Mangini Gloria, Festari Cristina, Ottaviani Silvia, Tagliafico Luca, Di Cara Gianluca, Nencioni Alessio, Monacelli Fiammetta
IRCCS San Martino Polyclinic Hospital, Genoa, Italy.
Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties (DIMI), Section of Geriatrics, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
Front Public Health. 2025 Aug 4;13:1576223. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1576223. eCollection 2025.
Social vulnerability is a key health domain that is associated with frailty and disability in older adults, informing clinical trajectories and outcomes both on an individual and at a population level. The underlying concept is that frailty develops with the accumulation of physical, psychological, and social deficits, and the identification of losses in the social domain may allow for designing tailored interventions in a timely fashion. The aim of the present study was to adapt the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) to the Italian language and culture for these purposes.
The Italian version of the SVI (SVI-I) has been developed through a comprehensive cross-cultural adaptation of the original Canadian SVI. This process involved four steps: initial translation, synthesis of translations, back translation, and a Delphi procedure.
The result of the study is the face-valid 38-item SVI-I. Based on the Delphi procedure, the SVI-I can be administered to Italian-speaking, over-65, community-dwelling individuals not affected by cognitive decline.
This study develops the first index to measure social vulnerability in the Italian-speaking population, aiming at a multidimensional approach to address social and healthcare needs. If proven effective in subsequent validation studies, it may enhance geriatric assessments, improve early social vulnerability detection, and support tailored care plans.
社会脆弱性是一个关键的健康领域，与老年人的虚弱和残疾相关，在个体和人群层面上影响临床病程和结局。其潜在概念是，虚弱随着身体、心理和社会缺陷的积累而发展，识别社会领域的缺失可能有助于及时设计针对性的干预措施。本研究的目的是为了这些目的将社会脆弱性指数（SVI）改编为适合意大利语言和文化的版本。
意大利版的SVI（SVI-I）是通过对原始加拿大SVI进行全面的跨文化改编而开发的。这个过程包括四个步骤：初步翻译、翻译综合、回译和德尔菲程序。
研究结果是具有表面效度的38项SVI-I。基于德尔菲程序，SVI-I可用于对65岁以上、居住在社区、说意大利语且未受认知衰退影响的个体进行评估。
本研究开发了首个用于衡量说意大利语人群社会脆弱性的指数，旨在采用多维度方法来满足社会和医疗保健需求。如果在后续验证研究中被证明有效，它可能会加强老年评估，改善早期社会脆弱性检测，并支持针对性的护理计划。
