Palliative Care Problem Severity Score: Reliability and acceptability in a national study

Masso, M; Allingham, SF; Johnson, CE; Pidgeon, T; Yates, P; Currow, D; Eagar, K

Palliative Care Problem Severity Score: Reliability and acceptability in a national study

Masso, M Allingham, SF Johnson, CE Pidgeon, T Yates, P Currow, D

Eagar, K

Permalink

Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Palliative Medicine, 2016, 30 (5), pp. 479 - 485
Issue Date:: 2016-01-01

Closed Access

	Filename	Description	Size
	0269216315613904.pdf	Published Version	341.1 kB	Adobe PDF	View/Open

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Closed Access

This item is closed access and not available.

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Masso, M	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Allingham, SF	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Johnson, CE	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Pidgeon, T	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Yates, P	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Currow, D https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1988-1250	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Eagar, K	en_US
dc.date.issued	2016-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Palliative Medicine, 2016, 30 (5), pp. 479 - 485	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0269-2163	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/118421
dc.description.abstract	© SAGE Publications. Background: The Palliative Care Problem Severity Score is a clinician-rated tool to assess problem severity in four palliative care domains (pain, other symptoms, psychological/spiritual, family/carer problems) using a 4-point categorical scale (absent, mild, moderate, severe). Aim: To test the reliability and acceptability of the Palliative Care Problem Severity Score. Design: Multi-centre, cross-sectional study involving pairs of clinicians independently rating problem severity using the tool. Setting/participants: Clinicians from 10 Australian palliative care services: 9 inpatient units and 1 mixed inpatient/community-based service. Results: A total of 102 clinicians participated, with almost 600 paired assessments completed for each domain, involving 420 patients. A total of 91% of paired assessments were undertaken within 2 h. Strength of agreement for three of the four domains was moderate: pain (Kappa = 0.42, 95% confidence interval = 0.36 to 0.49); psychological/spiritual (Kappa = 0.48, 95% confidence interval = 0.42 to 0.54); family/carer (Kappa = 0.45, 95% confidence interval = 0.40 to 0.52). Strength of agreement for the remaining domain (other symptoms) was fair (Kappa = 0.38, 95% confidence interval = 0.32 to 0.45). Conclusion: The Palliative Care Problem Severity Score is an acceptable measure, with moderate reliability across three domains. Variability in inter-rater reliability across sites and participant feedback indicate that ongoing education is required to ensure that clinicians understand the purpose of the tool and each of its domains. Raters familiar with the patient they were assessing found it easier to assign problem severity, but this did not improve inter-rater reliability.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Palliative Medicine	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1177/0269216315613904	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Gerontology	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Humans	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Palliative Care	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Cross-Sectional Studies	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Reproducibility of Results	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Needs Assessment	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Feedback	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Databases, Factual	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Health Services Needs and Demand	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Australia	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Surveys and Questionnaires	en_US
dc.title	Palliative Care Problem Severity Score: Reliability and acceptability in a national study	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	5	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	30	en_US
utslib.for	1199 Other Medical and Health Sciences	en_US
utslib.for	1117 Public Health and Health Services	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health/IMPACCT
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	5	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	30	en_US

Abstract:

© SAGE Publications. Background: The Palliative Care Problem Severity Score is a clinician-rated tool to assess problem severity in four palliative care domains (pain, other symptoms, psychological/spiritual, family/carer problems) using a 4-point categorical scale (absent, mild, moderate, severe). Aim: To test the reliability and acceptability of the Palliative Care Problem Severity Score. Design: Multi-centre, cross-sectional study involving pairs of clinicians independently rating problem severity using the tool. Setting/participants: Clinicians from 10 Australian palliative care services: 9 inpatient units and 1 mixed inpatient/community-based service. Results: A total of 102 clinicians participated, with almost 600 paired assessments completed for each domain, involving 420 patients. A total of 91% of paired assessments were undertaken within 2 h. Strength of agreement for three of the four domains was moderate: pain (Kappa = 0.42, 95% confidence interval = 0.36 to 0.49); psychological/spiritual (Kappa = 0.48, 95% confidence interval = 0.42 to 0.54); family/carer (Kappa = 0.45, 95% confidence interval = 0.40 to 0.52). Strength of agreement for the remaining domain (other symptoms) was fair (Kappa = 0.38, 95% confidence interval = 0.32 to 0.45). Conclusion: The Palliative Care Problem Severity Score is an acceptable measure, with moderate reliability across three domains. Variability in inter-rater reliability across sites and participant feedback indicate that ongoing education is required to ensure that clinicians understand the purpose of the tool and each of its domains. Raters familiar with the patient they were assessing found it easier to assign problem severity, but this did not improve inter-rater reliability.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/118421