Evaluating physical environments for older people-Validation of the Swedish version of the Sheffield Care Environment Assessment Matrix for use in Finnish long-term care.

AIM

To validate a Finnish version of the Sheffield Care Environment Assessment Matrix (S-SCEAM) instrument for assessing the physical environment of long-term care settings and to describe the current status of the environmental quality of long-term care settings for older people in Finland.

BACKGROUND

The importance of providing a well-designed physical environment for older people is supported by the research literature. There is limited research of the physical environments of long-term care settings from the perspective of nursing science and nor is there much research into the instruments for assessing them.

DESIGN

A descriptive, correlational and observational study.

METHODS

Forward and back translation process was used followed by structured observations with S-SCEAM-Fin in 20 long-term care units in intensive residential care facilities for older people with 24-h nursing assistance and with extensive support for daily activities. Spearman's rho correlation, Cohen's kappa, percentage of agreement and Kuder-Richardson formula coefficients were calculated to assess psychometric properties of the translated S-SCEAM-Fin. S-SCEAM-Fin standardised scores were calculated to describe the current status of the environmental quality.

RESULTS

Inter-scale (domain) correlations showed low to moderate correlations between the domains. Consistency was acceptable in four of the domains. Cohen's kappa values indicated good (0.796 and 0.648) intra-rater and inter-rater (0.910 and 0.553) reliability. The overall mean of the standardised scores was 57.00, but there was variation between domains. Small units received the highest scores in the six domains.

CONCLUSIONS

S-SCEAM-Fin was useful in assessing environmental quality. Assessment of the environmental quality disclosed deficiencies in ensuring settings adequate for older people.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

The increasing numbers of older people with health conditions are residing in long-term care settings. It is essential to create supportive physical environments. The instrument can be useful when planning new facilities or proposing new recommendations for institutional living environments.