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Test–retest reliability and validity of a single-item Self-reported Family Happiness Scale in Hong Kong Chinese: findings from Hong Kong Jockey Club FAMILY Project

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Abstract

Purpose

Family happiness is one major theme of family well-being in Chinese culture. We investigated the reliability and validity of the single-item Self-reported Family Happiness Scale (SFHS-1) with the score of 0–10, based on two studies in Hong Kong Chinese.

Methods

Study 1 was a territory-wide population-based telephone survey (n = 4038) conducted in 2016. Study 2 was a community-based family intervention program conducted during 2012–2013 (n = 1261) to enhance family communication and well-being. Test–retest reliability of the SFHS-1 was assessed over 1 month in Study 2. Family APGAR (Adaption, Partnership, Growth, Affection, Resolve) Scale, Family Communication Scale, Subjective Happiness Scale, 12-item Short Form Health Survey Version 2, and 2-item Patient Health Questionnaire were used to assess the convergent and discriminant validities of the SFHS-1 in both studies. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess the incremental validity by identifying the additional contribution of the SFHS-1 score in predicting subjective happiness.

Results

The 1-month test–retest reliability assessed by intraclass correlation was 0.76. Family happiness was moderately to strongly correlated with family function, family communication, subjective happiness, mental health-related quality of life and depression, but weakly correlated with physical health-related quality of life. Furthermore, the score of the SFHS-1 added predictive power to mental health-related quality of life and depression in assessing subjective happiness.

Conclusions

Our results have shown the SFHS-1 as a reliable and valid measurement of family happiness in Hong Kong Chinese, suggesting SFHS-1 is highly practicable for future large epidemiological and community-based intervention studies.

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Abbreviations

APGAR:

Adaption, Partnership, Growth, Affection, Resolve

FCS:

Family Communication Scale

FHInTS:

Family and Health Information Trends Survey

HRQoL:

Health-related Quality of Life

MCS:

Mental Component Subscale

PCS:

Physical Component Subscale

PHQ-2:

2-Item Patient Health Questionnaire

SF-12:

12-Item Short Form Health Survey

SFHS-1:

Self-reported Family Happiness Scale

SHS:

Subjective Happiness Scale

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Acknowledgements

The project was funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The authors wish to thank the participants who participated in the telephone surveys and the Public Opinion Programme (HKU) officials for conducting the surveys.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Chen Shen

  2. School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Chen Shen, Alice Wan & Tai Hing Lam

  3. School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Man Ping Wang & Sophia Siu Chee Chan

  4. Department of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Henry C. Y. Ho

  5. Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA

    Sunita M. Stewart

  6. Center for Community-Based Research, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Kasisomayajula Viswanath

  7. Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Kasisomayajula Viswanath

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  1. Chen Shen
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  2. Man Ping Wang
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  7. Sophia Siu Chee Chan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Man Ping Wang.

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Conflict of interest

None of the authors have any potential competing interests to declare.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was granted by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Hong Kong/Hospital Authority Hong Kong West Cluster.

Informed consent

For Study 1, verbal informed consents were obtained from the respondents. For Study 2, written consent was obtained from each participant prior to participation in the programs. For children enrolled in the study, written consent was obtained from their next of kin, caretakers, or guardians on their behalf.

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Shen, C., Wang, M.P., Ho, H.C.Y. et al. Test–retest reliability and validity of a single-item Self-reported Family Happiness Scale in Hong Kong Chinese: findings from Hong Kong Jockey Club FAMILY Project. Qual Life Res 28, 535–543 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-2019-9

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