The faculty of the Department of Social and Behavioral Health have developed a number of instruments to assist in research
design and analysis of behavioral data. To obtain any of the instruments listed on this page, please complete an
instrument request form to assist us in understanding the use of our instruments.
You will then be taken to a page where the instruments may be downloaded. For more instruments, please visit the
Behavioral Measurement Core website.
The Cancer Communication Assessment Tool for Patients and Families (CCAT)
The CCAT-PF is a valid and reliable instrument for obtaining information about communication
concordance and conflict between cancer patients and their caregivers. It is comprised of two
parts. The CCAT-P is an 18 item instrument completed by the patient about their preferences,
values and experiences in making treatment and care decisions, with an emphasis on how family
caregivers fit into this process. The CCAT-F is an 18 item instrument completed by the family
that is exactly analogous to the CCAT-P. Together they make up the CCAT-PF.
The CCAT-PF is ideally used as a measure of discrepancy between the perceptions and
expectations of patients as compared to those of a family caregiver. In general, it is
recommended that the caregiver who is the primary caregiver (i.e., the person who provides most
of the care and help with decision making) be the person who completes the CCAT-F instrument.
Below are instructions for scoring the complete CCAT-PF. It is also possible to use the CCAT-P
and CCAT-F instruments as stand alone measures. Scoring instructions for this are also
provided.
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Siminoff Communication Content and Affect Program (SCCAP)
Understanding communication processes in healthcare transactions is fundamental to advancing our understanding of how people access, obtain, and use healthcare services. At its core, communication in medicine is a goal-oriented process. The Siminoff Communication Content and Affect Program (SCCAP©) is a computerized program to facilitate the analysis of healthcare conversations. It can run on both Macintosh and Windows operating systems. Because health transactions are widely variable in form and function, this program is designed to be adaptable to the goals and patterns of diverse healthcare contexts. The SCCAP builds on other well-known observational systems, but emphasizes verbal and nonverbal communication behaviors drawn from the communication research literature. Specifically, the program captures: a) task driven information exchange between multiple interaction partners, b) the affective and relational communication activities of all communicators, and c) the social influence tactics employed in healthcare settings that contribute to decision-making.
The program opens and runs from a main menu that offers several coder activities. These reflect three general sets of data. The first set, content themes, includes those activities that constitute the task or instrumental aspect of most medical transactions (e.g., providing treatment information). Content themes are delineated into general categories and then can be further refined into discrete communication behaviors or events by the researcher. Coders click each event or activity as it occurs in the interaction and the program automatically records speaker, topic, message form (statement or question) and sequence. The second set consists of communication types. These are the aspects of communication that indicate relational information or influence attempts. Within this group are nested additional menus for recording question types. Content themes and communication types are coded at the same time. The third set consists of observer speech and affect ratings, including emotions (e.g., anger, sadness) and more composite affect (e.g., composure). Coders rate each participant after listening to and coding content aspects of the interaction.
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- The following surveys were used in a 2001 national survey of medical education in end-of-life care, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The development of these surveys is described in:
Sullivan AM, Lakoma M, Block SD. Medical education in end-of-life care: A national study. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2003, 18: 685-95.
Surveys:
- Sullivan, AM, Block, SD. Medical Education in End-of-Life Care: Faculty Telephone Survey. © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2001
- Sullivan, AM, Block, SD. Medical Education in End-of-Life Care: Resident Telephone Survey. © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2001
- Sullivan, AM, Block, SD. Medical Education in End-of-Life Care: Fourth-Year Medical Student Telephone Survey. © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2001
- Instrument request form
- The following surveys were developed to evaluate the Harvard Medical School Program in Palliative Care Education and Practice, directed by Susan Block, MD, and Andrew Billings, MD. These surveys are described in the following publications:
Sullivan AM, Lakoma MD, Billings JA, Peters AS, Block SD and the PCEP Core Faculty. Teaching and learning end-of-life care: Evaluation of a faculty development program in palliative care. Academic Medicine. 2005 Jul;80(7):657-68.
Sullivan AM, Lakoma MD, Peters AS, Billings JA, Block SD and the PCEP Core Faculty. Creating enduring change: A study of the long-term impact of a palliative care faculty development program. J Gen Intern Med 2006 Sep;21(9):907-14.
Surveys:
- Block, SD, Billings, JA, Sullivan, AM. Program in Palliative Care Education and Practice Pre-Program Inventory. © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2003
- Block, SD, Billings, JA, Sullivan, AM. Program in Palliative Care Education and Practice Post-Program Inventory (April_May 2003). © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2003
- Block, SD, Billings, JA, Sullivan, AM. Program in Palliative Care Education and Practice Follow-Up Inventory (November 2003). © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2003
- Instrument request form
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General Attitudes and Beliefs about Organ Donation
The General Attitudes and Beliefs about Organ Donation scale was developed and validated with samples of
individuals who had made organ donation decisions for deceased family members and the general public.
The scale examines people’s willingness to donate, their perception about the efficacy of transplantation
as a treatment modality, their emotional response to the idea of donation and issues of access and equity.
The scale consists of 14 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale. Scores range up to 70; a high score indicates
the most positive attitudes toward organ donation. We have reported a reliability coefficient of .645.
Below the instrument items are instructions for scoring the instruments.
Instrument request form
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Health Care Provider Attitudes Toward Donation
The Health Care Provider Attitudes Toward Donation scale measures HCP attitudes toward the donation process
itself using nine questions which are rated in terms of level of agreement using a five point Likert scale.
The scale is summed to obtain an overall score. Scores for this scale range from 5 to 45; higher scores indicate
more positive attitudes toward the donation process. A reliability coefficient of .62 was obtained. Analyses were
performed to examine the scale as a whole (using the Student's t-Test) as well as the items individually. Single
items from this scale using the chi-square statistic to ascertain if any particular attitudinal subdomains were
more important than others. More positive attitudes are correlated with more success in obtaining consent to organ donation.
Instrument request form
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