Clinimetric properties of the “FIND-NEEDS” to screen geriatric conditions

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Chang, C.-M., Lin, C.-Y., Hu, F.-W., Wang, Y.-W., Huang, C.-C., Lo, Y.-T., Wu, C.-Y., Chung, Y.-F., Kang, C.-C., Chen, Y.-J., Yang, Y.-C., Liu, L.-F., Griffiths, M.D. ORCID: 0000-0001-8880-6524, Lin, D.-C. and Shen, M.-R., 2024. Clinimetric properties of the “FIND-NEEDS” to screen geriatric conditions. Gerontology. ISSN 0304-324X

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1159/000539261

Abstract

Introduction: Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) is used to thoroughly assess and identify complex healthcare problems among older adults. However, administration of CGA is time-consuming and labor intensive. A simple screening tool with the mnemonic “FIND-NEEDS” was developed to quickly identify common geriatric conditions. The present study was to evaluate the clinimetric properties of the FIND-NEEDS.

Methods: First-visiting older adults aged 65 years and above (and who were able to communicate by themselves or with the help of a caregiver) were assessed (October to December, 2021) using the FIND-NEEDS and CGA at geriatric outpatient clinics of a tertiary, referred medical center. The FIND-NEEDS was examined for its criterion-related validity and compared with the CGA results. Two types of scoring (summed score and binary score) of FIND-NEEDS and CGA were analyzed using Spearman correlation, sensitivity and specificity, and area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).

Results: The mean age of the 114 outpatients was 78.3±7.6 years, and 79(69.3%) were female. The internal consistency was excellent when using all FIND-NEEDS items, and was acceptable when using domain scores. Exploratory factor analysis showed that most of the FIND-NEEDS domain scores had factor loadings higher than 0.3. Intercorrelations of binary scores between domains of FIND-NEEDS and CGA showed most domains were moderately correlated. The overall correlation of summed scores between FIND-NEEDS and CGA was high. The FIND-NEEDS summed score was moderately correlated with CGA score (r=0.494; p<0.001), and the binary score showed excellent correlation (r=0.944; p<0.001). When using the CGA score as the gold standard, the FIND-NEEDS showed excellent AUC (0.950), sensitivity (1.00), and specificity (0.90).

Discussion/Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that the FIND-NEEDS had acceptable clinimetric properties to screen for geriatric problems among older adults. Further in-depth assessment and care plan can then be conducted afterwards.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

Gerontology

Creators:

Chang, C.-M., Lin, C.-Y., Hu, F.-W., Wang, Y.-W., Huang, C.-C., Lo, Y.-T., Wu, C.-Y., Chung, Y.-F., Kang, C.-C., Chen, Y.-J., Yang, Y.-C., Liu, L.-F., Griffiths, M.D., Lin, D.-C. and Shen, M.-R.

Publisher:

S. Karger AG

Date:

15 May 2024

ISSN:

0304-324X

Identifiers: