Development, Reliability and Validity of the Thai Healthy Aging Survey

Authors

  • Ladda THIAMWONG School of Nursing, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80161
  • Anita L STEWART Institute for Health and Aging, School of Nursing, University of California San Francisco
  • Jarunee WARAHUT Borommarajonani College of Nursing Songkhla, Songkhla 90000

Keywords:

Healthy aging, development, older adults, survey, Thai, validity, reliability

Abstract

We describe the development of a healthy aging survey for older Thai adults. Domains of physical, psychological, social and spiritual health were identified as relevant based on focus groups of older Thai adults and a synthesis of Western and Thai literature on aging. A 4-phase approach was employed. First, for each domain, we selected measures that had been used in Thailand and/or in other countries, and adapted them for older Thai adults. Second, 2 forward translations from English to Thai and 1 back translation were conducted. Third, the survey was pretested by using a general debriefing pretest and cognitive interviewing. Last, the final scales were selected based on factor analysis and psychometric properties assessed in a sample of 350 older Thai community-dwelling adults. Factor analysis explained 61.8 - 74.5 % of the variance within each domain. The final survey consisted of 72 items with 16 scales. Most scales achieved good reliability; 13 scales had a Cronbach’s alpha greater than 0.70 (range 0.48 and 0.93). A 2-week test-retest reliability showed acceptable Pearson correlations. The first-generation survey demonstrates good psychometric properties and provides the basis for measuring healthy aging in the older Thai adult population. The survey may also be applicable to other cultures.

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Published

2011-11-08

How to Cite

THIAMWONG, L., STEWART, A. L., & WARAHUT, J. (2011). Development, Reliability and Validity of the Thai Healthy Aging Survey. Walailak Journal of Science and Technology (WJST), 6(2), 167–188. Retrieved from https://wjst.wu.ac.th/index.php/wjst/article/view/58

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Section

Research Article