title: The reliability and validity of two health status measures for evaluating outcomes of home care nursing.
abstract: The reliability, validity, and sensitivity of the Medical Outcome Study Short Form (SF-36) and the Quality of Life Profile: Senior Version (QOLPSV) for measuring outcomes of home care nursing were evaluated. Data were collected from 50 clients receiving home care nursing services. Twenty-two registered nurses and six registered practical nurses collected client and nursing data on each home visit. Client baseline and outcome measures were collected by two independent evaluators at admission and discharge from the home care service. Internal consistency reliability ranged from.76 to.94 for the eight subscales of the SF-36. Internal consistency reliability ranged from.47 to.82 for the nine subscales of the QOLPSV. The subscales of both instruments had minimal problems with missing responses. The SF-36 was found to be more sensitive than the QOLPSV to change over time. In addition, the subscales of the SF-36 were found to be more sensitive than the subscales of the QOLPSV to several of the nursing variables, such as intensity of the client's nursing condition and skill mix.
authors.affiliation: Nursing Effectiveness, Utilization, and Outcomes Research Unit, Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Irvine
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: O'Brien-Pallas
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cockerill
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sidani
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Laurie-Shaw
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lochhaas-Gerlach
mesh_terms: D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009733:Nursing Diagnosis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009864:Ontario; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity