Reliability of the Aboriginal Children’s Health and Well-Being Measure (ACHWM)

Nancy L Young,Diane Jacko,Debbie Mishibinijima,Mary Jo Wabano,Koyo Usuba,Tricia A Burke

doi:10.1186/s40064-016-3776-y

Nancy L Young, Diane Jacko + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40064-016-3776-y

Copy DOI

Journal: SpringerPlus	Publication Date: Dec 1, 2016
Citations: 8	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Laurentian University

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this research was to evaluate the reliability of the Aboriginal Children’s Health and Well-Being Measure© (ACHWM).MethodsTwo cohorts of children from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory were recruited for this study. Each child completed the ACHWM independently on a computer tablet running a customized survey app. The data from the first and second cohorts were used to estimate the internal consistencies using Cronbach’s alpha. A subgroup of the second cohort completed the survey twice, within the same day. The data from this subgroup was used to evaluate the test–retest reliability using a random effects Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC).ResultsThere were 124 participants in the first cohort and 132 participants in the second cohort. The repeated measures subgroup was comprised of 29 participants from the second cohort. The internal consistency statistic (Cronbach’s alpha) was 0.93 for the first and second cohorts. The test–retest reliability ICC was 0.94 (95% CI 0.86–0.97) for the ACHWM summary scores based on the repeated measures subgroup.ConclusionsThese results establish the internal consistency and the test–retest validity of the ACHWM. This important finding will enable Aboriginal communities to use this measure with confidence and promote the voices of their children in reporting their health. The ACHWM is an essential data gathering tool that enables evidence-based health care for Aboriginal communities.

Highlights

The Aboriginal Children’s Health and Well-Being Measure (ACHWM) is a self-report survey that was developed to assess the holistic health of Aboriginal children and evaluate improvements over time
The reliability analyses were conducted using all available data from these two annual surveys
These results indicate that the ACHWM summary score and all quadrant scores met the criteria set by Fleiss et al (2013) for excellent test–retest reliability

Summary

Introduction

The Aboriginal Children’s Health and Well-Being Measure (ACHWM) is a self-report survey that was developed to assess the holistic health of Aboriginal children and evaluate improvements over time. The ACHWM development was conceptually-driven, based on the Medicine Wheel Framework (Dumont 2005). Note that based on this framework, As part of the development of a new measure, it is well established in the literature that certain core metrics must be evaluated for new patient-reported outcomes. These metrics include the: conceptual foundation; validity, reliability, responsiveness, interpretability, respondent and administrative burden, alternative forms, and cultural and language adaptations (translations) (Terwee et al 2007; Aaronson et al 2002).

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion