Article: CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY TO DEVELOP VALIDATED SCALES FOR ASSESSMENT OF JEERNA AAHARA LAKSHANAS

Article Category: Original Research articles

DOI: 10.7897/2277-4343.130231

Pages: 30-35

Author: Manaswi S Hegde, Shivanand B Naragund, Kiran M Goud, Priyanka BV *

Abstract: Digestion of food is the mainspring of nourishment of the body. Jatharagni (strength of digestion) plays a vital role in digestion. As digestion progresses, our body shows the signs that reflect the digestion stage known as Jeerna Aahara Lakshanas. This research aimed to develop and validate a scale for assessing Jeerna Aahara Lakshanas using standardized questionnaire development and validation methods. In the developmental phase, Jeerna Aahara Lakshanas were collected from the Samhitas of Ayurveda. The factors that influence digestion, like Ahara Vidhi Vidhana (Rules for food consumption) and Loulya (greediness for food), are also considered in developing the questionnaire. Keeping the information available in texts of Ayurveda Charaka Samhitha and Ashtanga Hridaya as primary information, Open-ended questions were formed under different domains and subdomains of Jeerna Ahara Lakshanas. The domains and questions were validated by 25 Ayurvedic academicians, practitioners. A set of closed-ended questions was developed based on a 5 and 7 Likert scale response. In the validation process, the closed-ended questions were distributed to 200 healthy volunteers of both genders aged 18-40 after screening health with an SF 12 questionnaire, with prior consent in each stage. The response was analyzed using SPSS 2.0 software, and an assessment of reliability was carried out by adopting the data reduction. The reliability was assessed using the standard Cronbach’s Alpha (CA) test. The questions which didn’t give the acceptable CA were redacted, and the questions with good and acceptable CA were retained. The final questionnaire was obtained with 51 questions after obtaining a CA of 0.826 in the 5th stage.

Keyword: Jeerna, Aahara, Lakshanas, Aharapaka, Digestion, Questionnaire