Reliability, Validity, and Cultural Relevancy of the Korean Version of the POMS

The Profile of Mood States (POMS) is the most widely used self-report instrument for the measurement of affect or mood in clinical and nonclinical populations. This paper reports on the translation and testing of a Korean version of the POMS. The translation involved three steps: translation, checking agreement, and panel discussions to arrive at consensus. Then, the Korean version of the POMS was tested with a sample of 47 healthy Koreans who lived in the U.S.; they completed the instrument in the morning, at the beginning of work and in the evening, at the end of work. Internal consistencies for the total scale and subscales were high (alphas ＝ .93 and .94). Face and content validity and the cultural relevance of the Korean version of the POMS were tested through review by five bilingual Korean nursing scholars who were familiar with Korean culture and with the current literature on affect, feeling or mood in both English and Korean. The Korean version of the POMS was then compared with the Haeok Fatigue Behavior Check-list and demonstrated with concurrent validity (r ＝ .87, p ＜ .001). Construct validity was established by demonstrating significant differences between the scores on the Fatigue and Vigor subscales (p ＜ .001) at the beginning work and at the end of work.