Can the Dartmouth COOP/WONCA charts be used to assess the functional status of Chinese patients?

This is the first study on the use of the Dartmouth functional health assessment charts COOP/WONCA in the assessment of the functional status of Chinese patients. The Chinese are the world's largest ethnic group and make up more than one-fifth of the world's population. We have developed a Chinese translation of the Dartmouth COOP/WONCA charts that satisfies the two minimal and one intermediate criteria on translation of scales and instruments set by the European Research Group in Health Outcome (ERGHO). We tested the charts on 84 Chinese patients with previous strokes when they attended follow-up at the General Practice Unit of the University of Hong Kong from 1 August to 30 November 1992. We found that the Dartmouth COOP/WONCA charts in Chinese were easy to administer and were well accepted by our patients. All but one patient understood all the charts. There was good face validity in the results obtained by the charts. The consulting doctors found that the information detected by the charts was moderately useful in 64% of the patients and was very useful in 5% of the patients. Our translation can be applied to other Chinese in Hong Kong as well as other countries, because there is only one written Chinese language. It is hoped that our pilot study will stimulate further research to establish the reliability, validity and clinical application of the COOP/WONCA charts in Chinese.