The development of a lifestyle instrument for measuring health-related behaviours of Chinese in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study focuses on development of a lifestyle instrument as an assessment tool designed to measure health-related behaviours of Chinese in Hong Kong. The instrument which consisted of 66 items was developed from the responses of 450 subjects obtained from two major hospitals, a University health clinic, three community centres and interviews conducted in parks. The psychometric properties of the instrument were evaluated by validity assessment, reliability measures and factor analysis. The content validity was judged adequate by a panel of five international and local experts. The test-retest reliability of the subscales were satisfactory (r=0.68-0.99) while factor analysis produced 17 factors which explained 61.9% of the variance. These factors were classified under the domains of dietary habit, leisure activity, smoking, drug use, alcohol consumption, health awareness, health maintenance, ritual and belief, and readiness for lifestyle change. Five subscales achieved a high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach alpha = 0.77-0.98), but it was low in three subscales (Cronbach alpha = 0.3 - 0.48) and moderate in the rest of the subscales (Cronbach alpha = 0.5-0.67). Continuous refinement, reliability testing and validation of the instrument are necessary in the future, yet the instrument shows promise as a tool for increasing understanding of lifestyle and health-related behaviours in Hong Kong and for use by health care professionals to facilitate comprehensive assessment and health education.