Reliability of the Quality of Life-Aged Care Consumers (QOL-ACC) among older people using aged care services at home

Abstract

Abstract Purpose The Quality of Life-Aged Care Consumers (QOL-ACC), a valid preference-based instrument, is nationally rolled out in Australia to monitor and benchmark quality of life for all aged care recipients. Therefore, we aimed to assess the reliability of the QOL-ACC and compare its performance with the EQ-5D-5L. Methods Aged care recipients at home completed a survey including the QOL-ACC, EQ-5D-5L and two global items for health and quality of life at baseline (T1) and 2 weeks later (T2). The Gwet’s AC2 and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) were estimated for the dimensions level and overall scores agreements respectively. The standard error of measurement (SEM) and the smallest detectable change (SDC) were also calculated. Results Of the 78 respondents (mean age, 73.4 ± 5.2 years; 55.4% females) who reported no or one level change in their responses on global items for health and quality of life between T1 and T2 were included. The Gwet’AC2 ranged from 0.48 to 0.65 for the QOL-ACC dimensions which were similar to the EQ-5D-5L. The ICC for the QOL-ACC (0.85; 95% CI, 0.77–0.90) was slightly better than the EQ-5D-5L (0.83; 95% CI, 0.74–0.88). The SEM for the QOL-ACC (0.08) was smaller than for the EQ-5D-5L (0.11). The SDC for the QOL-ACC and the EQ-5D-5L for individual subjects were 0.22 and 0.30 respectively. Conclusions The QOL-ACC demonstrated an excellent temporal consistency similar to the EQ-5D-5L, supporting its repeated use in aged care settings. Further studies will provide evidence of responsiveness of the QOL-ACC to aged care-specific interventions in aged care settings.