The Development of Seniors in the Community: Risk Evaluation for Eating and Nutrition (SCREEN)

Measuring the nutritional risk of seniors living in the community has become increasingly necessary as more seniors in vulnerable states remain in their own homes. A few assessment tools are available for use in this population. To determine whether a tool is appropriate for a specific purpose, we must understand how it was developed. This article reviews the developmental process for Seniors in the Community: Risk Evaluation for Eating and Nutrition (SCREEN). This process, which combines clinimetric, psychometric, and criterion approaches, may help dietitians and other health researchers develop their own assessment tools. To assist dietitians and others with the systematic development or evaluation of health assessment tools a nine-step template is provided to: 1. determine what is being measured; 2. review the literature for tools; 3. critique tools for their development, validation, and reliability; 4. develop a construct for health measurement; 5. write the items, select items for the scale, and consult experts and a target group; 6. pretest items for readability; 7. pretest in a developmental sample; 8. validate the construct and measurement tool; and 9. ensure test-retest reliability.