NURSING STAFF PERCEPTIONS OF QUALITY-OF-LIFE OF COGNITIVELY IMPAIRED ELDERS - INSTRUMENTAL DEVELOPMENT

This article describes the development and testing of the Cognitively Impaired Life Quality (CILQ) Scale to quantify differences in quality of life of severely cognitively impaired elderly patients as perceived by nursing caregivers. Two studies are reported. in study 1, focus gr oups with long-term care nurses were conducted using a vignette to eli cit items most relevant to qualify of life in cognitively impaired eld ers. These data were used to generate a 29-item version of the CILQ Sc ale. An exploratory factor analysis revealed a four-factor structure t hat included items related to social interaction, basic physical care, appearance of patient to others, and nutrition. In study 2, 67 nursin g caregivers completed a shortened 14-item CILQ Scale using two actual patients as their reference. With these patients, the factor structur e best resembled a three-factor solution including items related to so cial interaction, nutrition/comfort and basic physical care.