Reliability, Validity And Application Of The Chinese Version Of The Nutritional Form For The Elderly

Objective The present study aimed to investigate older people’s nutritional state, to test the reliability, validity and application of the Chinese version of the Nutritional Form For the Elderly(NUFFE-CHI), as well as to analyze the effect factors of the malnutrition of older people.Methods The study adopted a cross-sectional design. A total number of 701 community-dwelling older adults answered the questionnaire, including background variables and the NUFFE-CHI. The general data, reliability and validity, and logistic regression were analyzed with SPSS17.0 and AMOS17.0.Results Cronbach’s α of NUFFE-CHI was 0.65 and the split-half reliability was 0.67. The test-retest reliability regarding the total scores of NUFFE-CHI was reflected in an intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.88. The intra-class correlation coefficients between the test and retest of the NUFFE-CHI items varied between 0.45 and 0.98. Item-to-total correlation analyses explained that the scale had sufficient internal consistency. The item content validity indexes were from 0.60 to 1.00, S-CVI/UA was 0.87 and S-CVI/Ave was 0.96. Construct validity was demonstrated in an exploratory factor analysis with a four-factor solution, explaining 44.50% of the variance. The communalities of each item were 0.223-0.601. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good construct validity with the root mean square error of approximation(RMSEA) of 0.046, the goodness-of-fit index(GFI) of 0.945, and the adjusted goodness-of-fit index(AGFI) of 0.921. The survey showed that 25% community elderly in Jinzhou City were at a medium or high risk in malnutrition. Total sample and women in different age got a different nutrition score(P<0.05). Older adults who needed help in their daily life had a higher risk in malnutrition(P<0.05). Living alone, helplessness, low BMI, multiple chronic diseases were the risk factors of elderly malnutrition.Conclusions This first testing of the NUFFE-CHI indicates sufficient evidence for reliability and validity. And it can be used as a screening instrument in older people of Chinese community. Older adults with advanced age, living alone, helplessness, requiring help in daily life, low BMI and multiple chronic diseases have to prevent malnutrition.