This article was downloaded by: [The UC Irvine Libraries]On: 17 October 2014, At: 00:42Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Clinical GerontologistPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wcli20

Hong Kong Chinese EverydayCompetence ScaleKee-Lee Chou PhD aa University of Macau , ChinaPublished online: 03 Oct 2008.

To cite this article: Kee-Lee Chou PhD (2003) Hong Kong Chinese Everyday Competence Scale, ClinicalGerontologist, 26:1-2, 43-51, DOI: 10.1300/J018v26n01_05

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J018v26n01_05

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Hong Kong ChineseEveryday Competence Scale:

A Validation Study

Kee-Lee Chou, PhD

ABSTRACT. The objective of this study was to validate a scale calledthe Hong Kong Chinese Everyday Competence Scale in Hong KongChinese elders. The Hong Kong Chinese Everyday Competence Scale isdeveloped based on six major daily activities (shopping, transportation,symbols used in daily life, using electric appliances, consulting doctors,financial management) within Hong Kong context. There are six itemsfor each aspect of these daily activities which are relevant to Hong Kongsociety. The Hong Kong Chinese Everyday Competence Scale was com-pleted by 204 people aged 60 years or older who attend the social centersfor the elderly in Hong Kong. Firstly, reliability (internal consistency) ofthe Hong Kong Chinese Everyday Competence Scale was found to beexcellent. Concurrent validity was also established by strong correla-tions between the Hong Kong Chinese Everyday Competence Scale andtwo global measures of cognitive ability, namely the Mini-Mental StateExamination and Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire. More-over, we have also found significant association between the Hong KongChinese Everyday Competence Scale and three tests of Primary MentalAbilities (number skill test, spatial relation test and inductive reasoningtest). Results suggest that the Hong Kong Chinese Everyday Compe-

Kee-Lee Chou is Assistant Professor, University of Macau, China.Address all correspondence to: Kee-Lee Chou, PhD, Faculty of Social Sciences and

Humanities, University of Macau, Av. Padre Tomas Pereira, S.J. Taipa, Macau, China(E-mail: klchou@umac.mo).

The author wishes to thank his research assistant for her assistance in the data col-lection and those who kindly volunteered to participate in the study. The data collectionof this study was done when the author was working at the University of Hong Kong.

Clinical Gerontologist, Vol. 26(1/2) 2002http://www.haworthpress.com/store/product.asp?sku=J018

2002 by The Haworth Press, All rights reserved. 43

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

UC

Irv

ine

Lib

rari

es]

at 0

0:42

17

Oct

ober

201

4

tence Scale is a reliable and valid assessment tool for everyday compe-tence among elderly Chinese people in Hong Kong. [Article copies avail-able for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH.E-mailaddress:<getinfo@haworthpress.com>Website:<http://www.HaworthPress.com>©2002by The Haworth Press, All rights reserved.]

KEYWORDS. Everyday competence, validation, Chinese

Hong Kong is experiencing rapid aging of its population. Accordingto the recent Census, approximately 14 percent of Hong Kong’s totalpopulation was aged 60 and above in mid-1995 and it is projected thatthis percentage will increase to 20% by 2011. Amidst this trend towardaging, our understanding of the elderly population becomes an impor-tant issue. Whether older adults can maintain levels of adaptation thatallow continuation of independent living and productive life is neces-sarily contingent upon the maintenance of levels of everyday compe-tence that have not fallen significantly below the normative levelexpected your society (Hess, 1990; Sinnott & Cavanaugh, 1991). There-fore, it is important to investigate the relationship between aging andone aspect of intellectual functioning, namely everyday competence. Inrecent years, efforts have been directed toward understanding whetheraging is associated with deterioration in everyday competence (Smith &Baltes, 1990; Staudinger, Smith, & Baltes, 1992; Sternberg & Wagner,1986; Willis & Marsiske, 1991) and whether there may be differentialeffect of age on different domains of everyday competence (Denney &Pearce, 1989; Baltes, 1993). Moreover, the question is whether thereare individual differences in these changes in everyday competence ofolder adults and which psychosocial and health indicators are ac-counted for these individual differences (Marsiske, Klumb, & Baltes,1997; Willis, 1996).

However, some researchers argue that many studies have been con-ducted without including adequate measures of everyday competence(Blessed, Tomlinson, & Roth, 1968; Fillenbaum, 1985; Pfeiffer, 1975).Everyday competence is defined as the capacity of an individual whocan function effectively on everyday tasks or problems (Sternberg &Berg, 1987). Recently, there has been growing interest in the assess-ment of everyday competence (for reviews of these measures, seeSchaie & Willis, 1999). There are different methods which have beenused in the assessment of everyday competence (Goodnow, 1984;Marsiske & Willis, 1995; Lawton, 1989).

However, Willis (1996) argues that the assessment of everyday com-petence is greatly related to the local cultural and societal environment

44 CLINICAL GERONTOLOGIST

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

UC

Irv

ine

Lib

rari

es]

at 0

0:42

17

Oct

ober

201

4

where the elderly people are living in. Therefore, direct translation of aWestern assessment tool in English into Chinese might not be appropri-ate to measure everyday competence in other cultural and societal envi-ronment. For instance, driving or gardening might be an essentialcomponent of everyday life in Western countries like the United Statesbut they are not common activities for the elderly population in HongKong. Based on this rationale, the author has designed an everydaycompetence scale which is used to measure everyday competence in siximportant aspects of everyday life in Chinese elderly people in HongKong and this scale is a direct measure of instrumental activities ofdaily living (IADLs). It would seem to be useful for study in a Chinesesociety because it has a number of advantages. First of all, this scalespecifically addresses the direct assessment of everyday competence.Previous studies have shown that the direct measurement of everydaycompetence is less likely to be vulnerable to measurement bias than theindirect methods are (Reuben, Valle, Hays, & Siu, 1995; Rozzini,Frisoni, Bianchetti, Zanetti, & Trabucchi, 1993). Second, this scale isdesigned to assess everyday competence in different domains includingshopping, transportation, symbols used in daily life, utilization of com-mon electric appliances, visiting doctors, and money management.Third, this contains 36 simple items so it is easy to use and can be quicklyadministered and scored.

With the growing interest in the everyday competence of differentcultural groups, a need has emerged for development of an originalscale measuring everyday competence. However, there are only fewstudies that specifically addressed the development of the scale fromscratch in a different cultural setting. Thus, this study aimed to developan original scale called the Hong Kong Chinese Everyday CompetenceScale and the author examined the psychometric properties of the scaleamongst a Chinese elderly population. Specifically, reliability (internalconsistency), and concurrent validity of this scale were examined in thecurrent study.

METHOD

Participants

Respondents were selected by random sampling from 27 selected so-cial centers for the elderly. In Hong Kong, there are about 300 centersfor the elderly and they are distributed in every district according to thepopulation of the elderly people. Moreover, all centers are open for allold people without any restriction, so the sample is quite representative.

Kee-Lee Chou 45

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

UC

Irv

ine

Lib

rari

es]

at 0

0:42

17

Oct

ober

201

4

Of 27 selected social centres for the elderly, 24 of them agreed to partic-ipate in the current study. We invited 240 members of those 24 participat-ing centres to participate in the current study, and 204 of them were suc-cessfully interviewed. Overall, the age and gender distribution of the204 successful interviewees were representative of that indicated by the1991 General Household Survey (Census and Statistics Department,1992).

Procedure

A correlational design was adopted in the current study. The 204 re-spondents aged 60 and above were interviewed in 2000. Three collegestudents were recruited to conduct the interviews. Intensive training andclose supervision were provided to these interviewers to increaseinter-interviewer reliability. Each interview took approximately onehour to complete on average. The questionnaire was consisted of theHong Kong Chinese Everyday Competence Scale, global measure ofcognitive abilities, and three tests of Primary Mental Abilities Scale(number skill test, spatial relation test, and inductive reasoning test).

Measures

Hong Kong Chinese Everyday Competence Scale. The scale is a36-item scale which was used to assess six dimensions of daily living inthe Hong Kong context including shopping, transportation, symbolsused in daily life, utilization of common electric appliances, visiting doc-tors, and money management. Scores on each item is ranged from 0 to 1with 1 indicating the correct answer. The total score for the scale is thesum of scores for these 36 items, ranging from 0 to 36.

Global Test of Cognitive Performance. A structured measure of cog-nitive performance, the Mini-Mental State Examination (Folstein, Folstein, &McHugh, 1975), was administered. This instrument has high validityand test-retest reliability (Cockrell & Flostein, 1988). The widely usedtest was a 11-item questionnaire that was designed to measure severalareas of intellectual domains including verbal ability, orientation, short-and long-term memory, general information, and problem solving. TheChinese version of the MMSE had been validated in earlier studies(Chiu, Lee, Chung, & Kwong, 1994), and the Cronbach’s alpha of thisChinese version of the MMSE in the present sample was 0.68.

A structured measure of cognitive performance, the Short PortableMental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ), was administered. This instru-

46 CLINICAL GERONTOLOGIST

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

UC

Irv

ine

Lib

rari

es]

at 0

0:42

17

Oct

ober

201

4

ment has high validity and test-retest reliability (Pfeiffer, 1975). Thewidely used test was a 10-item questionnaire that was designed to mea-sure several areas of intellectual domains including orientation, short-and long-term memory, general information, and problem solving. Al-though the SPMSQ score is only a global measure of cognitive perfor-mance, it has been widely used in studies and clinical examination. TheChinese version of the SPMSQ had been validated in earlier studies(Chi & Boey, 1993), and the Cronbach’s alpha of this Chinese versionof the SPMSQ in the present sample was 0.70.

PMA Scale. The PMA scale was used to measure five aspects of in-tellectual ability. The PMA scale is a pencil-and-paper measure of fivefactors of intellectual ability described earlier. In the current study,three tests from the PMA scale were administered. In the spatial relationtest, respondents were shown an abstract figure and they were asked toidentify which of six other drawings represents the model in two-di-mensional space. There are 20 test items, with a time limit of 5 minutes.In the inductive reasoning test, respondents were presented with a seriesof numbers and the numbers in the row form a series based on one spe-cific rule. Respondents were asked to discover the rule(s) and mark thenumber that should come next in the series. There are 15 test items, witha time limit of 3 minutes. In the number skill test, participants wereasked to check whether additions of simple sums shown are correct orincorrect. The test contains 60 items, with a time limit of 6 minutes.

Sociodemographic Variables. The sociodemographic informationconsisted of age, gender, education (in years of schooling completed),and marital status.

RESULTS

Characteristics of the Sample

Consistent with demographics of older adults in most industrializedcountries, there were more women (54%) than men (46%) in this sam-ple. The mean age of the respondents was 74.5 years with a standard de-viation of 7.5. 36.8% of the sample was in the 60s, 38.7% in the 70s, and23.5% were over 80. Approximately forty percent (40.7%) of the sam-ple were currently married, 49.5% were widowed, 7.4% were nevermarried, and 2.5% were divorced or separated. The mean years of edu-cation were 3.7 with a standard deviation of 4.3. Approximately half ofthe sample had no education (46.6%), 29.9% had some elementaryschool education, 10.8% had completed their elementary school educa-

Kee-Lee Chou 47

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

UC

Irv

ine

Lib

rari

es]

at 0

0:42

17

Oct

ober

201

4

tion, 8.8% had either some high school education or completed highschool education, and only 3.9% of them had more than high school ed-ucation. Recent census information (Census and Statistics Department,1992) had indicated that 53.7% of the total population of elderly people60 years and older in Hong Kong were female. Similar to our sample,the mean age of persons aged 60 or over was 71.3 (SD = 6.5). Thesefindings established the representativeness of the current sample.

Reliability

The internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) for the HongKong Chinese Everyday Competence Scale was 0.90. No item could beexcluded because removal of any item would have a negative effect onalpha. Results have shown that the reliabilities were excellent for theHong Kong Chinese Everyday Competence Scale.

Concurrent Validity

In literature of everyday competence studies, it is assumed that underphysical and social constraints, different combination of basic cognitiveabilities are the essential ingredients for everyday competence (Schaie &Willis, 1998). Support for this prediction was demonstrated by correla-tions between the Hong Kong Chinese Everyday Competence Scaleand different measures of cognitive abilities. Specifically, Hong KongChinese Everyday Competence Scale scores were highly and signifi-cantly associated with two global measures of cognitive ability, namelythe Mini-Mental State Examination and Short Portable Mental StatusQuestionnaire (r = 0.63, p < 0.01; r = 0.65, p < 0.01). Moreover, the in-ductive reasoning test and number skill test of Primary Mental Abilitieswas strongly and significantly related to the DAFA (r = 0.55, p < 0.01; r =0.56, p < 0.01). Finally, the spatial relation test was significantly relatedto the Hong Kong Chinese Everyday Competence Scale scores (r =0.18, p < 0.01).

DISCUSSION

It is also important to evaluate assessment of everyday competencein different cultures. According to the data obtained in the current pre-liminary validation study, the newly developed Hong Kong ChineseEveryday Competence Scale validly and reliably assesses everyday com-petence amongst Hong Kong Chinese older adults. Results also supportthe reliability and concurrent validity of the Hong Kong Chinese Every-day Competence Scale. The pattern of a strong association between the

48 CLINICAL GERONTOLOGIST

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

UC

Irv

ine

Lib

rari

es]

at 0

0:42

17

Oct

ober

201

4

Hong Kong Chinese Everyday Competence Scale and two global mea-sures of cognitive abilities, namely the Mini-Mental State Examinationand Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire, found in the presentstudy clearly demonstrates the concurrent validity of the Hong KongChinese Everyday Competence Scale. Moreover, the author also hasfound that the Hong Kong Chinese Everyday Competence Scale wassignificantly correlated to three tests of the Primary Mental Abilitiesscale: number skill test, spatial relation test and inductive reasoningtest. Finally, our results are unequivocal in demonstrating the validityand concurrent validity of the Hong Kong Chinese Everyday Compe-tence Scale.

Although evidence indicates that the Hong Kong Chinese EverydayCompetence Scale is a sound research instrument, there are two limita-tions of the current study. Firstly, the samples used in the current studyare healthy elderly people. It would be important, therefore, to investi-gate the psychometric properties of the Hong Kong Chinese EverydayCompetence Scale with elderly participants with dementia or otherbrain problems. Secondly, it is important to note that the causal direc-tion of everyday competence measured by the Hong Kong Chinese Ev-eryday Competence Scale and cognitive abilities measured by the Mini-Men-tal State Examination, Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire andPrimary Mental Abilities scale cannot be defined in this correlationalstudy and a longitudinal study should be conducted to clarify the causalnature of this relationship.

To my knowledge, this study is the first to provide an extensive ex-amination of the reliability and validity of the Hong Kong Chinese Ev-eryday Competence Scale for an Asian population. The results of thepresent study indicate that the Hong Kong Chinese Everyday Compe-tence Scale displays adequate psychometric properties in terms of inter-nal consistency and concurrent validity, at least for Hong Kong Chineseolder adults. The availability of the Hong Kong Chinese EverydayCompetence Scale as a reliable, valid, and easy-to-administer scaleshould facilitate the examination of the mechanism involved in the de-velopment of everyday competence among Chinese older adults.

REFERENCES

Baltes, P.B. (1993). The aging mind: Potentials and limits. The Gerontologist, 33, 580-594.Blessed, G., Tomlinson, B.E., & Roth, M. (1968). The association between quantita-

tive measures of dementia and of senile change in the cerebral gray matter of elderlysubjects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 797-811.

Census and Statistics Department. (1992). Hong Kong 1991 Population Census. Cen-sus Planning Section, Census and Statistics Department. Hong Kong GovernmentPrinter: Hong Kong.

Kee-Lee Chou 49

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

UC

Irv

ine

Lib

rari

es]

at 0

0:42

17

Oct

ober

201

4

Chi, I., & Boey, K.W. (1993). Hong Kong validation of measuring instruments of men-tal health status of the elderly. Clinical Gerontologist, 13, 35-51.

Chiu, H.F.K., Lee, H.C., Chung, W.S., & Kwong, P.K. (1994). Reliability and validityof the Cantonese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination–A preliminarystudy. Journal of Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists, 4 (suppl 2), 25-28.

Cockrell, R.J., & Flostein, M.F. (1988). Mini-mental state examination (MMSE).Psychopharmacological Bulletin, 24, 689-691.

Denney, N.W., & Pearce, K.A. (1989). A developmental study of practical problemsolving in adults. Psychology and Aging, 4, 438-442.

Fillenbaum, G.G. (1985). Screening the elderly: A brief instrumental activities of dailyliving measure. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 33, 698-706.

Folstein, M.J., Folstein, S., & McHugh, P.R. (1975). Mini-mental state: A practicalmethod for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psy-chiatric Research, 2, 189-198.

Goodnow, J.J. (1984). On being judged “intelligent.” International Journal of Psy-chology, 19, 91-106.

Hess, T.M. (1990). Aging and cognition: Knowledge organization and utilization.Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Lawton, M.P. (1989). Behavior-relevant ecological factors. In K.W. Schaie & C.Schooler (Eds.), Social structure and aging: Psychological processes (pp. 57-78).Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Marsiske, M., Klumb, P., & Baltes, M.M. (1997). Everyday activity patterns and sen-sory functioning in old age. Psychology and Aging, 12, 444-457.

Marsiske, M., & Willis, S.L. (1995). Dimensionality of everyday problem solving inolder adults. Psychology and Aging, 10, 269-283.

Pfeiffer, E. (1975). A short portable mental status questionnaire for the assessment oforganic brain deficit in elderly patients. Journal of American Geriatric Society, 23,433-441.

Reuben, D.B., Valle, L.A., Hays, R.D., & Siu, A.L. (1995). Measuring physical func-tion in community-dwelling older adults: A comparison of self-administered, inter-viewer-administered, and performance-based measures. Journal of the AmericanGeriatric Society, 43, 17-23.

Rozzini, R., Frisoni, G.B., Bianchetti, A., Zanetti, O., & Trabucchi, M. (1993). Physi-cal performance test and activities of daily living scales in the assessment of healthstatus in elderly people. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 41, 1109-1113.

Schaie, K.W., & Willis, S.L. (1998). Theories of everyday competence and aging. InV.L. Bengtson & K.W. Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of theories of aging (pp. 174-195).New York: Springer.

Sinnott, J.D., & Cavanaugh, J.C. (Eds.). (1991). Bridging paradigms: Positive devel-opment in adulthood and cognitive aging. New York: Praeger.

Smith, J., & Baltes, P.B. (1990). A life-span perspective on thinking and problem-solv-ing. In M. Schwebel, C.A. Maher, & N.S. Fagley (Eds.), Promoting cognitivegrowth over the life span (pp. 47-69). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Staudinger, U.M., Smith, J., & Baltes, P.B. (1992). Wisdom-related knowledge in alife review task: Age differences and the role of professional specialization. Psy-chology and Aging, 7, 271-281.

50 CLINICAL GERONTOLOGIST

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

UC

Irv

ine

Lib

rari

es]

at 0

0:42

17

Oct

ober

201

4

Sternberg, R.J., & Berg, C. (1987). What are theories of adult intellectual developmenttheories of ? In C. Schooler & K.W. Schaie (Eds.), Cognitive functioning and socialstructure over the life course (pp. 3-23). New York: Ablex.

Sternberg, R.J., & Wagner, R.K. (1986). Practical intelligence: Origins of competencein the everyday world. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Willis, S. L. (1996). Everyday problem solving. In J.E. Birren and K.W. Schaie (Eds.),Handbook of the psychology of aging. (pp. 287-307). New York: Academic Press.

Willis, S.L., & Marsiske, M. (1991). Life-span perspective on practical intelligence. InD.E. Tupper & K.D. Cicerone (Eds.), The neuropsychology of everyday life: Issuesin development and rehabilitation (pp. 183-198). Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic.

Kee-Lee Chou 51

For FACULTY/PROFESSIONALS with journal subscriptionrecommendation authority for their institutional library . . .

Please send me a complimentary sample of this journal:

(please write complete journal title here–do not leave blank)

If you have read a reprint or photocopy of this article, would you like tomake sure that your library also subscribes to this journal? If you havethe authority to recommend subscriptions to your library, we will send youa free complete (print edition) sample copy for review with your librarian.

1. Fill out the form below and make sure that you type or write out clearly both the nameof the journal and your own name and address. Or send your request via e-mail togetinfo@haworthpress.com including in the subject line “Sample Copy Request” andthe title of this journal.

2. Make sure to include your name and complete postal mailing address as well as yourinstitutional/agency library name in the text of your e-mail.

[Please note: we cannot mail specific journal samples, such as the issue in which a specific article appears.Sample issues are provided with the hope that you might review a possible subscription/e-subscription withyour institution's librarian. There is no charge for an institution/campus-wide electronic subscriptionconcurrent with the archival print edition subscription.]

I will show this journal to our institutional or agency library for a possible subscription.Institution/Agency Library: ______________________________________________

Name: _____________________________________________________________

Institution: __________________________________________________________

Address: ___________________________________________________________

City: ____________________Return to: Sample Copy Department,The Haworth Press, Inc.,

10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580

State: __________ Zip: ____________________

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

UC

Irv

ine

Lib

rari

es]

at 0

0:42

17

Oct

ober

201

4