Spanish validation of the Person-centered Care Assessment Tool (P-CAT)

Abstract

Objectives: Person-centered Care (PCC) is an innovative approach which seeks to improve the quality of care services given to the care-dependent elderly. At present there are no Spanish language instruments for the evaluation of PCC delivered by elderly care services. The aim of this work is the adaptation and validation of the Person-centered Care Assessment Tool (P-CAT) for a Spanish population.

Method: The P-CAT was translated and adapted into Spanish, then given to a sample of 1339 front-line care professionals from 56 residential elderly care homes. The reliability and validity of the P-CAT were analyzed, within the frameworks of Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory models.

Results: The Spanish P-CAT demonstrated good reliability, with an alpha coefficient of .88 and a test–retest reliability coefficient of .79. The P-CAT information function indicates that the test measures with good precision for the majority of levels of the measured variables (θ values between −2 and +1). The factorial structure of the test is essentially one-dimensional and the item discrimination indices are high, with values between .26 and .61. In terms of predictive validity, the correlations which stand out are between the P-CAT and organizational climate (r = .689), and the burnout factors; personal accomplishment (r = .382), and emotional exhaustion (r = − .510).

Conclusion: The Spanish version of the P-CAT demonstrates good psychometric properties for its use in the evaluation of elderly care homes both professionally and in research.

Keywords:

• quality of life/well-being
• quantitative methods and statistics
• evaluation/effectiveness
• caregiving and interventions
• institutional care (nursing homes etc.)

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our utmost gratitude to the following public and private institutions, without whose collaboration this research would not have been possible: Consejería de Bienestar Social y Vivienda del Principado de Asturias, Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Instituto de Atención Social y Sociosanitaria de Canarias, Instituto Mallorquín de Asuntos Sociales, Consejería de Trabajo y Bienestar de la Xunta de Galicia, Instituto Foral de Bienestar Social de Vitoria, Consorci d'Accio Social de Catalunya, Gerencia de Servicios Sociales de Castilla y León, LARES Federación, NOVAIRE, EULEN SOCIOSANITARIOS, INTRESS, Asociación Madrileña de Atención a la Dependencia (AMADE), ASISPA, L'ONADA, Fundación MATÍA, SARAIVA, IDEA, Fundación Vallparadís-Mutua Terrassa, Residencia Sierra Cuera (Asturias), Residencia El Olivaret (Barcelona), Residencia La Quintana (Asturias), Residencia Torrezuri (País Vasco) y Residencia Santa Agueda (País Vasco).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [grant number PSI2011-28638], [grant number BES2012-053488], [grant number IB-05-02].