PSYCHOMETRIC AND DISCRIMINANT PROPERTIES OF ADULT HEALTH CRITERIA.
Contributors: University of Kansas.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 280
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: 1. Statement of the problem. Defining health as "the absence of disease" restricts clinical practice and empirical efforts to measure the impact of nursing care. This study evaluated a survey measuring components of health; income, education, motivation (Health Self-Determinism Index), energy (Subjective Assessment of Free Energy), well-being (Index of General Well-being); and established the discriminant potential of this survey in determining group membership using a revised model of health initially developed by Bevis.

2. Procedure. Purposive sampling recruited both well and ill subjects (n = 331) with both positive and negative lifestyles. Lifestyle was measured with a health risk appraisal. Internal consistency reliability and construct validity were established for the instruments. Discriminant analysis procedures established the predictive power of the survey.

3. Findings. (a) Health Self-Determinism Index. Three factors were established; self-determinism in health judgment, perceived competency in health matters, self-determinism in health behavior. Cronbach's alphas for total scale and factors were 0.82, 0.75, 0.71, 0.68. (b) Subjective Assessment of Free Energy. Three factors were established; mental energy, physical energy, general vitality. Cronbach's alphas for total scale and factors were 0.93, 0.87, 0.81. (c) Index of General Well-being (abbreviated version). Four factors were established; mood, anxiety-tension, health concern, emotional stability. Cronbach's alphas for total scale and factors were 0.91, 0.87, 0.86, 0.76, 0.73.

The predictive program generated with the survey was 44% accurate in classifying group membership using the Bevis Health Grid. Chance assignment would have been 25% accurate. Significant group contrasts were created by education, motivation, energy, and well-being. Income failed to establish significant discrimination.

One discriminant function accounted for 77.5% of subject variation (Wilks' lambda, 0.79253 p = 0.000, alpha $<$ 0.05). Factors related to this function were physical energy (0.84), perceived competency in health matters (0.59), health concern (0.54), education (0.33).

4. Conclusions. (1) The instruments tested demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability and could be used to measure the impact of nursing therapeutics in a variety of settings. (2) The discriminant potential of these instruments was related to lifestyle and, with addition of relevant variables, might be used to evaluate adult health from a nursing perspective.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-11, Section: B, page: 4981.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, 1989.

School code: 0099.