Development and validation of the core life activities scale

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Gerontology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Daily life activities significantly impact well-being, mental health, and quality of life.
• The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for monitoring these activities for psychological health.
• Existing measurement tools are insufficient for assessing psychological health comprehensively.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Core Life Activities (CORE) scale.
• To assess the reliability and validity of the CORE scale in measuring key life activities.
• To provide a tool for monitoring psychological health through core life activities.

Main Methods:

• Developed the CORE scale based on five factors: sleep, exercise, learning, diet, and social relationships.
• Conducted two studies (N=1,137 and N=684) using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.
• Assessed internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity.

Main Results:

• The CORE scale demonstrated a robust single-factor structure with good model fit and high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.776).
• The scale showed strong test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.522, p < 0.001).
• Significant convergent validity was found with mental health and quality of life measures, while discriminant validity was supported.

Conclusions:

• The CORE scale is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring core life activities.
• This scale offers a simple, comprehensive approach to assessing psychological health.
• The CORE scale has potential applications in various settings for monitoring well-being.