Development and validation of personal care module as a guideline to assist older adults with more significant disabilities

Abstract

Introduction: Older adults residing in community, as well as those who are residing in institutional or care home may experience various cognitive, health and physical impairments that may affect their independent. Continuous supports are needed to manage most of their personal care activities usually managed by their family members, often without proper training or guidance. To date, there is no personal care module that can be used as a guideline by family members and paid caretakers. Therefore, this study aims to develop and validate a personal care module as a guideline in assisting older adults with more significant disabilities. Methods: This study was a three-phase study, involving 1) development of the personal care module, 2) focus group discussion with healthcare experts and 3) face and content validity by the expert reviewers. Results: A total of 13 occupational therapists (77% of the experts were female) involved as experts in evaluating the module, 46% of them having Bachelor Degree in Occupational Therapy and having between 5 to 25 years of working experience. The finding showed that the developed module had high content validity ranging from 0.88 to 1.00 on six domains of personal hygiene, bathing, dressing, feeding, bed mobility and stairs climbing, indicated that the module is suitable for used as a guideline in assisting older adults with more significant disabilities. Conclusion: This study provides a preliminary support for the developed personal care module as a valid instrument to be used as a guideline in managing personal care activities of older adults with more significant disabilities.