Psychometric properties of the extended Care Dependency Scale for older persons in Egypt.

AIM The aim of this study was to determine the validity and reliability of the modified Arabic Care Dependency Scale for self-assessment of older persons in Egypt and to compare these self-assessments to proxy assessments by care givers and family members. BACKGROUND The Care Dependency Scale is an internationally used instrument to measure care dependency. The Arabic version may improve data collection on this phenomenon in the Middle East where the population is ageing. DESIGN A cross-sectional study with a sample of 611 older persons living in Greater Cairo. Participants belonged to three groups: nursing home residents, home care recipients and non-care recipients; 459 participants were also rated by proxies and 171 repeated their self-assessment after two weeks. METHODS The correlation between sum scores of the Care Dependency Scale and the Activities of Daily Living scale was calculated to establish criterion validity. Construct validity was determined by comparing care recipients and non-care recipients with regard to their Care Dependency Scale sum scores and by exploratory factor analysis. Intraclass coefficients were used to assess test-retest reliability of self-ratings for each item. Mean differences between self and proxy assessment were calculated. RESULTS The Care Dependency Scale had a strong correlation to the Activities of Daily Living scale and is able to distinguish between care recipients and non-care recipients. Factor analysis revealed one factor for basic needs and one factor for psychosocial needs. ICC values were >0.7 for most items related to the factor for basic needs among care recipients. Proxy assessment yielded higher care dependency than self assessment. CONCLUSION Care Dependency Scale items for basic needs are suitable to assess care dependency among Egyptian care recipients. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Assessment of care dependency is useful to obtain data for appropriate resource allocation among care recipients.