title: The development, validity and reliability of the Hospital in the Home Dependency Scale (HDS).
abstract: The aim of this study was to develop and investigate the validity and reliability of the Hospital-in-the-Home (HITH) Dependency Scale (HDS). The HDS is a new instrument designed to measure the dependency of HITH patients. It calculates an overall dependency level by rating four dimensions of the provision of HITH nursing care. Specifically, these dimensions are the complexity of assessment, complexity of treatment, time taken to provide the treatment, and the frequency of treatment. The results of testing the HDS suggest that it is valid in measuring adult medical and surgical HITH patient dependency. The scale demonstrated strong stability over time in test retest procedures over a one month period (r = 0.80, p <0.01) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.72). We conclude that the HDS is a valid, reliable instrument that is quick and easy to use in the HITH setting.
authors.affiliation: The Alfred Hospital, and School of Postgraduate Nursing, University of Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Santamaria
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Daly
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Addicott
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Clayton
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification*; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D003071:Cognition; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D013677:Medical Laboratory Science / Q000145:classification; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000145:classification*; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013997:Time Factors; D014739:Victoria; D016526:Workload