Design and Validation of Mizaj Identification Questionnaire in Persian Medicine

Paying attention to individual differences in presenting health directives is the most important properties of Persian Medicine (PM). Accordingly, individuals in each society are divided into nine Mizaj groups. Access to the standard diagnostic scale is one of the research priorities of PM. The present study aimed at designing a preliminary self-administered Mizaj questionnaire, and assessed its reliability and validity. For this exploratory sequential study, Mizaj identification indices were extracted using PM references, and people and PM experts’ interviews. The preliminary questionnaire was designed and the validity and reliability of the questionnaire were evaluated using weighted Kappa statistics (> 0.4), ICC and ROC curve, and determining the sensitivity and specificity of cut-off points. Overall, 15 PM experts, and 221 volunteers participated in various stages of this study. Among 119 designed questions for 30 Mizaj identification indices, 60 items had acceptable reliability. The final questionnaire containing 20 items was extracted after the validity assessment. The sensitivity and specificity of this questionnaire at the specified cut-off points were 71% and 68% for warmness, 63% and 71% for temperance in warmness-coldness, 80% and 57% for coldness, 74% and 58% for wetness, 71% and 69% for temperance in wetness-dryness, and 78% and 85% for dryness, respectively. This is the first standard Mizaj identification questionnaire, which includes more dimensions of Mizaj identification and can be used for individuals aged 20 to 60 years old. This questionnaire is recommended for Mizaj identification researches and as a supplementary diagnostic scale for clinical activities of Persian Medicine practitioners.