Systematic review of EASY-care needs assessment for community-dwelling older people

Craig, Chris; Chadborn, Neil; Sands, Gina; Tuomainen, Helena; Gladman, John R.F.

Abstract

Background: undertaking comprehensive geriatric assessments (CGAs) combined with long-term health and social care management can improve the quality of life of older people [ 1]. The EASY-Care tool is a CGA instrument designed for assessing the physical, mental and social functioning and unmet health and social needs of older people in community settings or primary care. It has also been used as a frailty assessment tool and for gathering population-level data.

Objective: to review the evidence of reliability, validity and acceptability of EASY-Care and its appropriateness for assessing the needs of community-dwelling older people.

Methods: systematic search of literature databases using pre-defined search terms (January 1994—May 2014) for English language articles reporting on the reliability, validity, acceptability and implementation of EASY-Care in primary care and community settings. Eligible articles were critically reviewed. Discussion papers mapping professionals' use of the tool were also included as these could be considered an aspect of validity.

Results: twenty-nine papers met the inclusion criteria and underwent data extraction. A narrative synthesis was performed, because there was a variety of quantitative and qualitative outcomes and characteristics. Reliability evidence for EASY-Care is minimal. Evidence for validity is good, and it has received numerous positive endorsements of acceptability in international settings from older people and practitioners.

Conclusion: evidence supports the use of EASY-Care for individual needs assessment; further research is needed for other uses. Of the papers that made statements about who should administer EASY-Care, the majority indicated that nurses were preferable to self-completion.

Citation

Craig, C., Chadborn, N., Sands, G., Tuomainen, H., & Gladman, J. R. (2015). Systematic review of EASY-care needs assessment for community-dwelling older people. Age and Ageing, 44(4), https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afv050

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 4, 2015
• Publication Date: Apr 24, 2015
• Deposit Date: Feb 28, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 28, 2017
• Journal: Age and Ageing
• Print ISSN: 0002-0729
• Electronic ISSN: 1468-2834
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 44
• Issue: 4
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afv050
• Keywords: EASY-Care, geriatric assessment, needs assessment, systematic review, older people
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/749063
• Publisher URL: https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/ageing/afv050
• Additional Information: This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Age and Ageing following peer review. The version of record Systematic review of EASY-care needs assessment for community-dwelling older people / Christopher Craig, Neil Chadborn, Gina Sands, Helena Tuomainen, John Gladman. Age and Ageing (2015) 44 (4): 559-565. is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/ageing/afv050