Development and Validity and Reliability of Korean Comprehensive Assessment Tools for Geriatric Ambulatory Care

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to develop and to evaluate the applicability of the Korean comprehensive geriatric assessment tools through reliability and validity testing. METHODS: We developed standard and short-form assessment tools comprised of questionnaires on medical, functional, mental, socioeconomic status and lifestyle information and functional tests. The tools were administered as test-retest on 111 elderly outpatients at four university hospitals and two welfare centers in Seoul. Weighted kappa value, kappa value, Pearson's correlation coefficients and overall percent agreement were calculated to evaluate reliability. Validity coefficient was estimated by using the reliability coefficient. RESULTS: Reliability and validity coefficients were higher than 0.50 (fair or good) for 29 of 36 items. For test-retest reliability, the median was 0.66 (range, 0.29 to 1.00) for the kappa value and 0.83 (range, 0.53 to 1.00) for the Pearson's correlation coefficients. Compared to the standard form, the short-form assessment questionnaires showed to be reliable and valid. CONCLUSION: The Korean Comprehensive Assessment Tools, both the standard form and the short form, were shown to be a reliable and valid screening medium for assessing the health status of the elderly in the ambulatory care setting. These instruments can be used conveniently for comprehensive outpatient geriatric assessment.

The Korean Physical Activity Questionnaire for Elderly (PAQE): Development and Evaluation of Validity and Reliability

BACKGROUND: As individuals age, there is an obvious decline in their physical activity level. Thus, this is an area where an easy to use assessment instrument is needed. But presently, there is no tool that meets this need. In addition, there is no such instrument tailored for the Korean elderly. This study aimed to fill this void by developing a physical activity assessment instrument for this particular population that is easy to use. METHODS: Item collection was performed through a literature review and a survey of 100 elderly individuals residing in a community setting. Items were selected through expert consensus; and the Physical Activity Questionnaire for elderly (PAQE) was created. For validation, 120 community dwelling elderly persons were enrolled. PAQE and an accelerometer were administered to each participant, and the questionnaire was re-administered 2 weeks later. The Spearman rho between the questionnaire and the accelerometer was calculated for concurrent validity. The Cronbach's alpha was calculated for internal consistency. Test-retest reliability was assessed by calculating the Spearman rho. RESULTS: Of the 119 participants, 80.34% were female with the average age being 72.74+/-7.29 years. Energy expenditure measured by the accelerometer was 220.36+/-96.96 kcal/day compared to 368.33+/-257.29 kcal/day measured through the developed questionnaire. Although the Spearman rho between the energy expenditure measured by the accelerometer and calculated through the recreational activity report in the questionnaire was 0.235 (p=0.011), the total energy expenditure was 0.105 (p=0.259) and the energy expenditure by household activity was 0.002 (p=0.983). The Cronbach's alpha was 0.781. The Spearman rho was 0.720 (p<0.001) for test-retest reliability. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that PAQE is a reliable questionnaire, a valid instrument for estimating energy expenditure during recreational physical activity in the Korean elderly person. However, energy expenditure of household activity did not correlate well with the accelerometer. In conclusion, the PAQE questionnaire can be used to assess kinds and frequency of household activities.

Reliability and Validity of Korean Brief Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment Questionnaire

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the applicability of the Korean Brief Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment Questionnaire through testing the reliability and validity of it. Methods: Questionnaire consisted of items on medical, functional, mental, socioeconomic status and lifestyle was administered as test-retest on 78 elderly outpatients at 6 university hospitals in Seoul, Korea. Weighted kappa value, kappa value, Pearson correlation coefficients and overall percent agreement were calculated to measure reliability. Validity coefficient was estimated by using reliability coefficient. Results: Reliability coefficients and validity coefficients were higher than 0.50 (fair or good) for 28 items (87.5%) among 32. For test- retest reliability, median was 1.00 (range, 0.87-1.00) for overall percent agreement, 0.66 (range, 0.27~1.00) for kappa value, and 0.83 (range, 0.65~1.00) for Pearson's correlation coefficients. Differences of reliability and validity were identified by gender for 19 items (59.4%), and by age group for 12 items (37.5%). Conclusion: The Korean Brief Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment Questionnaire appears to be a reliable and valid screening tool. After additional study is performed, this instrument can be used as a useful tool for comprehensive outpatient geriatric assessment.