Evaluating leisure activities in the oldest old

To determine whether the Modified NPS Interest Checklist (MNPS) could be developed as a tool with linear measures of four dimensions of leisure: Interest, Performance, Motivation, and Well-being.

A cross-sectional descriptive study including 156 volunteers born between 1904 and 1917 and living in urban or rural northern Sweden. Each participant was individually interviewed at her/his place of residence. Subsequent data were subjected to a series of Rasch analyses using FACETS.

The items and persons demonstrated acceptable goodness-of-fit across all four dimensions in the MNPS checklist. The Rasch equivalent of Cronbach's alpha was 0.98 for items, and ranged from 0.66 to 0.75 for persons.

The MNPS shows evidence for acceptable internal scale validity, person response validity, and scale reliability. This study provides initial evidence that the MNPS is a valid tool for measuring leisure among the oldest old. While this study provides the first psychometric examination of an assessment designed to evaluate different dimensions of leisure, more research is needed to further assess validity and reliability of this tool with the elderly and with other groups.