ABSTRACT

Background- Ayurveda perceives disease as disruption in functioning of key bodily elements: Dosha, Dhatu, Mala and Agni. Scrupulous examination of these elements aids right diagnosis and treatment. Diseases wherein Ama plays pathogenic-role, like Amavata, identifying Ama- association (Saama) or dissociation (Nirama) from Dosha before planning treatment is needed as they require different approaches. Subjectivity in interpreting symptoms by practitioners necessitates a standardized assessment-scale. Therefore, systematic development of a scale to assess Ama in Amavata was planned for unanimous diagnosis. Objectives- To develop a scale for assessing Ama in Amavata. Methods- Pertinent data regarding Ama and its indicators were collected from reliable sources and analyzed to delineate boundaries of domains and facilitate item-generation. Content-validity was assessed by 6-experts by evaluating its accuracy in measuring various aspects of the construct. Revised questionnaire was pre-tested on 30-Amavata patients from SDM-College of Ayurveda &Hospital, Hassan and then administered to 60 patients for validation. Data after each assessment underwent testing for internal-consistency. Each domain was treated as independent-scale and evaluated using Cronbach’s-Coefficient-Alpha. Principal Component Analysis was employed for dimension-reduction. Rotated-component matrix and Scree-plot were used to categorize domains into Major and Minor-criteria, guiding construction of scale. Results- 137-items were framed following literary search,126-items retained after expert- review were administered in 1st-set of assessment. On checking internal consistency,120-items were used in 2nd-set of assessment. Following test for reliability and dimension-reduction,114- items remained. Domains were divided into 6-major criteria(46-items) and 4-minor criteria(37- items) using Rotated-component matrix and Scree-plot. Conclusion- This developed questionnaire can be utilized to assess Ama-Lakshana in Amavata. Keywords: Ayurveda, Ama, Amavata, Scale development
Publication date: 01/07/2025

https://ijbpas.com/pdf/2025/July/MS_IJBPAS_2025_9243.pdf

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https://doi.org/10.31032/IJBPAS/2025/14.7.9243