The development of a procedure for the evaluation of communication occurring between residents in long-term care and their caregivers

An evaluation procedure was developed for describing communication occurrin g between residents and their caregivers in long-term care institutions, th e MECQ-LTC. The procedure was based on previous work describing communicati on in long-term care (Le Dorze ef dl. 1994) and is divided into two major s ections examining: (1) the frequency of use of various means of communicati on used by residents and caregivers; and (2) the number of communication ac ts realized by a resident. After extensive pre-tests, a content validity st udy was undertaken with speech-language therapists and other health profess ionals. A criterion validity study with 31 residents with aphasia (n = 15) or with dementia (n = 16) and 62 nurses relatively familiar with these resi dents, demonstrated significant correlations between the number of communic ation acts realized and another measure of functional communication, the RE FCP-interaction analysis (Wirz el al. 1990). Inter-judge and intra-judge re liability was sufficient and satisfactory. An evaluation of the MECQ-LTC's sensitivity pointed out differences in communication impairment associated with aphasia and dementia. The results of this psychometric study are discu ssed in terms of further research and in terms of clinical uses.