This two-phase study will develop and evaluate the psychometrics of a culturally relevant measure of symptom self-care and pilot data collection strategies that will be used in a larger study to investigate cultural differences and similarities in how Russian elderly immigrants and US-born minority (.e., African American) and nonminority (i.e., nonHispanic Caucasian) elders care for commonly occurring symptoms.
Specific aims are to: (1) develop a structured symptom and behavior diary that is culturally relevant for elders in these three racial/ethnic groups, (2) determine if qualitative interviews about symptom appraisals and self-care decision substantively augment information obtained by symptom and behavior diaries, (3) clarify the response rate for completing eight weeks of daily diary data and weekly participation in up to eight qualitative interviews, (4) determine if eight weeks of daily diary data provide sufficient variation in symptom dimensions and self-care behaviors for analyzing gender and ethnic/racial group differences in self-care, and (5) establish the content and construct validity of the newly developed alternate forms of the structured symptom and behavior diaries. During Phase One, retrospective health and health utilization data, eight weeks of prospective open-ended diary data about symptoms and self-care, and weekly interview about self-care decisions will be obtained from 36 elders stratified by gender and racial/ethnic group. At the completion of Phase one, up to three alternate forms of structured (primarily forced-choice) symptoms and behavior diaries will be developed for Russian, African American, and Caucasian elders. During Phase Two, focus groups will be conducted with 42 elders (stratified by gender and racial/ethnic group) and a battery of measures (a retrospective health and health utilization history, one week of prospective diary data, and a standardized measure of health status) will be administered to 288 elders (also stratified by gender and racial/ethnic group) to validate the structured symptom and behavior diaries.
