Construction of a traditional Chinese medicine syndrome-specific outcome measure: the Kidney Deficiency Syndrome Questionnaire (KDSQ).
BACKGROUND
Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) syndrome-specific outcome measures is needed for the evaluation of TCM syndrome-specific therapies. We constructed a Kidney Deficiency Syndrome Questionnaire (KDSQ) for the evaluation of the common TCM syndromes Kidney-Yin Deficiency Syndrome (KDS-Yin) and Kidney-Yang Deficiency Syndrome (KDS-Yang) in middle-aged women with menopausal symptoms.


METHODS
KDS-Yin and KDS-Yang were traditionally defined by expert opinion were validated by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). Content validity was tested by EFA on a sample of 236 women from a seminar and SEM on another sample of 321 women from a postal survey. Other psychometric properties were tested on 292 women from the seminar at baseline and two systematically selected sub-samples: 54 who reported no changes in discomforts 11-12 days after the baseline and 31 who reported changes in discomforts 67-74 days after the baseline. All participants completed the KDSQ, the Greene Climacteric Scale and the standard 12-item Short Form Health Survey.


RESULTS
The EFA and SEM established the measurement models of KDS-Yin and KDS-Yang supporting content validity of the KDSQ. Internal consistency was good (Cronbach's Alpha >0.70). Construct validity was supported by theoretically-derived levels of correlation with the established external measures. Test-retest reliability was strong (ICC(agreement): KDS-Yin, 0.94; KDS-Yang, 0.93). The KDSQ was responsive to changes over time as tested by effect size and longitudinal validity.


CONCLUSIONS
The KDSQ was a valid and reliable measure for KDS-Yin and KDS-Yang in Hong Kong Chinese middle-aged women with menopausal symptoms.
LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, 10 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, SAR, China. rqchen@valueourhealth.com
Run Qiu
RQ
Chen
Chit Ming
CM
Wong
Tai Hing
TH
Lam
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008593:Menopause / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016711:Yang Deficiency / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016710:Yin Deficiency / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology