Abstract
The issue of life quality for older people admitted for long-term care is of concern to those keen to provide services that support an acceptable quality of life. This study investigates measurement characteristics of the long-term care quality of life (LTC-QoL) assessment scale developed to address a gap in quality in life assessment in such contexts, i.e. an easy to use single scale generating summary information on the life quality experienced by all older adults in care, indicating aspects requiring attention from direct care personnel and providing management information on individual and care unit outcomes in supporting residents' experiences of life quality. Analysis of repeated LTC-QoL data for 62 long-term residents in an Australian aged care facility establishes the instrument as having good reliability and validity. Exploratory factor analysis of nine items revealed high internal consistency, good test–retest reliability, and validity across age, gender, and cognitive capacity of participants. Findings establish that the LTC-QoL has adequate reliability and dimensionality. Content validity and management utility were verified by experts using and refining the scale over 7 years in long-term care contexts, resulting in an easy to use and reliable assessment tool for long-term care recipients.
Acknowledgements
Statistical advice and assistance was received from Belinda Butcher BSc(Hons) MBiostat PhD, Jane Hutchison BSc MMStats. WriteSource Medical Pty Ltd. Research assistance and project coordination was provided by Frances Russell, B.BioMedSc, M.PubHlth, Australian Catholic University, Sydney. Contributions to this project over many years from residents, staff and managers of RSL ANZAC Village, Sydney, Australia is acknowledged and much appreciated.