Test-retest reliability of health behavior items in the Community Health Survey in South Korea.

PURPOSE: Major health-related items from the Community Health Survey (CHS) provide evidence that is used to develop community-based health policy. This study aimed to assess the test-retest reliability according to item characteristics, response periods, and response scale of selected health behavioral items in the survey questionnaire among CHS participants. METHODS: A sample of 159 men and women aged 20-69 years old participated in a test-retest with an interval of 14-21 days. A total of 28 items concerning smoking, alcohol drinking, diet and weight control, and mental health were selected. We evaluated the reliability of items using kappa statistics. RESULTS: Kappa statistics ranged from 0.44 to 0.93. In terms of item characteristics, items concerning habits (Mean 0.7, SE 0.05) had the higher kappa value than items concerning awareness or attitude (p=0.012). According to response scales, the kappa value of 2- to 4-point scales was 0.63 which was higher than 0.59 of the above 5-point scales without statistical difference. Different kappa values were observed for each reference periods but there was no statistical difference. CONCLUSION: Reliability of selected items in CHS associated with item characteristics. It is required to further study on the relationship between item characteristics and reliability in categories other than health behaviors in the future. Language: en