Face and content validity and acceptability of the Swedish ICECAP-O capability measure: Cognitive interviews with 70-year-old persons

Susanne Gustafsson; Helena Hörder; Isabelle Ottenvall Hammar; Ingmar Skoog

doi:10.4081/hpr.2018.6496

Face and content validity and acceptability of the Swedish ICECAP-O capability measure: Cognitive interviews with 70-year-old persons

Health Psychol Res. 2018 May 8;6(1):6496. doi: 10.4081/hpr.2018.6496.

Authors

Susanne Gustafsson^{1

2}, Helena Hörder^{2

3}, Isabelle Ottenvall Hammar^{1

2}, Ingmar Skoog³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health and Rehabilitation, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy.
² Centre for Ageing and Health (AgeCap).
³ Department of Neuropsychiatric Epidemiology, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Abstract

This study is part of a project that aims to culturally adapt the Investigating Choice Experiments for the Preferences of Older People-CAPability Index (ICECAP-O) for use in research and health and social care in Sweden. The objective was to evaluate face and content validity and acceptability. Eighteen 70-year-old community-dwelling persons participated in cognitive interviews. A standardized classification scheme was used to quantify any identified response problems, and a thematic analysis was applied to capture participants' perceptions of included attributes and experiences of completing the measure. The results show that three participants (18%) had problems completing ICECAP-O, and that judged problems occurred for five (6%) of participants responses in the standardized classification scheme. Most participants perceived the attributes as understandable even though the meaning of Control brought some uncertainty. ICECAP-O seems to measure what it is supposed to measure, quality of life (QoL) with a capability approach, and acceptability is satisfactory. ICECAP- O has potential for becoming a valuable addition to the supply of QoL measures in research and health and social care in Sweden. However, we recommend further research on more diverse groups of older persons.

Keywords: Elderly; Geriatric assessment; Older adults; Quality of life; Self-assessment.

Grants and funding

Funding: the authors thank the Swedish Research Council (2015-02830), the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (AGECAP 2013-2300, 2013-2496, 2013-1202), and Sahlgrenska University Hospital (ALF) for financing and supporting the study.