Cultural adequecy of the care dependency scale for older persons in Egypt: a Delphi study

The aim of this study is to determine the cultural adequateness of the Arabic version of the Care Dependency Scale (CDS), an internationally used instrument to measure care needs by either self-reports or external assessment.

A Delphi study in two rounds about the Arabic version was performed with 37 panelists in Cairo. Acceptance of CDS items was rated on a 4-point Likert-type scale.

Agreement among panelists in the second round was found for 11 CDS items, but 2 items had decreased acceptance after rephrasing and 2 were rejected.

Rejected items seem to reflect a heterogeneous perception in the target population. Despite some limitations, the CDS is a promising instrument to detect care needs among older Egyptians.