Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly (CANE) - Development, validity and reliability

Background There exists no instrument specifically designed to measure comp rehensively the needs of older people with mental disorders. Aim To develop such an instrument which would take account of patients', st aff and carers' views on needs. Method Following an extensive development process, the assessment instrumen t was subjected to a test-retest and interrater reliability study, while as pects of validity were addressed both during development and with data prov ided by sites in the UK, Sweden and the USA. Results The Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly (CANE) comprises 24 items (plus two items for carer needs), and records staff, carer and pat ient views. It has good content, construct and consensual validity. It also demonstrates appropriate criterion validity. Reliability is generally very high: kappa > 0.85 for all staff ratings of interrater reliability. Correl ations of interrater and test-retest reliability of total numbers of needs identified by staff were 0.99 and 0.93, respectively. Conclusions The psychometric properties of the CANE seem to be highly accep table. It was easily used by a wide range of professionals without formal t raining. Declaration of interest This study was funded by a grant from the North Tha mes National Health Service Executive.