[A preliminary study of family Apgar index in the Chinese]

The present study was designed to evaluate the clinical availability of family Apgar index in Chinese people. From August 1987 to February 1988, 113 samples from 45 Chinese families were collected from our record family patients. The family members who were over 12 years of age were asked to complete a family Apgar questionnaire and CHQ during a family visit. The patients age, sex, marital status, education, religion, family role, socioeconomic status were also recorded. The result showed that there was no significant correlation between the family Apgar scores and all of the patient's characteristics (sex, age, marital status, education, religion, family role, socioeconomic status) except the score of CHQ. It is suggested that the family Apgar index is a simple and useful instrument to screen out family dysfunctional patients in daily office practice.