Testing psychometric properties of a new instrument 'Promoting Active Ageing in Older People with Mental Disorders Scale' from a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: There is no instrument that measures the promotion of active ageing or the factors that influence the promotion of active ageing in older people with mental disorders living in the community. This study aimed to examine psychometric properties of a new survey instrument.

METHODS: A mixed methods exploratory sequential design was used incorporating a cross-sectional survey. The Promoting Active Ageing in Older People with Mental Disorders Scale (PAA-MD) was sent to 579 primary care providers in Yasothon province, Thailand. Construct validity was tested using exploratory factor analysis. The internal reliability was examined using Cronbach's alpha coefficient.

RESULTS: The PAA-MD consisted of three sections. Section II found Bartlett's test of sphericity was χ2 (1431) = 26221.167, P < 0.001. Items used theoretical justification to group items into five factors, namely: participation, education, health, leisure, and security. Section III indicated Bartlett's test was χ2 (666) = 23524.074, P < 0.001. Items were grouped into five components, namely: facilitators, barriers, knowledge, skills, resources and support. Internal reliability of sections II and III with Cronbach's alpha was greater than 0.7. The corrected item-total correlation coefficient of all items was greater than 0.30.

CONCLUSION: The PAA-MD contains 104 items from three sections. Construct validity was adequate to capture phenomena. Internal reliability revealed good homogeneity.