title: Development, reliability and validity of Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Self-Evaluation Scale (TCM-50).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a health-evaluating scale from a Chinese medicine (CM) perspective and reflecting CM conception of health.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Self-Evaluation Scale (TCM-50) was developed by verification of dimensions, formation of item pool, verification of scoring methodology, and pilot test of scale and item analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  TCM-50 composed of 50 items that could be classified into 4 dimensions including physiology and health, psychology and health, nature and health, and society and health. An examination of reliability and validity of TCM-50 yielded Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.927, and half coefficient of was 0.876. The intraclass correlation coefficient of total score was 0.912. After using SF-36 questionnaire to evaluate the criterion validity, the Pearson of the score of the two scales from the same participant was 0.740.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TCM-50 has good reliability and validity, and can yield similar levels of efficacy as SF-36 in terms of evaluating people's overall health level. As a scale based on CM theory, TCM-50 is suitable for self-measuring the general health of Chinese patients.
authors.affiliation: Center for Studies in Constitution and Reproductive Sciences of Traditional Chinese Medicine, School of Basic Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100029, China.
authors.forename: Hui-Min
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Center for Studies in Constitution and Reproductive Sciences of Traditional Chinese Medicine, School of Basic Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100029, China.
authors.forename: Ming-Hua
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Center for Studies in Constitution and Reproductive Sciences of Traditional Chinese Medicine, School of Basic Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100029, China. qiwangdoc@163.com.|Infinitus Scientific Advisory Board, Guangzhou, 510623, China. qiwangdoc@163.com.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002138:Calibration; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Chinese medicine; TCM-50; health status; reliability; scale; validity