Psychometric properties of long-term care needs questionnaire for older Chinese adults with dementia

Long-term care needs are important for older adults with dementia in the West, but they have not received enough attention from China. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of a long-term care needs instrument for older Chinese adults with dementia.

A total of 1,212 older adults with dementia were recruited from five Chinese cities to complete a 30-item long-term care needs questionnaire. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire was evaluated using multiple assessments, including a content validity assessment, Cronbach's alpha, an item-to-total correlation test, and exploratory factor analysis.

The questionnaire was divided into four sub-sections: life care services (eight items), basic and specialist care services (12 items), mental comfort psychological services (four items), and homecare support services (six items). Cronbach's alpha was .93 for the whole questionnaire and ranged from .83 to .92 for the four sub-questionnaires. The item-to-total correlation coefficients for the four sub-questionnaires were between .68 and .88, and the test-retest correlation coefficient was .88.

Our results validated the reliability and validity of a questionnaire designed to measure the quality of long-term care services for older Chinese adults with dementia.