Abstract
BackgroundFew 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.MethodsA 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).ResultsProperties 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.ConclusionThe HSTCM was validated as a generic health scale and may complement existing health measurement scales in Chinese medicine health care.
Highlights
Few health measurement scales are based on Chinese medicine theory
Several well-established measures on health status or healthrelated Quality of Life (QOL) have been widely used [4,5,6,7,8]; 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 increasingly recognized worldwide [10,11,12]
Missing values of the items were replaced in accordance with the series mean method
Summary
Few health measurement scales are based on Chinese medicine theory. The Health Scale of Traditional Chinese Medicine (HSTCM) was developed to fill this gap. Measuring health in accordance with Chinese medicine theory is useful [13,14]. Chinese medicine practitioners pay close attention to patients' subjective feelings for diagnosis and treatment. Chinese medicine practitioners have accumulated valuable experiences on obtaining information from the patient's perspective that may benefit their treatment strategy and judgment of clinical efficacy. We believe that these experiences can be more understood by clinicians and researchers if they were involved in some applicable instruments. Modern Chinese medicine practitioners may take biomarkers as references, there is a general impression among them that indicators reflect individual's adaptability may possess a more important position when testing the efficacy of a Chinese medicine treatment
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