by Pedro Tadao Hamamoto Filho, Maria de Lourdes Marmorato Botta Hafner, Zilda Maria Tosta Ribeiro, Alba Regina de Abreu Lima, Leandro Arthur Diehl, Neide Tomimura Costa, Maria Cristina de Andrade, Samira Yarak, Patrícia Moretti Rehder, Júlio César Moriguti, Angélica Maria Bicudo
BackgroundIt has been proposed that the school origin of items for cross-institutional Progress Tests (PTs) may introduce a bias in favour of students from the same school, posing a potential threat to the validity and reliability of PT results and cross-institutional comparisons. The aim of this study was to examine whether origin bias is present in a Brazilian cross-institutional PT examination.
MethodsThis study conducted a cross-sectional analysis of seven schools affiliated with the oldest PT consortium in Brazil, utilising a pooled analysis of differences in students’ performance concerning self and non-self items. A proportional meta-analysis of the items’ rate differences and confidence intervals with random effects was performed, providing an odds ratio (OR) for self and non-self items. Differences between the two groups of items were assessed by scrutinising whether the OR and 95% confidence intervals overlapped.
ResultsThe findings indicated no discernible differences in psychometric indices based on the school responsible for item creation. Three schools consistently demonstrate superior performance on items authored by their faculty, however, these they also excelled on non-self items. Furthermore, an overlap in the 95% confidence intervals for both self and non-self items was observed across all seven schools.
ConclusionsIn contrast to prior reports, this study revealed the absence of origin bias, suggesting that adoption of best practices in blueprinting, item writing, and editing may have played a role in mitigating such bias.
In high-income countries (HICs), migrants living with HIV (MLHIV) are more likely than other HIV subpopulations to encounter problems which hamper their adherence to the care process; these include social and administrative insecurity, discrimination and psychological distress.
This systematic review aimed to determine the specific features of adherence to the HIV care process among MLHIV in HIC.
Three researchers independently selected studies from a search for papers focusing on empirical studies on MLHIV’s adherence to the care process in HIC, published between 1 January 2010 and 1 November 2024 in the following databases: MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Google Scholar. The three dimensions evaluated for adherence to the care process were adherence to treatment, retention in care and virological response. HICs were characterised according to the World Bank’s definition.
Of 601 studies screened, 69 were included (26 (38%) analysing treatment adherence 44 (64%) 44 (64%) retention in care and 34 (48%) virological response). In 49 (71%) of these studies, MLHIV from sub-Saharan Africa accounted for the majority of persons included. MLHIV were mainly categorised according to their geographical region of origin. Only one study considered the reasons for migration. Of 52 statistically significant associations, only five found that being a migrant (vs being a non-migrant) was associated with a better HIV care process. Moreover, several individual (sociodemographic, clinical and psychological), and structural (care system organisation and political) factors associated with difficulties in adhering to the HIV care process were identified.
MLHIV living in HIC had poorer adherence to the HIV care process for all three dimensions studied (ie, treatment adherence, retention in care and virological response). Research studies categorise MLHIV according to their geographical origin. However, this type of categorisation does not adequately capture social inequalities in health. To overcome this, studies must instead categorise MLHIV according to various intersecting factors, including, among other things, their reason for migrating, the length of time living in the destination country and violence experienced during their migratory journey.
CRD42021253280.