The development and preliminary psychometric properties of two positive psychology outcome measures for people with dementia: the PPOM and the EID-Q

Charlotte R Stoner,Emese Csipke,Martin Orrell,Aimee Spector,Maria Long

doi:10.1186/s12877-017-0468-6

Abstract

BackgroundPositive psychology research in dementia care has largely been confined to the qualitative literature because of the lack of robust outcome measures. The aim of this study was to develop positive psychology outcome measures for people with dementia.MethodsTwo measures were each developed in four stages. Firstly, literature reviews were conducted to identify and operationalise salient positive psychology themes in the qualitative literature and to examine existing measures of positive psychology. Secondly, themes were discussed within a qualitative study to add content validity for identified concepts (n = 17). Thirdly, draft measures were submitted to a panel of experts for feedback (n = 6). Finally, measures were used in a small-scale pilot study (n = 33) to establish psychometric properties.ResultsSalient positive psychology themes were identified as hope, resilience, a sense of independence and social engagement. Existing measures of hope and resilience were adapted to form the Positive Psychology Outcome Measure (PPOM). Due to the inter-relatedness of independence and engagement for people with dementia, 28 items were developed for a new scale of Engagement and Independence in Dementia Questionnaire (EID-Q) following extensive qualitative work. Both measures demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (α = .849 and α = .907 respectively) and convergent validity.ConclusionsTwo new positive psychology outcome measures were developed using a robust four-stage procedure. Preliminary psychometric data was adequate and the measures were easy to use, and acceptable for people with dementia.

Highlights

Positive psychology research in dementia care has largely been confined to the qualitative literature because of the lack of robust outcome measures
Examples of qualitative studies reporting on people with dementia included a sense of coherence [17], spirituality [18] and hope [19]
The total Quality of Life in Alzheimer’s Disease Scale (QoL-AD) score was found to be positively correlated with the independence subscale (r = .497, p = .005), engagement was correlated with the QoL-AD (r = .586, p = .001) and the Engagement and Independence in Dementia Questionnaire (EID-Q) was found to be positively correlated with the total QoLAD score (r = .557, p = .001) (Table 3). Summary of results This is, to our knowledge, the first study to report on the development of positive psychology outcome measures for people with dementia

Summary

Introduction

Positive psychology research in dementia care has largely been confined to the qualitative literature because of the lack of robust outcome measures. The aim of this study was to develop positive psychology outcome measures for people with dementia. Outcome measures utilised within dementia research have generally been constructed using a loss/deficit approach, in which measures have been designed to examine co-morbid conditions such as anxiety [1] and depression [2] or behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) [3]. Examples of positive concepts include humour, resilience, growth and spirituality. Currently this approach is in its infancy and a lack of gold standard outcome measures means that positive attributes, experiences

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