Research has been done to measure the different psychometric properties of the URICA scale. A significant amount of the research measured internal reliability, concurrent, factorial and convergent reliability. More than ten studies result proven that the scale is useful in measuring the different stages of change with male and female prisoners. More specifically, the Columbia University School of Social Work investigated the psychometric properties and utility of the URICA in a sample of 257 female inmates from a large urban prison. The study addressed their major issues: whether the URICA would be useful for assessing stages of change in drug-using female offenders, whether distinct, reliable subgroup profiles would emerge from a cluster analysis …show more content…
Both studies utilize a principal component factor analysis using varimax rotation to assess the factor structure of the URICA. Internal consistency and reliability tests were performed for each component. Moreover, to identify subjects’ profiles vis-à-vis stages of changes method was employed, which resulted in five distinct clusters. To examine the external correlates of these cluster profiles, each study examined cluster differences on demographic variables, mental health, substance abuse, depression and psychological symptoms, criminal history, patterns of substance use and treatment histories. Although using similar metrics, these studies result varied. For the female prisoners, the research states that the URIC is a useful, reliable, and valid tool to assess stages of change in drug-using incarcerated women (El-Bassel, N., Schilling, R. F, e.t. 1998). On the contrast, the study of male prisoners reveals that the URICA scale provides adequate data in which to place respondents into a representative category as to their inner focus on behavior changes (valid a tool), however, it is not an exact measurement of readiness to …show more content…
For example, research Wiprzycka, Ursula Julia’s study examined caregivers’ readiness to engage in help-seeking endeavors by assessing the properties of a widely-used measure of change readiness. While patients a screening of 119 studies from the database of Medline and Psycinfo by combinations of search keywords “eating disorder” anorexia nervosa”, bulimia nervosa, “motivation”, “readiness to change”, assessment,” “measurement and questionnaire,” generated satisfactory positive psychometric properties. This study, unlike Wiprzycka's study, investigated psychometric properties of different assessment tools, including the URICA tool, of motivation to change in eating disorders were identified. Wiprzycka’s study revealed that the URICA assessment was self-administered to 102 caregivers. Participants in this study were a primary family caregiver for an adult who is diagnosed with dementia and was providing care to a family member who requires assistance in at least one basic activity of daily living. This study’s analysis revealed that the modified version of the URICA’s criterion validity examined relationships between readiness for change and theoretically related constructs. Wiprzycka and the eating disorder study examined the URICA’s internal reliability by obtaining a coefficient alpha value for the overall 32-item scale and each of