Psychometric Summary of the Technology-Delivered Tension Scales for Weight Management.
Kelli L Kramer-Jackman, Sue Popkess-Vawter
PMID 28325117WHAT IT FOUND
Tension scales measuring feelings before overeating and skipping exercise correlated significantly with BMI, supporting their use in weight management.
However, a scale for general low feelings did not correlate with BMI, and a new scale for weight-specific feelings was validated only in a small, predominantly normal-weight student sample.
Key findings
01The Overeating Tension Scale and Exercise Tension Scale total scores showed significant positive correlations with body mass index.
02The Feelings Tension Scale did not show a significant correlation with body mass index.
03The Feelings about Weight Tension Scale demonstrated adequate internal consistency and convergent validity with the Overeating Tension Scale in a pilot study.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Participants' weights were self-reported, which may have led to misclassification of BMI groups. Study VI participants were predominantly young, Caucasian, and female, limiting generalizability. Study VII had a very small sample size (n=53) and was predominantly normal weight, preventing BMI correlation testing. The study is a summary of prior psychometric work rather than a new primary clinical trial. The Feelings Tension Scale failed to correlate with BMI, indicating it measures general low mood rather than weight-specific tension.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The research was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the Feelings about Weight Tension Scale is ready for clinical use with obese patients. Its validation was limited to a small pilot of mostly normal-weight students, and the authors explicitly state that further testing with weight groups is needed before official use.