -- | -- | |
| General surgery | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| General surgery subspecialty | -- | -- | -- | 0.35 (0.20, 0.49) [0.26] † | −0.28 (− 0.52, − 0.05) [0.15] † | |
| Internal medicine subspecialty | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Neurology | -- | -- | 0.41 (0.19, 0.63) [0.20] § | -- | -- | |
| Obstetrics and gynecology | -- | − 0.29 (− 0.49, − 0.08) [0.16] † | -- | -- | -- | |
| Ophthalmology | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Orthopedic surgery | -- | -- | -- | 0.23 (0.08, 0.42) [0.17] † | -- | |
| Pediatric subspecialty | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Physical medicine and rehabilitation/preventive medicine/occupational medicine | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Psychiatry | -- | -- | 0.42 (0.24, 0.61) [0.21] § | -- | − 0.33 (− 0.54, − 0.12) [0.18] † | |
| Radiology | −0.31 (− 0.52, − 0.07) [0.19] § | -- | -- | -- | 0.53 (0.29, 0.78) [0.28] § | |
a “--” = no DIF detected. § DIF significant (Benjamini-Hochberg adjusted p < 0.05) in both the Likelihood Ratio Test (LRT) and item-level signed Differential Response Functioning (sDRF) statistic detection method; ¥ DIF significant (Benjamini-Hochberg adjusted p < 0.05) in the Likelihood Ratio Test (LRT) detection method only; † DIF significant (Benjamini-Hochberg adjusted p < 0.05) in the item-level sDRF statistic detection method only. Mean (raw) item scores from the DP calibration sample (n = 6403) in Brady et al. [11] were: DP1 = 1.19 (SD = 1.59), DP2 = 1.79 (SD = 1.81), DP3 = 2.05 (SD = 2.05), DP4 = 0.76 (SD = 1.33), DP5 = 2.28 (SD = 1.87)