Content validity of the Geriatric Health Assessment Instrument.

Rhaine Borges Santos Pedreira,Clarice Alves Dos Santos,Martha Cerqueira Reis,Lélia Renata Carneiro Vasconcelos,Saulo Vasconcelos Rocha

doi:10.1590/s1679-45082016ao3455

Rhaine Borges Santos Pedreira, Clarice Alves Dos Santos + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s1679-45082016ao3455

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Abstract

ABSTRACTObjective Assess the content validity of the Elderly Health Assessment Tool with low education.Methods The data collection instrument/questionnaire was prepared and submitted to an expert panel comprising four healthcare professionals experienced in research on epidemiology of aging. The experts were allowed to suggest item inclusion/exclusion and were asked to rate the ability of individual items in questionnaire blocks to encompass target dimensions as “not valid”, “somewhat valid” or “valid”, using an interval scale. Percent agreement and the Content Validity Index were used as measurements of inter-rater agreement; the minimum acceptable inter-rater agreement was set at 80%.Results The mean instrument percent agreement rate was 86%, ranging from 63 to 99%, and from 50 to 100% between and within blocks respectively. The Mean Content Validity Index score was 93.47%, ranging from 50 to 100% between individual items.Conclusion The instrument showed acceptable psychometric properties for application in geriatric populations with low levels of education. It enabled identifying diseases and assisted in choice of strategies related to health of the elderly.

Highlights

The elderly population has seen exponential growth over the last decades, in developed and developing countries alike
This study investigated the validity of the Geriatric Health Assessment Instrument (GHAI)
Instrument construction The GHAI is a multidimensional questionnaire comprising seven blocks of questions based on previously validated instruments (Appendix 1),(12-27) and its purpose is to investigate different health-related issues in elderly patients participating in the “Projeto de monitoramento das condições de saúde de idosos” [Geriatric health monitoring project]; Research Ethics Committee approval number 613.364; CAAE: 22969013.0.0000.0055

Summary

Introduction

The elderly population has seen exponential growth over the last decades, in developed and developing countries alike. The promotion of improved quality of life among the elderly involves a myriad of Health-related factors, such as functional capacity retention, autonomy, social interaction and self-satisfaction, which must be taken into account, from a healthcare perspective, and as part of a disease prevention and integral approach to geriatric health initiative.[1]. These particularities tend to stand out in less developed areas, such as the Brazilian Northeast, where access to goods and services (i.e., education, health, sanitation, transportation and leisure, among others) is limited.[9]

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Conclusion