Original StudyMeasurement Properties of the Groningen Frailty Indicator in Home-Dwelling and Institutionalized Elderly People
Section snippets
Methods
From June 2008 until February 2010, a cross-sectional study was conducted among individuals residing in the northern provinces of the Netherlands. We recruited 359 elderly people who met the following inclusion criteria: persons 65 years and older who were able to fill out questionnaires. We excluded elderly people who had severe cognitive dysfunction or were very ill. The exclusion of severe cognitive dysfunction during the home interview was based on the professional judgment of
Results
A total of 359 elderly persons consented to participate in the study and filled out a postal questionnaire. All included elderly persons participated in the home interviews for the assessment of case complexity (INTERMED) and life satisfaction (Cantril Ladder of Life). During the study period, the assessment of ADLs (Katz), quality of life (EQ-5D), and mental health (SF-36) were added to the interview. For most of the included elderly people (n = 260), all instruments mentioned previously were
Discussion
This study collaborates the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the self-report version of the GFI in home-dwelling and institutionalized elderly people.
The feasibility of the self-report version of the GFI in the present study was good, which supports the results of a previous study.22 Most of the elderly persons (84%, n = 296) had no difficulty completing the GFI, a minority (16%, n = 57) skipped at least one item on the GFI. Persons who had at least one missing value were older in age,
Conclusion
We conclude that the results of this cross-sectional study showed evidence that confirms the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the self-report version of the GFI in a heterogeneous elderly population.
Acknowledgments
We thank all elderly people who participated in the study and we show our gratitude to the research nurses, Marijke Kastermans and Karin Knuvers, for collecting the study data.
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Cited by (0)
This study was supported by a grant from ZonMw—the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (60-61900-98-218). ZonMw had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, writing of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication. Finally, the authors have no financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest.