Rasch Analysis and Its Relevance to Psychosomatic Medicine

Rasch analysis, an application of item response theory, has been widely applied to the validation of assessment measures, particularly those developed by clinimetric techniques. The main aims of this editorial are to foster further development of valid clinimetric measures by explaining the Rasch method, noting variables generated by Rasch analysis and their interpretation. This is intended to highlight validation data to be included in papers or presentations on clinimetric tools and to assist readers in appraising papers on clinimetric measures.