Table 2 List of factors that were suggested to influence activity involvement of care home residents with dementia that were represented in the LAD-study; description of variables and measurement specifications
From: Predictors of activity involvement in dementia care homes: a cross-sectional study
Proposed factor in literature | Selected variables in LAD-study | Measurement specifications |
|---|---|---|
Characteristics of residents with dementia | ||
  Age | 1. Age | Years acquired by date of birth (42 to 101) |
  Gender | 2. Gender | Male or female |
  Marital status | 3. Having a life partner | Life partner yes or no/diseased |
  Length of stay | 5. Length of stay | < 6 months or >6 months |
  ADL dependency | 6. ADL dependency | Katz ADL dependency scale (1 to 7) |
  Immobility | 7. Immobility | Transfer-item of Katz scale was dichotomized in mobile (being able to transfer independently with or without instrumental means) and immobile (hardly or not able to transfer independently) |
  Cognitive functioning | 8. Cognitive impairment | Cognitive Performance Scale (CPS; 0 to 6) |
  Behavioral symptoms | 9. Challenging behavior | Short version Neuropsychiatric Inventory questionnaire (NPI-Q; 0 to 36) |
  depression | 10. Depression | The separate NPI-Q items for depression, agitation, anxiety, and apathy were dichotomized into no or rare occurrence, and frequent occurrence. |
  agitation | 11. Agitation | |
  anxiety | 12. Anxiety | |
  passivity, apathy (loss of interest or lack of motivation) | 13. Apathy | |
Characteristics of resources of finances, staff ratio and educational level | ||
  Staff ratio / shortness of time and resources | 14. Staffing levels | Hours of care staff available per week per resident on dementia care wards (13.86 to 30.48) |
  Insufficient knowledge of dementia / lack of skills / Formal staff training | 15. Educational level of care staff | Percentage of scheduled care staff with education level 3 (certified nursing assistant) or higher (22.70 to 100) |
  Ratio receiving professional or unprofessional treatment / Involvement of physicians or paramedics in care planning | 16. Availability of (para)medics | Number of available hours of (para)medic staff per week per resident of dementia care wards (0 to 5.06) |
  Instability of care team / High staff turnover / leave of skilled staff that were not replaced | 17. Number of vacancies | Number of care staff vacancies per resident of dementia ward that were not yet fulfilled (0 to 0.22) |
18. Average sick leave | Average percentage of sick leave of the past 6Â months concerning staff working on dementia care wards (0.82 to 17.0) | |
Characteristics of modern or traditional care culture of the care facility | ||
  Strong management and leadership | 19. Transformational leadership | Global Transformational Leadership (GTL) scale (1 to 5) |
  Person centered care / approach to people with dementia/ positive person work / insufficient attention to resident’s occupational needs, initiatives and capabilities / Lack of understanding importance of occupation / Task oriented working / Prioritization of physical over psychosocial needs / Organizational routines limiting autonomy of residents/ Family involved in assessment activities | 20. Person-centered care | Person-centered Care Assessment Tool (P-CAT; 1 to 5). 12 of the 14 items were used based on factor analyses: items 4 and 13 were dropped |
21. Family perceived involvement | Family Perception of Caregiver Role (FPCR) instrument (1 to 7). 23 of the 31 items were used based on factor analyses: items 3–6, 8, 13, 14 and 17 were dropped. | |
  Philosophy of care | 22. Philosophy of care | Unanimity in care philosophy questionnaire (1 to 5) |
  Psychotropic / anticholinergic / antipsychotic / sedative drug use | 23. Psychotropic drug use | Average number of prescribed psychotropic drugs per resident (0.17 to 2.38) |
  Use of physical restraints | 24. Physical restraint use | Average number of physical restraints applied per resident (bed rails not included; 0 to 0.74) |
Characteristics of job strain as perceived by care staff | ||
  Perceived high workload / lack of time / emotional and task related demands / work stress | 25. Job demands | Work and time pressure subscale of the Leiden Quality of Work Questionnaire (LQWQ; 1 to 4) |
26. Decision authority | Decision authority subscale of the LQWQ (1 to 4) | |
27. Burn-out complaints | emotional exhaustion subscale Utrecht Burn-out Scale-C (UBOS; 0 to 6) | |
  Work satisfaction | 28. Job satisfaction | Job satisfaction subscale LQWQ (1 to 4) |
  Perceived support of staff | 29. Social support colleagues | Social support co-workers subscales LQWQ (1 to 4) |
  Perceived support of manager | 30. Social support supervisor | Social support supervisor subscales LQWQ (1 to 4) |
  Competence to provide suited activities / Perceived success in treatment of residents | 31. Feelings of competence | Feelings of competence subscale UBOS (0 to 6) |
Characteristics of the physical care environment | ||
  Number of residents in facility / smaller size of facility | 32. Total number of residents of care home | Total number of residents of the dementia care wards of care home (6 to 161) |
  Small scale living facility / Familiar environment / homelike environment or atmosphere / household environment / social interaction enhancing environment / small group of people | 33. Group living home care characteristics | 14-item version of the Questionnaire ‘Group Living Home Characteristics’ (0 to 56) |
Characteristics of the organization of activities | ||
  (Absence of) large group activity offer or standardized activities/ Individual and small group activity offer / lack of organized activities / activity choices / availability of various and ongoing or continuous activities / focus on everyday occupation | 34. Central activity program | Are there activities organized by a central activity program, are there activities that are offered in the living rooms, and are there activities organized in the form of in clubs (more options are possible) – all variables dichotomized in yes or no. |
35. Activities that are offered in the living rooms | ||
36. Activities in the form of in clubs | ||
  Activity provision not restricted to activity workers / no specialized worker perspective | 37. Activities are (also) offered by care staff | yes or no |
  Activities provided by recreational staff / absence of activity staff | 38. Availability of recreational or activity staff | Number of available hours per week per resident of dementia care wards (0 to 4.71) |
  Family involvement (hr/week) | 39. Availability of help of family caregivers | Number of hours of help from family caregivers per week per resident (0 to 4.20) |
40. Availability of help of volunteers | Number of hours of help from volunteers per week per resident (0 to 6.67) | |