title: Measuring elders' symptoms with daily diaries and retrospective reports.
abstract: The current study investigated the sufficiency of symptom data collected for 7 days from a daily diary and the comparability and validity of data obtained from daily diaries and retrospective reports. Three hundred and five older persons completed a daily symptom diary, a retrospective symptom questionnaire, and a measure of health status. The number of symptoms endorsed each day on the diary declined, F(6, 214) = 13.51, p< .0001. New symptoms were endorsed 15%, and previous symptoms were no longer endorsed 1.9% of the time. More symptoms were endorsed on retrospective reports than on daily diaries, t(304) = 8.48, p < .0001. Symptoms from both methods were significantly correlated with health status (p <.0001) and differences in the correlations were not statistically significant, t(304) = 1.62, p = ns . Because of comparable criterion validity, less burdensome retrospective reports should be used, unless the focus is new symptoms or how symptoms unfold over time.
authors.affiliation: Wayne State University College of Nursing, Detroit, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Karen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Aroian
authors.forename: Jillon S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Vander Wal
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015982:Bias; D001900:Boston; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008568:Memory; D015399:Nursing Research / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012426:Russia / Q000208:ethnology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology