Assessing Caregivers’ Skills in Assisting People with Dementia during Mealtime: Portuguese Cultural Adaptation of the Feeding Skills Checklist

Lígia Passos, João Tavares and Daniela Figueiredo
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Lígia Passos: Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS.UA), Department of Education and Psychology, Campus Universitário de Santiago, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
João Tavares: Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS.UA), School of Health Sciences, Campus Universitário de Santiago, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Daniela Figueiredo: Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS.UA), School of Health Sciences, Campus Universitário de Santiago, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 12, 1-13

Abstract: In advanced dementia, individuals usually develop feeding difficulties. The Feeding Skills Checklist (FSC) is an instrument to assess caregivers’ skills when assisting people with dementia (PwD) at mealtimes. This study aimed to adapt and culturally validate a European Portuguese version of the FSC (FSC-PT) and test its reliability. Initially, translation and cultural validation of the FSC, with estimation of the content validity index (CVI), was conducted. Then, the FSC was applied to 23 female nursing assistants (mean age 44.73 ± 10.42 years) while offering lunch (n = 41 meals) to institutionalized PwD. Inter-rater reliability was determining using Cohen’s Kappa. FSC-PT showed excellent content validity, with item-content validity index ranging from 0.85 to 1, scale level average CVI = 0.94 and universal agreement CVI = 0.54. It also showed very satisfactory inter-observer reliability, with Cohen’s Kappa = 0.844. Of the 41 meals analyzed, only 37.7% of the actions/good practices in feeding PwD were observed. A positive and moderate correlation was found between the length of time working as nursing assistance and the FSC environment dimension (r s = 0.435; p = 0.038). The results supported the content validity of the FSC-PT, which shows considerable potential to be an instrument for verifying caregivers’ skills when helping PWD to eat and should be increasingly studied.

Keywords: dementia; mealtime difficulties; nursing assistants; caregiver; assessment tool; reliability; content validity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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