1.
Franzén, Kristofer, et al.
(author)
Impact of chronic heart failure on elderly persons' daily life : a validation study
2006
In: European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. - : Sage Publications. - 1474-5151 .- 1873-1953. ; 5:2, s. 137-145
Journal article (peer-reviewed) abstract
BACKGROUND: Knowledge about how elderly persons perceive the impact of chronic heart failure (CHF) on daily life is important when planning nursing care. For this purpose, disease specific instruments are needed. However, few instruments have been developed or tested specifically on elderly persons. AIM: To validate a Swedish version of the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (LHFQ) on elderly persons with CHF, and use it to describe the impact of CHF on daily life in the same population. METHODS: The sample comprised of 357 persons, aged between 65 and 99, diagnosed with CHF. A questionnaire including background data, the LHFQ and the SF-12 was used. RESULTS: A factor analysis resulted in four dimensions: physical, emotional, treatment and pleasure. LHFQ showed convergent validity and ability to discriminate between known groups. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.94. Impairments in the physical dimension were most common, especially fatigue (88%) and shortness of breath (87%). CONCLUSIONS: The LHFQ showed satisfying psychometric properties in an elderly Swedish population with CHF and can, with minor alterations, be recommended for research and clinical use. The impact of chronic heart failure on daily life was mostly physical, but other impairments were also common.
2.
Borglin, Gunilla, et al.
(author)
Older people in Sweden with various degrees of present quality of life : their health, social support, everyday activities and sense of coherence.
2006
In: Health & Social Care in the Community. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0966-0410 .- 1365-2524. ; 14:2, s. 136-146
Journal article (peer-reviewed) abstract
Public health policies in most European countries are concerned with how to keep older people living independently with a qualitatively good life in the community as long as possible. However, knowledge about what may characterise those seemingly 'healthy' older people is sparse. The aim of the study was to investigate the characteristics of a sample of people (75+) reporting various degrees of Quality of Life (QoL) with respect to QoL in different areas, as well as self-rated health, health problems, social support, everyday activities and sense of coherence. A postal questionnaire was sent out in spring 2001 to a randomly selected population-based sample (n= 600) in the southern parts of Sweden. A two-step cluster analysis was performed (n= 385, mean age 84.6, SD = 5.7) with 'present QoL' as clustering attribute. Three groups were disclosed, classified as high, intermediate and low present QoL, of which 33.8% could be regarded being at risk of low QoL. Those with low present QoL (18.4%) were the oldest and most vulnerable, a majority were women with 'poor or bad' self-rated health, high frequencies of health problems, low total QoL, low social support and sense of coherence and less physically active. Those with high present QoL (47.8%) reported more 'excellent or good' self-rated health, physical activity, satisfactory social support and higher sense of coherence and total QoL than the other two groups. Those with intermediate present QoL (33.8%) had more of 'poor or bad' self-rated health, more health problems were less physically active, had lower total QoL and sense of coherence, and less social support than those with high present QoL. The sample seemed to reflect the ageing process in that the respondents were at different stages of ageing. However, the fact that the level of social support, sense of coherence and self-rated health followed the same curve as QoL may indicate that some are more vulnerable to low present QoL given the same health and these should be targeted in preventive programmes since they report low QoL.
3.
Kim, M.-Y., et al.
(author)
Respondent burden and patient-perceived validity of the PDQ-39
2006
In: Acta Neurologica Scandinavica. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0001-6314 .- 1600-0404. ; 113:2, s. 132-137
Journal article (peer-reviewed) abstract
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the respondent burden and patient-perceived content validity of the Parkinson's disease (PD)-specific health status questionnaire PDQ-39, and the linguistic validity of its revised Swedish version.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighteen PD patients completed the revised Swedish version of the PDQ-39. Respondent burden was assessed by recording the time taken to complete the questionnaire. Content and linguistic validity was evaluated qualitatively.RESULTS: Patients with mild, moderate and advanced PD needed a mean time of 9.5, 11.3 and 20.1 min, respectively, to complete the PDQ-39. One-third of the patients identified irrelevant items and 50% identified important health-related areas that were missing. Revisions had eliminated previous linguistic problems with the Swedish PDQ-39.CONCLUSIONS: Undue respondent burden challenged the appropriateness of the PDQ-39 among patients with more advanced disease. Overall content validity was acceptable but compromised by lack of important content areas. Observations supported the linguistic validity of the revised Swedish PDQ-39.
