Development and psychometric testing of the Scale of Older Adults' Routine

This paper is a report of a study to develop, test the reliability, convergent and criterion-related validity of the Scale of Older Adults' Routine, using measures of routinization and functional status.

The concept of routine needs a reliable and valid measure in order to allow for further expansion of research in this field.

An instrument development procedure, followed by two studies, was conducted in 2004-2005. The validation study utilized a prospective, within-subject design. Testing took place in samples of independently dwelling residents in four retirement communities in an urban area in the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America (USA). A total of 90 participants took part in the studies. A pilot study (n = 10) allowed for feasibility testing, and a prospective three-time point longitudinal study (n = 80) assessed the instrument's reliability and preliminary validity.

The 42-item scale describes various aspects of older adults' routines and assesses routine stability across time. The scale has five dimensions (Basic, Instrumental, Social, Leisure and Rest Activities) and five scoring systems. The scale's content validity and feasibility were high. Reliability indices were acceptable, ranging from 0.56 to 0.90 for the subscales. Validity tests showed moderate correlations with both functional indices (r = 0.29-0.56; P < 0.01) and trait routinization (r = 0.30-0.38; P < 0.01).

Scale of Older Adults' Routine demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties for most of its subscales and scores. Although further research is needed, it can be applied in both research and practice for evaluating routine among older adults and its associations with various outcome measures.