Criterion validity of a home health aide's algorithm for recommending bathroom equipment.
BACKGROUND
Occupational therapists are experts at adapting bathroom environments. However, to increase access to services, the algorithm "Préalables aux soins d'hygiène" (French for "Prerequisites for bathing care") has been developed to be used by trained home health aides to recommend bathroom equipment.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to assess the criterion validity of the algorithm by measuring the level of agreement between an occupational therapist's recommendations (gold standard) and those made by four home health aides using the algorithm.


METHODS
Community-living adults with bathing difficulties (n = 96) were visited by both types of evaluators.


RESULTS
Home health aides correctly identified clinical situations in which they should feel confident about their ability (sensitivity: 96%, specificity: 69%) and, apart from type of bathing seat (K(W) = 0.63 [0.52; 0.75]), agreement between recommendations varied from substantial to almost perfect (delta > or = 0.72).


CONCLUSIONS
Results increase confidence in the algorithm, but other studies are needed to ensure population safety and fulfil the occupational therapist's obligations.
Guay
Manon
M
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada. Manon.Guay@USherbrooke.ca
Desrosiers
Johanne
J
Dubois
Marie-France
MF
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D004779:Environment Design; D005260:Female; D018576:Home Health Aides; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D009983:Orthopedic Equipment; D015203:Reproducibility of Results