A simple way to measure daily lifestyle regularity

Abstract

SUMMAR Y A brief diary instrument to quantify daily lifestyle regularity (SRM-5) is developed and compared with a much longer version of the instrument (SRM-17) described and used previously. Three studies are described. In Study 1, SRM-17 scores (2 weeks) were collected from a total of 293 healthy control subjects (both genders) aged between 19 and 92 years. Five items (1) Get out of bed, (2) First contact with another person, (3) Start work, housework or volunteer activities, (4) Have dinner, and (5) Go to bed were then selected from the 17 items and SRM-5 scores calculated as if these five items were the only ones collected. Comparisons were made with SRM-17 scores from the same subject-weeks, looking at correlations between the two SRM measures, and the effects of age and gender on lifestyle regularity as measured by the two instruments. In Study 2 this process was repeated in a group of 27 subjects who were in remission from unipolar depression after treatment with psychotherapy and who completed SRM-17 for at least 20 successive weeks. SRM-5 and SRM-17 scores were then correlated within an individual using time as the random variable, allowing an indication of how successful SRM-5 was in tracking changes in lifestyle regularity (within an individual) over time.In Study 3 an SRM-5 diary instrument was administered to 101 healthy control subjects (both genders, aged 20-59 years) for two successive weeks to obtain normative measures and to test for correlations with age and morningness. Measures of lifestyle regularity from SRM-5 correlated quite well (about 0.8) with those from SRM-17 both between subjects, and within-subjects over time. As a detector of irregularity as defined by SRM-17, the SRM-5 instrument showed acceptable values of kappa (0.69), sensitivity (74%) and specificity (95%). There were, however, differences in mean level, with SRM-5 scores being about 0.9 units [about one standard deviation (SD)] above SRM-17 scores from the same subject-weeks. SRM-5 scores also deviated more from a Gaussian distribution than did SRM-17 ones. In a study with a sample size of 101, the new SRM-5 instrument yielded scores with a mean of 4.11 and an SD of 1.13. Correlations between lifestyle regularity and age, and between lifestyle regularity and morningness appeared similar whether 5-item or 17-item SRM measures were used. When a gender difference in lifestyle regularity appeared, it was detected by both SRM-5 and SRM-17 measures.

Psychometric properties of Social Rhythm Metric in regular shift employees

“…Although in the 1980s the emphasis was on physical zeitgebers, intersubject and intrasubject differences were observed in the lifestyle regularity that were similar to the circadian amplitude in the sphere of behavior. 4 In addition, the influence of this regularity on health/disease process began to be discussed, as in the study about the relation between circadian dysfunction and mood disorders. [5][6][7][8][9][10] One of the scientific area field, on the etiology of mood disorders, [11][12][13][14][15] proposed that certain stressing events of life could cause changes in social zeitgebers of vulnerable individuals, altering social rhythms and consequently biological rhythms, provoking somatic symptoms, such as mood disorders, in a cascade effect.…”

Desenvolvimento da versão breve da Escala de Ritmo Social

“…O índice de correlação entre as escalas longa e breve brasileiras foi semelhante ao encontrado na análise de correlação entre as versões longa e breve da escala em inglês (r = 0,9; p < 0,001) 2 .…”

“…A Escala de Ritmo Social de 17 itens foi desenvolvida inicialmente para investigação do papel de eventos cronobioló-gicos na etiologia de transtornos de humor [1][2][3] . Seu objeto de estudo são os zeitgebers sociais, ou seja, compromissos ou demandas sociais que podem agir como agentes sincronizadores, na medida em que participam do estabelecimento de um ritmo social que tem um padrão circadiano.…”

“…Nem todas as informações fornecidas pelo instrumento completo têm relevância para o contexto de pesquisa quando o fator avaliado pela escala não é o foco principal do projeto 11 . Além disso, embora não tenhamos observado em uma amostra de 146 sujeitos saudáveis uma expressiva correlação entre escolaridade e erros de preenchimento (r = -0,16; p = 0,05) e também entre sintomas psiquiátricos menores e erros de preenchimento da escala (r = 0,07; p = 0,4), o que atesta a minutos em torno dessa hora), então essa atividade é um hit, ela entra no cálculo da regularidade.…”

Tradução para o português e validação de conteúdo da Social Rhythm Metric-17 (SRM-17)

“…A escala apura os dois índices mais importantes, o Hit e o ALI, a partir de um algoritmo [3][4][5] . Se uma atividade ocorre mais de três vezes por semana no mesmo horário ou dentro de uma faixa temporal que abrange os 45 minutos anteriores e posteriores a uma hora calculada como habitual, ela é considerada um Hit.…”