- January 30, 2013
- Jennifer Salerno
Did you know that seventy-five percent of adolescent morbidity and mortality is a result of risky behavior? The Rapid Assessment for Adolescent Preventive Services (RAAPS) is a 21-question adolescent risk screening tool developed to identify the behaviors contributing most to adolescent morbidity, mortality, and social problems. A study was completed using psychometric methods to establish face-, content-, and criterion-related validity and inter-rater and equivalence reliability.
Methods Used in the Study
Focus groups with adolescents (n = 21) and health care professionals (n = 7) were facilitated to establish face validity. Adolescent expert review (n = 10) was gathered to establish content validity and reliability. A retrospective chart audit of adolescents (n = 263) who completed both the RAAPS and the Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Services risk questionnaire was conducted to assess criterion-related validity and equivalence between paired question responses using Cohen kappa measure, percent agreement, and Fisher exact test.
Conclusion
Validity and reliability of the RAAPS as a measure of adolescent risk behaviors was established. Results indicate RAAPS is an acceptable screening tool in identifying adolescent risk behaviors, contributing most to morbidity, mortality, and social problems.
Read the full abstract of the study. A full listing of publications and presentations can be found in the About page.
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