Enhancing quality of life measurement: adapting the ASCOT easy read for older adults accessing social care

James Caiels; Stacey Rand; Rasa Mikelyte; Lucy Webster; Elizabeth Field; Ann Marie Towers

doi:10.1007/s11136-024-03791-0

Enhancing quality of life measurement: adapting the ASCOT easy read for older adults accessing social care

James Caiels^*, Stacey Rand, Rasa Mikelyte, Lucy Webster, Elizabeth Field, Ann Marie Towers

^*Corresponding author for this work

Policy Institute at King's

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to adapt and assess the content validity of the ASCOT Easy Read (ASCOT-ER) for older people accessing social care. Methods: A co-production working group of 8 older social care users and their supporters was established to evaluate the comprehensibility and relevance of the ASCOT-ER images, wording and layout. Changes made by the working group were iteratively tested using cognitive interviewing techniques (think aloud) with 25 older social care users not able to self-complete the original ASCOT. Results: Co-research with people with dementia and their supporters was critical to the development of an effective and accessible tool. Issues identified with comprehension, recall, judgement and response were addressed through iterative adjustments to design, layout and wording. An unexpected finding was that illustrations were disliked or disregarded by the majority of people, and, in particular, those living with dementia. This result contrasts with the typical assumption of easy read approaches, where illustrations are expected to enhance comprehension. Conclusion: The ASCOT-ER measure for older people is suitable for older people using social care services with mild to moderate dementia, mild cognitive impairment and other age-related needs. The revisions applied were designed to improve comprehension, judgement and response for this group and even those who were most cognitively impaired experienced fewer issues by the final round of testing. Nonetheless, some prompting was still required, particularly for those with higher levels of cognitive impairment and it is likely that some respondents will require the questionnaire to be administered in an interview format.

Original language	English
Journal	Quality of Life Research
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-024-03791-0
Publication status	Accepted/In press - 2024

Keywords

Co-production
Dementia
Easy read
Older adults
Quality of life
Social care

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1007/s11136-024-03791-0

Cite this

@article{a3751d10dc284a07b61f715412d3f0b5,

title = "Enhancing quality of life measurement: adapting the ASCOT easy read for older adults accessing social care",

abstract = "Purpose: This study aimed to adapt and assess the content validity of the ASCOT Easy Read (ASCOT-ER) for older people accessing social care. Methods: A co-production working group of 8 older social care users and their supporters was established to evaluate the comprehensibility and relevance of the ASCOT-ER images, wording and layout. Changes made by the working group were iteratively tested using cognitive interviewing techniques (think aloud) with 25 older social care users not able to self-complete the original ASCOT. Results: Co-research with people with dementia and their supporters was critical to the development of an effective and accessible tool. Issues identified with comprehension, recall, judgement and response were addressed through iterative adjustments to design, layout and wording. An unexpected finding was that illustrations were disliked or disregarded by the majority of people, and, in particular, those living with dementia. This result contrasts with the typical assumption of easy read approaches, where illustrations are expected to enhance comprehension. Conclusion: The ASCOT-ER measure for older people is suitable for older people using social care services with mild to moderate dementia, mild cognitive impairment and other age-related needs. The revisions applied were designed to improve comprehension, judgement and response for this group and even those who were most cognitively impaired experienced fewer issues by the final round of testing. Nonetheless, some prompting was still required, particularly for those with higher levels of cognitive impairment and it is likely that some respondents will require the questionnaire to be administered in an interview format.",

keywords = "Co-production, Dementia, Easy read, Older adults, Quality of life, Social care",

author = "James Caiels and Stacey Rand and Rasa Mikelyte and Lucy Webster and Elizabeth Field and Towers, {Ann Marie}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2024.",

year = "2024",

doi = "10.1007/s11136-024-03791-0",

language = "English",

journal = "Quality of Life Research",

issn = "0962-9343",

publisher = "Springer",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Enhancing quality of life measurement

T2 - adapting the ASCOT easy read for older adults accessing social care

AU - Caiels, James

AU - Rand, Stacey

AU - Mikelyte, Rasa

AU - Webster, Lucy

AU - Field, Elizabeth

AU - Towers, Ann Marie

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Purpose: This study aimed to adapt and assess the content validity of the ASCOT Easy Read (ASCOT-ER) for older people accessing social care. Methods: A co-production working group of 8 older social care users and their supporters was established to evaluate the comprehensibility and relevance of the ASCOT-ER images, wording and layout. Changes made by the working group were iteratively tested using cognitive interviewing techniques (think aloud) with 25 older social care users not able to self-complete the original ASCOT. Results: Co-research with people with dementia and their supporters was critical to the development of an effective and accessible tool. Issues identified with comprehension, recall, judgement and response were addressed through iterative adjustments to design, layout and wording. An unexpected finding was that illustrations were disliked or disregarded by the majority of people, and, in particular, those living with dementia. This result contrasts with the typical assumption of easy read approaches, where illustrations are expected to enhance comprehension. Conclusion: The ASCOT-ER measure for older people is suitable for older people using social care services with mild to moderate dementia, mild cognitive impairment and other age-related needs. The revisions applied were designed to improve comprehension, judgement and response for this group and even those who were most cognitively impaired experienced fewer issues by the final round of testing. Nonetheless, some prompting was still required, particularly for those with higher levels of cognitive impairment and it is likely that some respondents will require the questionnaire to be administered in an interview format.

AB - Purpose: This study aimed to adapt and assess the content validity of the ASCOT Easy Read (ASCOT-ER) for older people accessing social care. Methods: A co-production working group of 8 older social care users and their supporters was established to evaluate the comprehensibility and relevance of the ASCOT-ER images, wording and layout. Changes made by the working group were iteratively tested using cognitive interviewing techniques (think aloud) with 25 older social care users not able to self-complete the original ASCOT. Results: Co-research with people with dementia and their supporters was critical to the development of an effective and accessible tool. Issues identified with comprehension, recall, judgement and response were addressed through iterative adjustments to design, layout and wording. An unexpected finding was that illustrations were disliked or disregarded by the majority of people, and, in particular, those living with dementia. This result contrasts with the typical assumption of easy read approaches, where illustrations are expected to enhance comprehension. Conclusion: The ASCOT-ER measure for older people is suitable for older people using social care services with mild to moderate dementia, mild cognitive impairment and other age-related needs. The revisions applied were designed to improve comprehension, judgement and response for this group and even those who were most cognitively impaired experienced fewer issues by the final round of testing. Nonetheless, some prompting was still required, particularly for those with higher levels of cognitive impairment and it is likely that some respondents will require the questionnaire to be administered in an interview format.

KW - Co-production

KW - Dementia

KW - Easy read

KW - Older adults

KW - Quality of life

KW - Social care

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85205076340&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s11136-024-03791-0

DO - 10.1007/s11136-024-03791-0

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85205076340

SN - 0962-9343

JO - Quality of Life Research

JF - Quality of Life Research

ER -

Enhancing quality of life measurement: adapting the ASCOT easy read for older adults accessing social care

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this