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The development of a rating scale for the prediction of success in weight reduction
Author(s) -
Dash Jerry D.,
Brown Richard A.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(197707)33:3<748::aid-jclp2270330332>3.0.co;2-q
Subject(s) - psychology , weight loss , rating scale , dash , scale (ratio) , clinical psychology , obesity , test (biology) , construct validity , test validity , reliability (semiconductor) , developmental psychology , psychometrics , medicine , paleontology , physics , power (physics) , quantum mechanics , computer science , biology , operating system
A valid and reliable rating instrument was developed that has predictive value with regard to the ability to lose weight. The major constructs that the test was intended to measure were knowledge of the pragmatics of weight reduction and obesity and the role of fantasy in weight loss. Test items were drawn from research findings in the obesity literature and from subject matter experts in the fields of nutrition, internal medicine and clinical psychology. Test retest reliability coefficients for the new instrument range from 0.64 to 0.95. Construct validity was ascertained through administration of the scale to groups of high school students ( N = 20), college nutrition students ( N = 30) and successful and unsuccessful dieters ( N s = 28 and 20, respectively). It appears that the scale, The Dash‐Brown Survey of Fact and Fiction in Weight Reduction (DBS), may be employed usefully to assess the remediability of obesity for potential dieters. The data further suggest that cognitive awareness of diet‐related issues is significant in weight reduction.