Constructing a measure of balance recovery confidence for older persons: Content themes from different stakeholders

Abstract

Background: The absence of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) for a specific construct or target population suggests a need for such measures to be developed. A case in point is the domain of falls efficacy; a PROM for balance recovery confidence was proposed to improve older persons ’agency to arrest a fall. Appropriate participation in its development by relevant stakeholders was identified as essential to maximise the utility of the PROM and its potential to enhance patient care. There is a gap in the practice development literature in terms of PROMs for older persons. This article aims to encourage researchers to use the principles of practice development to address this gap by involving relevant stakeholders to gain greater insight.

Methods: The nominal group technique and the Delphi technique were used to generate and refine the content of the measure, and content analysis was applied to assess and summarise the data.

Findings: Unique themes emerged, such as ‘agency of older people in the prevention of falls ’from the community-dwelling older adults in Singapore, and ‘clinical specificity ’from an international panel of healthcare professionals. Common themes including ‘relevance to the target population’, ‘comprehensibility ’and ‘cultural and contextual sensitivity ’were found in both groups.

Conclusion: A collaborative, inclusive and participatory approach involving different stakeholders, underpinned by practice development methodology, can offer rich insights for PROM developers.

Implications for practice:

Meaningful perspectives are generated from a diversity of views shared by representatives from all stakeholder groups involved in caregiving Participation of different stakeholders, such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, nurses, doctors, podiatrists and older persons, provides a more robust and authentic approach to developing a PROM for older persons