title: An environmental audit tool suitable for use in homelike facilities for people with dementia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare an assessment tool developed for use on contemporary homelike environments, the Environmental Audit Tool (EAT), with the gold standard assessments for residential facilities for people with dementia, the Special Care Unit Environmental Quality Scale (SCUEQS) and the global score of the Therapeutic Environment Screening Survey for Nursing Homes (TESS-NH).
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty facilities were assessed with the EAT and the TESS-NH by two raters working independently.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average absolute agreement on individual items using the EAT was 86.8% and 84.4% for the TESS-NH. Interrater reliability of the SCUEQS was 0.84, the TESS-NH global score 0.93 and the EAT final score 0.97. The EAT was described by raters as easier and slightly quicker to use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The EAT offers a valid and reliable alternative to the TESS-NH and appears to be more suitable for the assessment of the less institutional facilities favoured by Australian aged care services.
authors.affiliation: Dementia Services Development Centre, HammondCare, New South Wales, Australia. rfleming@dementia.com.au
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fleming
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D001315:Australia; D054869:Clinical Audit / Q000379:methods*; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D004779:Environment Design; D005160:Facility Design and Construction; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006272:Health Facility Environment; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D009735:Nursing Homes; D015588:Observer Variation; D061214:Patient Safety; D018907:Privacy; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012919:Social Behavior