The validity and reliability of a screening questionnaire for Parkinson's disease in a community.

OBJECTIVES: Parkinson's disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases in the elderly population. In order to estimate the prevalence of Parkinson's disease in the community, the application of a good screening tool is essential. We evaluated the validity and reliability of a Parkinson's disease screening questionnaire and propose an alternative measure to improve its validity for use in community surveys. METHODS: We designed the study in a three-phase approach consisting of a screening questionnaire, neurologic examination, and confirmatory examination. A repeated survey was administered to patients with disease detected in the community and on 150 subjects. We examined internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha test, test-retest reliability using the kappa statistic, and validity using sensitivity, specificity, and ROC curves. Unadjusted odds ratios were utilized for the estimation of weights for each questionnaire item. RESULTS: The Cronbach's alpha of the questionnaire was 0.708. The kappa statistic for test-retest reliability was good to generally fair in most of the items. When newly proposed weighting scores were used, the optimum cut-off value was 7/8. When cut-off value was 5/6 for surveying prevalence in a community, the sensitivity was 0.98, and the specificity was 0.61, with simultaneous improvement in reliability. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend 5/6 as the ideal cut-off value for the survey of PD prevalence in community. This questionnaire designed for the Korean community could help future epidemiologic studies of PD.

[Education of bioterrorism preparedness and response in healthcare-associated colleges--current status and learning objectives development].

OBJECTIVES: Bioterrorism (BT) preparedness and response plans are particularly important among healthcare workers who will be among the first involved in the outbreak situations. This study was conducted to evaluate the current status of education for BT preparedness and response in healthcare-related colleges/junior colleges and to develop learning objectives for use in their regular curricula. METHODS: We surveyed all medical colleges/schools, colleges/junior colleges that train nurses, emergency medical technicians or clinical pathologists, and 10% (randomly selected) of them that train general hygienists in Korea. The survey was conducted via mail from March to July of 2007. We surveyed 35 experts to determine if there was a consensus of learning objectives among healthcare workers. RESULTS: Only 31.3% of medical colleges/schools and 13.3% of nursing colleges/junior colleges had education programs that included BT preparedness and responses in their curricula. The most common reason given for the lack of BT educational programs was 'There is not much need for education regarding BT preparedness and response in Korea'. None of the colleges/junior colleges that train clinical pathologists, or general hygienists had an education program for BT response. After evaluating the expert opinions, we developed individual learning objectives designed specifically for educational institutions. CONCLUSIONS: There were only a few colleges/junior colleges that enforce the requirement to provide education for BT preparedness and response in curricula. It is necessary to raise the perception of BT preparedness and response to induce the schools to provide such programs.

[Structural equation model for the health behaviors of university students in Korea].

PURPOSE: A structural equation model was analysed to explore the determinants of health behaviors of university students in Korea. METHOD: Nine hundred sixty nine university students were selected by random cluster sampling from five universities located in the central area of Korea. DATA COLLECTION: The data was collected by questionnaires about demographic characteristics, stressful life events, perceived social support, perceived health status and health behaviors. RESULTS: 1. Gender showed indirect effect on health behaviors. 2. Living together with(out) family had a direct effect on health behaviors: students living with family showed more positive health behaviors. 3. Stressful life events had an indirect effect on health behaviors via perceived health status; a higher score of stressful life events was the predictor for negative health behaviors. 4. A higher score of perceived health status predicted positive health behaviors. RECOMMENDATION: Each university should be encouraged to develop a health behavior control program and health promotion program for their own university students. It would be more effective to develop health programs separately according to the demographic or social characteristics of the students. It is also necessary for the Ministry of Education to reform the School Health Act and school health policy to strengthen a health promotion program for university students. In conclusion, following studies should identify and promote the validity and reliability of perceived health status and health behaviors measurements.