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. 2023 Feb 2;18(2):e0281364.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281364. eCollection 2023.

Item response theory analysis of the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep-16 (DBAS-16) scale in a university student sample

Louise I R Castillo  1 , Thomas Hadjistavropoulos  1 , L Odell Tan  2 , Ying C MacNab  3
Affiliations

Item response theory analysis of the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep-16 (DBAS-16) scale in a university student sample

Louise I R Castillo et al. PLoS One. .

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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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Item characteristic curves for dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep (DBAS-16) scale items 6, 8, 11 and 15.
The left y-axis represents the probability of choosing a response category and the right y-axis represent the degree of information provided across the underlying trait continuum. The peak of each response function represents the maximum probability of choosing that response category given a theta level (i.e., underlying trait). Item information function is indicated with a dashed line. IRTPRO (Version 4.2) by default shows response alternatives (strongly disagree [1] to strongly agree [10]) as 0 to 9.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Test information function of the expectations, worry/helplessness, consequences, and medication subscales.
The peak of the total information curve represents the theta level (i.e., degree of unhelpful beliefs and attitudes about sleep) at which the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep (DBAS-16) Scale most accurately predicts degree of dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep (i.e., worry, expectations, attributions, consequences). The peak of the standard error curve represents the theta level at which the DBAS-16 has the most error in predicting the degree of dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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