Byungsun PARK

Background Family health significantly affects society and the country. Health problems have been identified as the most important cause of family anxiety and conflict in South Korea. Because valid instruments to measure this concept are limited, using the Assessment of Strategies in Families-Effectiveness scale may provide precious insight into family health and nursing practice. Purpose This study was designed to translate and validate the Korean version of the Assessment of Strategies in Families-Effectiveness (K-ASF-E) scale. This scale was developed based on the framework of systemic organization for assessment and intervention use in the context of family nursing in South Korea. Methods A methodological approach was used to verify the validity and reliability of the K-ASF-E. To determine validity, we first invited four experts to evaluate content validity. Next, we collected data from 1,028 participants using stratified random sampling that considered the background of each participant in terms of region, age, and gender. On the basis of the collected data, we determined the construct validity of the scale using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Finally, we used Cronbach's alpha and intraclass correlation coefficient analyses to assess scale reliability. Results The K-ASF-E showed item-level content validity index and scale-level content validity index values of 1.00, as assessed by four experts. Using the principal component analysis method with varimax rotation, the exploratory factor analysis verified the validity of a K-ASF-E scale comprising four dimensions and 20 items, including system maintenance (seven items), system change (four items), coherence (six items), and individuation (three items). For confirmatory factor analysis, the fit indices of the factor structure of K-ASF-E indicate appropriate model fitness. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for each of the subfactors centered on the target were .59–.86, and the intraclass correlation coefficient (range) was .56–.85. Conclusions/Implications for Practice The K-ASF-E scale is the first attempt to develop a reliable and valid measurement tool for family effectiveness in South Korea. Initial testing was validated using a large number of stratified randomized clusters. The K-ASF-E scale accurately measures family effectiveness and may be used for family-related research, intervention, and training programs in community and clinical settings.

The present study examined the longitudinal measurement invariance of the Korean version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale. For this purpose, two datasets from the Korean Welfare Panel Study were analyzed. Study 1 examined the data from the first four waves to determine the scale’s short-term longitudinal invariance. Study 2 extracted data every 3 years up to the 10th year, beginning with the first wave (waves 1, 4, 7, and 10) to examine the scale’s long-term longitudinal invariance. We analyzed 10,098 cases in Study 1 and 7,077 cases in Study 2. The results of Study 1 revealed that the scale had strict or residual measurement invariance, whereas the results of Study 2 indicated that the scale had strong or scalar measurement invariance. Overall, the Korean version of the CES-D-11 scale was shown to be a valid measure of depression that can be used to evaluate symptom changes over time.