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Item response theory analysis of the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep-16 (DBAS-16) scale in a
Louise I R Castillo1, Thomas Hadjistavropoulos1, L Odell Tan2
1Department of Psychology and Centre on Aging and Health, University of Regina, Regina, Canada.
Abstract:
Unhelpful beliefs about sleep have been shown to exacerbate distress associated with sleep-related difficulties. University students are particularly vulnerable to experiencing sleep-related problems. The Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep-16 (DBAS-16) scale is a widely used instrument that assesses for sleep-disruptive cognitions. Although psychometric support for the DBAS-16 is available, Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis is needed to examine its properties at the item level. Psychometric investigation in non-clinical samples can help identify people who may be at risk for developing sleep problems. We examined the DBAS-16 using IRT on a sample of 759 university students. Our results identified items and subscales that adequately/inadequately differentiated between students who held unhelpful beliefs about sleep and those who did not. The DBAS-16 is a valuable instrument to assess unhelpful beliefs about sleep. We outline recommendations to improve the discriminatory ability of the instrument. Future investigations should establish cross-validation with a clinical sample.
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