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The Labour Response Set Behaviour Checklist
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The Labour Response Set Behaviour Checklist E A Crothers Physiotherapy Department, Faculty of Health and Food, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
Background The Labour Response Set (LRS) behaviour checklist was devised to test objectively observed pain behaviour and moods exhibited by women i n early labour. Experienced midwives can often tell how labour will progress from their early pain behaviour. This checklist was an attempt to devise a n objective measure of these working observations. Standardised tests were assessed as to their validity. These were the Profile of Mood S t a t e s a n d a Behavioural Index. However, they were either inappropriate or too basic in their construction for the purposes required. Method: Construction of the checklist: 1. The LRS and its antithesis were defined. 2. The definitions allowed t h e derivation of nine dichotomous variables. 3. Each of the variables was scored from one to five and each score had a definition.
Testing the checklist: 1. The test was first examined for construct, criterion and content validity and found applicable. 2. The LRS behaviour checklist was tested for internal reliability to show that it was consistent, stable and predictable. Therefore item consistency was tested using Cronbach‘s alpha (score 0.858). Inter-test consistency was also examined showing that the test had a high level of internal consistency as all the item total correlations were greater than 0.3. 3.The LRS checklist was then tested for inter-tester reliability. The second tester was trained to complete the checklist using videos of labour and also in the labour ward. The pilot test was carried out in the Jubilee Maternity Hospital, Belfast. Ethical committee consent was sought and granted as was permission from t h e divisional committee of consultants a n d midwives. Twelve subjects were tested on four occasions each during the early stages of their labours. Pearsons product moment correlation coefficient was used to test association. Test occasions one r = 0.880, two r = 0.996, three r = 0.823 and four r= 0.932, were all significant (p < 0.001).
Conclusions and discussion: The results indicated t h a t t h e LRS behaviour checklist is a consistent reliable robust measuring tool. It was subsequently used to measure pain behaviour effectively in other studies. The LRS behaviour checklist would benefit from further piloting.
General Papers Measurement of the Effect of Participation in a Medical Humanities Group on the Practice of Physiotherapists R Murray Cerztre for Academic Practice, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Background:There is a variety of practices in medical humanities. We founded the Glasgow Medical Humanities Group which uses literary and nonliterary texts to prompt discussion on personal and professional issues. This work, over the past eight years, is described in a recent book (Murray, 1997). For some time the literature on medical humanities has included claims for potential effects on health professionals’ practice, either in undergraduate education or postgraduate training: improving participants’ ‘human understanding in the ward‘, developing their own point of view, exploring non-scientific ways of thinking, improving communication skills, expanding
concepts of non-medical aspects of physiotherapy, learning ‘an attentiveness fundamental to the care of the sick‘, enjoying literature (Moore, 1976; Thow and Murray, 1996; Carson, 1994).
It has recently been recognised that there is a need for further research not only to define the nature but also to measure the extent of such effects on participants’ practice (Charon et a l , 1995). The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore individual p a r t i c i p a n t s ’ concepts of t h e effect of medical humanities. Method: An emerging l i t e r a t u r e on q u a l i t a t i v e research argues for its strengths in capturing individuals’ perceptions and experience a n d developing m e a s u r e s of effects on professional p r a c t i c e (Carpenter, 1994; Newham, 1997). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 participants, including health professionals and others, the usual mix for the Glasgow group meetings. Five were physiotherapists and all were women. The five questions used to prompt discussion were developed with participants. The interviews lasted 20 minutes. Tapes were summarised and themes distilled.
Physiotherapy, July 1997, vol83, no 7
The Labour Response Set Behaviour Checklist E A Crothers Physiotherapy Department, Faculty of Health and Food, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
Background The Labour Response Set (LRS) behaviour checklist was devised to test objectively observed pain behaviour and moods exhibited by women i n early labour. Experienced midwives can often tell how labour will progress from their early pain behaviour. This checklist was an attempt to devise a n objective measure of these working observations. Standardised tests were assessed as to their validity. These were the Profile of Mood S t a t e s a n d a Behavioural Index. However, they were either inappropriate or too basic in their construction for the purposes required. Method: Construction of the checklist: 1. The LRS and its antithesis were defined. 2. The definitions allowed t h e derivation of nine dichotomous variables. 3. Each of the variables was scored from one to five and each score had a definition.
Testing the checklist: 1. The test was first examined for construct, criterion and content validity and found applicable. 2. The LRS behaviour checklist was tested for internal reliability to show that it was consistent, stable and predictable. Therefore item consistency was tested using Cronbach‘s alpha (score 0.858). Inter-test consistency was also examined showing that the test had a high level of internal consistency as all the item total correlations were greater than 0.3. 3.The LRS checklist was then tested for inter-tester reliability. The second tester was trained to complete the checklist using videos of labour and also in the labour ward. The pilot test was carried out in the Jubilee Maternity Hospital, Belfast. Ethical committee consent was sought and granted as was permission from t h e divisional committee of consultants a n d midwives. Twelve subjects were tested on four occasions each during the early stages of their labours. Pearsons product moment correlation coefficient was used to test association. Test occasions one r = 0.880, two r = 0.996, three r = 0.823 and four r= 0.932, were all significant (p < 0.001).
Conclusions and discussion: The results indicated t h a t t h e LRS behaviour checklist is a consistent reliable robust measuring tool. It was subsequently used to measure pain behaviour effectively in other studies. The LRS behaviour checklist would benefit from further piloting.
General Papers Measurement of the Effect of Participation in a Medical Humanities Group on the Practice of Physiotherapists R Murray Cerztre for Academic Practice, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Background:There is a variety of practices in medical humanities. We founded the Glasgow Medical Humanities Group which uses literary and nonliterary texts to prompt discussion on personal and professional issues. This work, over the past eight years, is described in a recent book (Murray, 1997). For some time the literature on medical humanities has included claims for potential effects on health professionals’ practice, either in undergraduate education or postgraduate training: improving participants’ ‘human understanding in the ward‘, developing their own point of view, exploring non-scientific ways of thinking, improving communication skills, expanding
concepts of non-medical aspects of physiotherapy, learning ‘an attentiveness fundamental to the care of the sick‘, enjoying literature (Moore, 1976; Thow and Murray, 1996; Carson, 1994).
It has recently been recognised that there is a need for further research not only to define the nature but also to measure the extent of such effects on participants’ practice (Charon et a l , 1995). The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore individual p a r t i c i p a n t s ’ concepts of t h e effect of medical humanities. Method: An emerging l i t e r a t u r e on q u a l i t a t i v e research argues for its strengths in capturing individuals’ perceptions and experience a n d developing m e a s u r e s of effects on professional p r a c t i c e (Carpenter, 1994; Newham, 1997). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 participants, including health professionals and others, the usual mix for the Glasgow group meetings. Five were physiotherapists and all were women. The five questions used to prompt discussion were developed with participants. The interviews lasted 20 minutes. Tapes were summarised and themes distilled.
Physiotherapy, July 1997, vol83, no 7