Further validation of the Health Scale of Traditional Chinese Medicine (HSTCM)

Wu Darong, Zhou Luojing, Guo Xinfeng, Liang Weixiong, Wen Zehuai, Ou Aihua, Zhang Guangqing, Chen, Chen Keji, Lai Shilong

Description

Few health measurement scales are based on Chinese medicine theory. The Health Scale of Traditional Chinese Medicine (HSTCM) was developed to fill this gap. The aim of this study is to validate the HSTCM. Methods A convenience sample of 630 participants was recruited in 11 settings. All participants were asked to complete the HSTCM and World Health Organization Quality of Life Measure-Abbreviated Version (WHOQOL-BREF). Results Properties of the HSTCM were tested. Intra-class correlation coefficient representing the inter-interviewer reliability was 0.99 (95%CI) for the overall instrument. Spearman-Brown correlation coefficient and Cronbach's coefficient alpha were 0.81 and 0.94 respectively, indicating satisfactory internal reliability and inter-interviewer reliability. Spearman's rho correlation coefficient between the HSTCM and WHOQOL-BREFF was -0.67. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to test the discriminate validation. Areas under the ROC curve analysis for the HSTCM and its domains ranged 0.71–0.87 and all the lower levels of 95%CI were greater than 0.50. Conclusion The HSTCM was validated as a generic health scale and may complement existing health measurement scales in Chinese medicine health care.

Informations

• Publié par: biomed
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• Langue: English

Extrait

Chinese Medicine

BioMedCentral

Open Access Research Further validation of the Health Scale of Traditional Chinese Medicine (HSTCM) 1 1,2 1 2 2 Darong Wu , Shilong Lai* , Luojing Zhou , Xinfeng Guo , Weixiong Liang , 2 1 1 3 Zehuai Wen , Aihua Ou , Guangqing Zhang and Keji Chen

1 2 Address: Second Affiliated Hospital of the Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, PR China, Guangzhou University of Chinese 3 Medicine, Guangzhou, PR China and Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, PR China Email: Darong Wu  [e-mail]; Shilong Lai*  [e-mail]; Luojing Zhou  [e-mail]; Xinfeng Guo  [e-mail]; Weixiong Liang  [e-mail]; Zehuai Wen  [e-mail]; Aihua Ou  [e-mail]; Guangqing Zhang  [e-mail]; Keji Chen  [e-mail] * Corresponding author

Published: 30 April 2009 Received: 7 November 2008 Accepted: 30 April 2009 Chinese Medicine2009,4:8 doi:10.1186/1749-8546-4-8 This article is available from: http://www.cmjournal.org/content/4/1/8 © 2009 Wu et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract Background:Few health measurement scales are based on Chinese medicine theory. The Health Scale of Traditional Chinese Medicine (HSTCM) was developed to fill this gap. The aim of this study is to validate the HSTCM. Methods:A convenience sample of 630 participants was recruited in 11 settings. All participants were asked to complete the HSTCM and World Health Organization Quality of Life Measure- Abbreviated Version (WHOQOL-BREF). Results:Properties of the HSTCM were tested. Intra-class correlation coefficient representing the inter-interviewer reliability was 0.99 (95%CI) for the overall instrument. Spearman-Brown correlation coefficient and Cronbach's coefficient alpha were 0.81 and 0.94 respectively, indicating satisfactory internal reliability and inter-interviewer reliability. Spearman's rho correlation coefficient between the HSTCM and WHOQOL-BREFF was -0.67. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to test the discriminate validation. Areas under the ROC curve analysis for the HSTCM and its domains ranged 0.71–0.87 and all the lower levels of 95%CI were greater than 0.50.

Conclusion:The HSTCM was validated as a generic health scale and may complement existing health measurement scales in Chinese medicine health care.

Background Acceptance of health measurement scales based on one's perception has increased in recent years [13]. Several wellestablished measures on health status or health related Quality of Life (QOL) have been widely used [48]; however, few were developed on the basis of Chinese medicine which has been important for the wellbeing of

the Chinese people for many years [9] and is now increas ingly recognized worldwide [1012].

Measuring health in accordance with Chinese medicine theory is useful [13,14]. Chinese medicine practitioners pay close attention to patients' subjective feelings for diag nosis and treatment. Different perspectives of the patients

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