ArticleBMJ open2020
Assessing differential item functioning for the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale: a Scleroderma atient-centred Intervention Network (SPIN) Cohort Study.
Article in BMJ open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Social appearance anxiety and its associations with anxiety, depressive symptoms, and health-related quality of life in systemic sclerosis: a cross-sectional study.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThe Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) is a 16-item questionnaire developed to evaluate fear of appearance-based evaluation by others. The primary objective of this research was to investigate the existence of differential item functioning (DIF) for the 16 SAAS items, comparing patients who completed the SAAS in English and French, either to confirm that scores are comparable or provide guidance on calculating comparable scores. A secondary research objective was to investigate the existence of DIF based on sex and disease status. A tertiary research objective was to assess DIF related to language, sex, and disease status on the recently developed SAAS-5.
designThis was a cross-sectional analysis using baseline data from patients enrolled in the Scleroderma Patient-centred Intervention Network (SPIN).
settingSPIN patients included in the present study were enrolled at 43 centres in Canada, USA, UK, France and Australia, with questionnaires completed in April 2014 to July 2019.
participants1640 SPIN patients completed the SAAS in French (n=600) or English (n=1040). PRIMARY AND SECONDARY MEASURES: The SAAS was collected along with demographic and disease characteristics.
resultsSix items were identified with statistically significant language-based DIF, four with sex-based DIF and one with disease type-based DIF. However, factor scores before and after accounting for DIF were similar (Pearson correlation >0.99), and individual score differences were small. This was true for both the full and shortened versions of the SAAS.
conclusionSAAS and SAAS-5 scores are comparable across language, sex, and disease-type, despite small differences in how patients respond to some items.
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