The reliability and validity of the Korean family function assessment tool

BACKGROUND: We developed Korean Family Function Assessment Tool(KFFAT). In order to confide in the results of the KFFAT, it was necessary to verify the psychometric properties(validity and reliability). METHODS: To evaluate the reliability of the KFFAT, internal consistency and scale-item correlation was carried out with 800 middle and high school students and their 800 parents. A three-week interval test-retest was also carried out with 50 high school students and their 50 parents. In addition, the KFFAT was compared to the family APGAR and the FACES III to evaluate the validity with 800 middle and high school students and their 800 parents. RESULTS: Cronbach alpha of each scale was 0.55-0.88 and overall scale-item correlation coefficient was believed to be appropriate. Pearson's correlation coefficient of test-retest was 0.49-0.79 in each scale. There is little correlation between the Family APGAR and the FACES III with the KFFAT. However, the KFFAT shows similar results in the function of family with the Family APGAR and the FACES III. CONCLUSION: From this reliability and validity test results, the Korean Family Function Assessment Tool(KFFAT) could be used as a assessment tool of Korean family function.

The development of a Korean health status measure for the elderly

BACKGROUND: According to different characteristics of health dimensions and its consisting item contents, valid and useful health status assessment tool for the elderly is rare. Because of the continuous increase in elderly population with functional disability in Korea, the need for a valid Korean health status assessment tool for the elderly is growing. Therefore, we have attempted to develop a Korean Health Status Measure for the Elderly in this study. METHODS: We gathered important health related items from 671 individuals aged 60 years and over to form item pool with interview. Then we classified all items into representative items according to its meaning with the experts in geriatrics. With these representative items we constructed preliminary questionnaire. After wards we performed a pilot study for evaluating understandability, accessibility, item analysis, reliability and for detecting other modifiable limitations. After completing the pilot study we finally developed the Korean Health Status Measure for the Elderly(KoHSME V1.0). RESULTS: The number of collected health related items were 2,500 in the item pool. After classification of items in the pool, 40 representative items were selected for constructing preliminary version of the KoHSME. And we added 3 items of 'general health perception' dimension to 40 common representative items to a construct preliminary version of the KoHSME. It took an average of 18.8 minutes to complete the preliminary questionnaire by the elderly in the pilot study. Most responders (90.9%) thought the questionnaire was not difficult to understand. After the pilot study we added 2 items (wearing clothes, pain frequency) and omitted 1 item (eating). Finally, the KoHSME V1.0 questionnaire consisted of 44 items and 6 domains such as physical function, emotional function, social function, pain, sexual function, and general health perception. All items were Likert scale except pain intensity item, which was visual analogue scale. CONCLUSION: The KoHSME V1.0 to assess health status and quality of life for the Korean elderly was developed. We think the KoHSME V1.0 is reliable instrument for assessing health related to quality of life in the elderly. After documenting the validity, the KoHSME V1.0 can be a useful tool for comprehensive assessment of health status in the elderly and for the medical outcome study.

Relationship between physical activity and the amount of maximal oxygen uptake of the freshmen of a university: Comparing students of college of physical education and general college

BACKGROUND: Thesedays, the physical strength of adolescents had been weakened compared to the past. The reasons are that adolescents like to enjoy watching TV or video and PC in their rooms and going to school by car even though it is near distance. Therefore, the authors were to investigate the relationship between their physical activity and the amount of maximal oxygen uptake. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 103 freshmen of the college of physical education and 115 freshmen of general college of a university. The instruments used in this study are the step-test and the questionnaire which is composed of sex, age, physical activity, inactivity, rate of perceived exertion, and sports activity. RESULTS: The quantity of the physical activity of the freshmen of the college of physical education such as daily walking distance, floors of step-up and active sorts was significantly higher than that of the freshmen of general college. The hors spent on sitting in chair is less than that of freshmen of general college. The quantity of physical inactivity such as watching TV or video and using PC of freshmen of the college of physical education was lower than that of freshmen of general college. The amount of maximal oxygen uptake(VO2max) estimated by the step-test was significantly higher in freshmen of the college of physical education than those of general college. CONCLUSION: The amount of maximal oxygen uptake of the freshmen of the college of physical education was higher than that of freshmen of general college. And VO2mas was related with physical activity, sports activity and RPE.

The multi-center study of the comprehensive geriatric assessment in the Korean elderly

BACKGROUND: Comprehensive geriatric assessment is identified as a dynamic process responsive to the changes on health status that occurs over time in the context of extremely increasing trend in the numbers of the elderly people, their office visit, and the medical cost universally. We completed the comprehensive geriatric assessment and applied it to the Korean elderly through the multi-center trials. METHODS: We performed studies variables using questionnaires, with interviewing, physical examination to the number of total 312 elderly people who visited the department of family medicine or physical medicine and rehabilitation of the 11 university hospital or general hospital in Korea from July 1, 1999 through October 31, 1999. We, the geriatrician, met and discussed 3 times to complete the comprehensive geriatric assessment through the consensus panel. RESULTS: We found the sex ratio of 312 subjects was 1 to 2 (104 males and 208 females) and the average age was 73.2 years old. The orders of more frequency of self-reported health status of the respondents were hypertension, arthritis, cataract, gastrointestinal disturbance, diabetes mellitus, urinary/fecal incontinence, depression, cerebrovascular accident, anemia, and heart disease. Nearly 15% of those showed depression, 41.6% of those were in the status of socially isolation. We found 43.1% of those showed hypertension, 3.7% isolated systolic hypertension, and 20.2% orthostatic hypotension. Of those, cognitive impairment were measured in 37.1%, gait disturbance 13.0%, and the risk of malnutrition 39.6%. Geriatrician spent 21.1 minutes per person during the process of comprehensive geriatric assessment. CONCLUSION: We realized we could diagnose and intervene effectively certain hidden conditions/diseases, particularly urinary incontinence, falls, visual impairment, hearing impairment, pain, depression, social isolation, cognitive impairment, and orthostatic hypotension, with using the comprehensive geriatric assessment. These results reflected the fact that the comprehensive geriatric assessment might be necessary for the care of the elderly.

The development of the Korean family function assessment tool

As the effect of the families on the individual's health and disease is profound, it is very important to care patients based on the understanding of their families. The family function assessment tool to evaluate the families objectively and easily is necessary for this purpose. Many instruments have been developed in other countries and we have used these instruments without verification. Therefore, there is a question whether they are appropriate to the Korean families. The family function is especially important to the family with adolescents because adolescents are characterized by psychological instability. My purpose of this research is to develop an instrument to assess the function of the Korean families and this research is made on the Korean families with adolescents. 1,600 middle and high school students and 1,600 of their parents were selected for this study. They were asked to describe 5 kinds of each good and bad family relationship to collect primary basic data. These data were arranged to items based on the established scales and subscales. Secondary basic data were collected from another 200 students and their 200 parents to compliment the items. Preliminary instrument items were selected by the frequency of the responses and the judgement of the author. Through discussions with experts, the preliminary instrument was established. Accessibility was tested and factor analysis was done for the preliminary instrument. After this process, the main instrument was formulated. For the primary basic data, 2,382 people answered (response rate 74.4%) and 10,267 responses and 298 kinds of items were collected. There was no additional item from the secondary data collection. The preliminary instrument was made of 58 items selected from 298 items. It takes 8 minutes to complete this instrument in average and 97% of the subjects had no difficulty in completing it. The main test instrument, developed after factor analysis, was made of 7 scales with 40 items.

Changing trend of knowledge, attitude and perception for AIDS among freshmen: Comparing KAP between the year 1993 and 1999

BACKGROUND: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is becoming more prevalent in the world, but there is no definite treatment method and no proved vaccine availabel. Therefore, prevention is the best method to lessen it and blocking it's transmission route is the most effective method. We conducted a survey on the changing trend of knowledge, attitude and perception for AIDS between the year 1993 and 1999 among freshmen of a university. METHOD: The subjects were 2,340 freshmen of a university in Seoul and the study period was one month from Jan. 16 to Feb. 15 1999. The survey had been done with pre-designed questionnaire method which was same to the one in 1993. Total 2,305 cases were analyzed and compared with the results in 1993 excluding 35 cases with insufficient responses. RESULTS: Among the questions about knowledge for AIDS the increasing trend was found in 13 items "AIDS is caused by a virus", "AIDS can be contracted by light kissing with AIDS patient", "AIDS can be contracted by hugging AIDS patient", "AIDS can be contracted by using AIDS patient's belongings", and so on. The decreasing trend was found in items "All homosexuals are apt to get AIDS", "Most of AIDS patients die of the disease", "AIDS patients are easy to contract other diseases", and "AIDS can be contracted by other sexually-transmitted viruses". CONCLUSION: The freshmen entered in 1999 knew the transmission route of AIDS relatively well. They thought that AIDS was not a serious disease but they could get AIDS. The changing trend showed that public education had a considerable effect on students' knowledge and attitude for AIDS.

The development of Korean health related Quality of Life Scale

BACKGROUND: The status of development of instruments to assess the "health related quality of life' reflecting Korean's own language expression and culture is still far from satisfaction, despite their importance in building basic data for health promotion, evaluation of effectiveness of treatment, health policy and so on. METHODS: Symptom descriptions in both ill and healthy conditions were collected from 292, Koreans based on definition and damains of 'health related quality of life' which was established by 7 family physicians. The collected results were categorized into each domain and edited to be used as questions. Questions of health change and spiritual health domains were added. A selection of most pertinent items were pursued through the internal consistency analysis on 417 patients. Pretest was performed on 20 ordinary people to see if they think selected questions were understandable and related to their quality of life. RESULTS: A total of 1934 symptom descriptions were collected and categorized into 44 items of 7 domains including physical function, mental health, social function, pain, role, vitality, and health perception. Two items of health change and 3 items of spiritual health domain were added. Among those 49 items, 45 items of 9 domains were selected after discarding 4 items lowering internal consistency coefficient. Some items were corrected for more precise meaning, concise sentence, proper expression and word order, and nuance after pretest. CONCLUSIONS: We developed a Korean health related Quality of Life Scale(KoQoLS) reflecting Korean's own language expression and culture.

A study on the predictors of the positive urine culture in the community hospital patients with presumptive UIT's

No abstract available.