| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,420,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
Fiscal Year 2007: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥1,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000)
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| Research Abstract |
There is growing concern that dramatic changes in adolescent lifestyle associated with changes in their social circumstances in recent years are having an impact on their health. Thus, this study aimed to develop an assessment tool to measure the health condition of adolescents in a comprehensive yet simple manner.
First, questionnaire items were drafted, using nine components of Fender's Health Assessment of the Individual Clients as a basic framework. In addition, three original components which were identified from the authors' preceding studies and a review of the literature as factors influencing adolescent health were incorporated into the draft, creating a conceptual framework comprised of 12 components (89 items). This, together with the questions on demographic profiles, formed the basis of the questionnaire. After carefully examining the content validity and conducting a pilot study, it was administered at two junior high schools, one located in a regional area, the other in a larger city in Japan. The concurrent validity of the questionnaire as a health assessment tool was examined by comparing the results with those of participants' self-assessment of their own health and KINDL (Questionnaire for Measuring Health-Related Quality of Life in Children).
Items with low item-total correlation were excluded. Factor analysis performed on the rest resulted in the extraction of nine factors. They were named “supportive family", “mental health", “poor physical condition", “lack of physical strength", “outgoing personality", “lack of self-control", “efforts to stay healthy", “healthy living habits" and “interest in sex", “drinking and smoking". The results of re-tests confirmed the stability of the tool, showing high confidence coefficients in all of above factors. Gender and regional differences seen in the results were consistent, revealing similar factor structures across tests. Similar patterns of gender and regional differences were also seen in subcategories.
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