Development on the Questionnaire of Cold-Heat Pattern Identification Based on Usual Symptoms - Reliability and validation Study -

Abstract

The aims of this study were to evaluate the reliability and validity of the cold and heat pattern identification questionnaire (CHPIQ). From July 2015 to December 2015, 120 participants, university faculties, filled out CHPIQ by the way of self-reporting. Then two Korean medical doctors independently diagnosed them whether they belonged to cold pattern (CP) or not, and heat pattern (HP) or not. We evaluated the internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, and the validity using the sensitivity and specificity through receiver operating characteristic-curve. The internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient) showed 0.754 (CP) and 0.753 (HP). The area under the curve was recorded with 0.884 (CP) and 0.786 (HP). The agreements between CHPIQ and experts were 82.8% (CP) and 72.9% (HP). The sensitivities showed 0.707 (CP) and 0.719 (HP), and the specificities were 0.935 (CP) and 0.736 (HP). This study suggests that CHPIQ is a reliable and valid instrument for estimating cold-heat pattern identification.