Skip Navigation

The European Journal of Public Health 2003 13(Supplement 1):15-19; doi:10.1093/eurpub/13.suppl_1.15
© 2003 by European Journal of Public Health
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (4)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by van Buuren, S.
Right arrow Articles by Hopman-Rock, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by van Buuren, S.
Right arrow Articles by Hopman-Rock, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Assessing comparability of dressing disability in different countries by response conversion

S. van Buuren1,*, S. Eyres2, A. Tennant2 and M. Hopman-Rock1

1 TNO Prevention and Health, Leiden, The Netherlands 2 Psychometric Laboratory for Care Outcomes Measurement, University of Leeds, UK

Background: Comparability of health data is a major challenge within the context of the Health Monitoring Programme of the European Commission. A common problem in surveys is that many variations of essentially the same question exist. Methods: Response conversion is a new method for improving comparability by scaling the data onto a common scale. Comparisons between member states can then be made in terms of the common scale. A first step is the construction of a conversion key. This is a relatively complex activity, but needs to be done only once. The second step is the actual data transformation. This is simple, and can be repeatedly done on a routine basis as new information arrives. Construction of the key is only possible if enough overlapping information can be found. Results: The method is illustrated for dressing disability from five European countries. Differences occur between countries, between sexes and between age groups. These were similar in magnitude. Conclusion: Response conversion is a new method for enhancing comparability among existing data. Conversion can only be done if a key is available. More work is needed to establish the technique. Future implications within the Health Monitoring Programme are discussed.

Keywords: dressing disability, comparability, item response theory, response conversion, post-harmonization

* Correspondence: Stef van Buuren, PhD, Department of Statistics, TNO Prevention and Health, P.O. Box 2215, 2301 CE Leiden, The Netherlands, Voice: +31 71 5181802, fax +31 71 5181920, e-mail: S.vanBuuren{at}pg.tno.nl


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.