Psychometric evaluation of the Swedish version of the Person-Centered Care Assessment Tool (P-CAT).

BACKGROUND Person-centered care is a multidimensional concept describing good care, especially within aged care and care for people with dementia. Research studies evaluating person-centered care interventions seldom use direct measurement of levels of person-centeredness. Existing scales that measure person-centeredness need further testing. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Swedish version of the Person-Centered Care Assessment Tool (P-CAT). METHODS A cross-sectional sample of 1465 staff from 195 residential care units for older people in Sweden participated in the study. Validity, reliability, and discrimination ability of the scale were evaluated. RESULTS Confirmatory factor analysis, parallel analysis and exploratory factor analysis supported the construct validity of a two-factor solution. Reliability and homogeneity were satisfactory for the whole P-CAT as demonstrated by a Cronbach's α of 0.75. Test-retest reliability showed temporal stability of the scale, and the discrimination ability of the scale was satisfactory. CONCLUSION The Swedish version of the P-CAT was found to be valid, reliable, and applicable for further use. Two subscales are recommended for the Swedish version.