TRAQ Changes: Improving the Measurement of Transition Readiness by the Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire

Objective: The purpose of the current study was improving the measurement precision of the Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire (IRAQ 5.0-20 item) in order to gain better decimation of transition readiness skills across the 5 Stages of Change-from Precontemplation to Mastery. Methods: In stage 1, starting with the IRAQ 5.0 20-item, 5 domain subscale questionnaire, we eliminated the five lowest discriminating items using Item response theory (IRT) in MPlus v7.4,which eliminated the domain subscale Managing Daily Activities, and wee added 15 more difficult and better discriminating items. We added items to both to the remaining 4 domain subscales and created a new domain subscale entitled Future Planning The revised 30-item TRAQ was piloted among 386 youth between 16 and 24 years old (mean = 20 years; 54% female; 87% White). Results: After examining the model fit, discrimination and difficulty coefficients, and modification indices, we eliminated 10 items and the new Future Planning domain subscale we eliminated. The resulting questionnaire has 4 domain subscales and 20 items. It exhibited good to excellent fit to the data, chi(2) (164) = 887.239, p < .001, CFI = 0.943, TLI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.0942 (90% CI: 0.090, 0.114 ), WRMR = 1.111. All items have acceptable discrimination coefficients. Each of the 4 domain subscales have improved reliability as compared with the original TRAQ 5.0 20 item scale. Conclusions: The revised 20-itemTRAQ 6.0 has 4 domains subscales; Managing medications, keeping appointment, tracking health issues, and Talking with providers and has good construct validity as demonstrated by model fit. By adding more difficult items to the 4 resulting domain subscales, we have demonstrated improved item discrimination and difficulty, and therefore can better measure acquisition of transition readiness skills across the five stages of change from pre-contemplation to contemplation to initiation to action and finally to mastery. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.