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Can care of elderly be measured? A method for estimating the individual care of recipients in community health care

Thorsell, Kajsa B E ; Nordström, Berit LU ; Nyberg, Per and Sivberg, Bengt LU (2006) In BMC Geriatrics 6(14).
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Almost every country in the Western world has great difficulties allocating enough financial resources to meet the needs in the care of the increasing elderly population. The main problem is common to all countries and concerns the efforts to meet elderly persons' needs on an individual level while still maintaining society's responsibility for distributing justice. The aim of this study is to elaborate an instrument for measuring the quality of individual care and staff's working time in order to allocate public resources fairly. The present study gives an account of a new classification system named TiC (Time in Care), indicating how it can be used most effectively and also investigating the validity and reliability of the... (More)
BACKGROUND: Almost every country in the Western world has great difficulties allocating enough financial resources to meet the needs in the care of the increasing elderly population. The main problem is common to all countries and concerns the efforts to meet elderly persons' needs on an individual level while still maintaining society's responsibility for distributing justice. The aim of this study is to elaborate an instrument for measuring the quality of individual care and staff's working time in order to allocate public resources fairly. The present study gives an account of a new classification system named TiC (Time in Care), indicating how it can be used most effectively and also investigating the validity and reliability of the system. METHODS: All recipients in 13 sheltered homes for elderly care (n = 505) in a Swedish municipality were surveyed regarding the care they needed, in dimensions of General Care, Medical Care, Cognitive Dysfunction and Rehabilitation, and the time required. Construct validity was assessed by means of factor analysis. The inter-rater agreement of two raters concerning 79 recipients was measured using weighted Kappa. The stability of the instrument and its sensitivity to change were investigated through test-retest reliability measurements, conducted once a month during a six-month period. The content validity of the instrument was also assessed. RESULTS: Factor analysis resulted in a reduction of the number of items from 25 to 16 in three dimensions: General Care, Medical Care and Cognitive Dysfunction. The Kappa analysis showed satisfactory to excellent inter-rater agreement. The care need scores were basically stable but showed sensitivity to change in health status. CONCLUSION: The instrument was found to be useful and reliable for assessing individual needs in community health care. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
BMC Geriatrics
volume
6
issue
14
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • pmid:16984634
  • scopus:33749467286
ISSN
1471-2318
DOI
10.1186/1471-2318-6-14
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3383ac42-726d-43db-a060-7575805657e8 (old id 1135177)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 16:19:00
date last changed
2022-01-28 18:50:27
@article{3383ac42-726d-43db-a060-7575805657e8,
  abstract     = {{BACKGROUND: Almost every country in the Western world has great difficulties allocating enough financial resources to meet the needs in the care of the increasing elderly population. The main problem is common to all countries and concerns the efforts to meet elderly persons' needs on an individual level while still maintaining society's responsibility for distributing justice. The aim of this study is to elaborate an instrument for measuring the quality of individual care and staff's working time in order to allocate public resources fairly. The present study gives an account of a new classification system named TiC (Time in Care), indicating how it can be used most effectively and also investigating the validity and reliability of the system. METHODS: All recipients in 13 sheltered homes for elderly care (n = 505) in a Swedish municipality were surveyed regarding the care they needed, in dimensions of General Care, Medical Care, Cognitive Dysfunction and Rehabilitation, and the time required. Construct validity was assessed by means of factor analysis. The inter-rater agreement of two raters concerning 79 recipients was measured using weighted Kappa. The stability of the instrument and its sensitivity to change were investigated through test-retest reliability measurements, conducted once a month during a six-month period. The content validity of the instrument was also assessed. RESULTS: Factor analysis resulted in a reduction of the number of items from 25 to 16 in three dimensions: General Care, Medical Care and Cognitive Dysfunction. The Kappa analysis showed satisfactory to excellent inter-rater agreement. The care need scores were basically stable but showed sensitivity to change in health status. CONCLUSION: The instrument was found to be useful and reliable for assessing individual needs in community health care.}},
  author       = {{Thorsell, Kajsa B E and Nordström, Berit and Nyberg, Per and Sivberg, Bengt}},
  issn         = {{1471-2318}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{14}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{BMC Geriatrics}},
  title        = {{Can care of elderly be measured? A method for estimating the individual care of recipients in community health care}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2318-6-14}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/1471-2318-6-14}},
  volume       = {{6}},
  year         = {{2006}},
}