Procedure per la validazione di un test: la scala S.V.E.B.A.

This paper deals with the methodology and the statistical procedures for the analysis of the data used to develop and to validate a short scale for the assessment of the emotionality and the well-being in elderly patients; this scale is called SVEBA. The scale of Savage and Britton (1967) and the scale of Pfeiffer (1979) were administered to 519 subjects. A mixture of statistical techniques (discriminant, factor, and correlation analysis) was used to build up a different scale from the foregoing ones; a set of 15 items was selected. The resulting set was administered to another group of 73 subjects to verify its performance and to adapt the items for the local situation. A group of psychologists classified them in normal, borderline, or pathological patients. At this stage, the items were slightly adapted in some cases to a form more suitable for oral administration and two items were replaced with two new ones. The resulting scale was administered to a third group of 321 subjects, who were classified by psychologists as in the previous case. The validation was achieved comparing the outcomes of the SVEBA with psychological classification.