Psychometric Evaluation of the Electronic Pain Assessment Tool: An Innovative Instrument for Individuals with Moderate-to-Severe Dementia

Pain is common in aged care residents with dementia; yet it often goes undetected. A novel tool, the electronic Pain Assessment Tool (ePAT), was developed to address this challenging problem. We investigated the psychometric properties of the ePAT. In a 10-week prospective observational study, the e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDementia and geriatric cognitive disorders Vol. 44; no. 5-6; p. 256
Main Authors Atee, Mustafa, Hoti, Kreshnik, Hughes, Jeffery D
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland 01.01.2017
Subjects
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cognition
Dementia - complications
Dementia - psychology
Female
Homes for the Aged
Humans
Male
Neuropsychological Tests
Observer Variation
Pain Measurement - methods
Predictive Value of Tests
Prospective Studies
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results
Validity
Pain
Observational pain scales
Electronic Pain Assessment Tool
Facial action units
Automated facial analysis
Reliability
Application
Automated facial recognition
Psychometric properties
Dementia
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Summary:Pain is common in aged care residents with dementia; yet it often goes undetected. A novel tool, the electronic Pain Assessment Tool (ePAT), was developed to address this challenging problem. We investigated the psychometric properties of the ePAT. In a 10-week prospective observational study, the ePAT was evaluated by comparison against the Abbey Pain Scale (APS). Pain assessments were blindly co-performed by the ePAT rater against the nursing staff of two residential aged care facilities. The residents were assessed twice by each rater: at rest and following movement. The study involved 34 residents aged 85.5 ± 6.3 years, predominantly with severe dementia (Psychogeriatric Assessment Scale - Cognitive Impairment score = 19.7 ± 2.5). Four hundred paired assessments (n = 204 during rest; n = 196 following movement) were performed. Concurrent validity (r = 0.911) and all reliability measures (κw = 0.857; intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.904; α = 0.950) were excellent, while discriminant validity and predictive validity were good. The ePAT is a suitable tool for the assessment of pain in this vulnerable population.
ISSN:1421-9824
DOI:10.1159/000485377