title: An international psychometric testing of the care dependency scale.
abstract: In an international study, psychometric properties of the Care Dependency Scale (CDS) were examined by analysing data gathered in Dutch, Canadian, Italian and Norwegian nursing homes. For that purpose, from these countries a convenience sample was developed consisting of 525 patients with dementia. The English, Italian and Norwegian research instruments were translations of the original Dutch CDS. Psychometric evaluations of the CDS were carried out for each country separately as well as for the four countries combined. High alpha coefficients between 0.94 and 0.97 were calculated. Subsequent test-retest and inter-rater reliability revealed moderate to substantial Kappa values. Factor analysis resulted in a one-factor solution. The scalability of the CDS was demonstrated by means of Mokken scale analysis. One of the main outcomes of the cross-cultural comparison was that the findings in the four countries show more similarities than differences, so that the scale can be used appropriately in nursing home practice.
authors.affiliation: Northern Centre For Healthcare Research, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. ate.dijkstra@med.rug.nl
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dijkstra
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Havens
authors.forename: T I
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Romeren
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zanotti
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dassen
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: van den Heuvel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002170:Canada; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003858:Dependency, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D009664:Norway; D009735:Nursing Homes; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*