The Nutritional Form For the Elderly (NUFFE). A Short Scale Development Report

Artikkelen beskriver utvikling og testing av ernæringskartleggingsinstrumentet Nutritional Form For the Elderly (NUFFE).Background: screening is recommended as the first step in the process for assessing nutritional status in order to identify nutritional at-risk patients and should be performed with reliable and valid instruments. The nutritional screening instrument Nutritional Form For the Elderly is especially developed for screening of older people. Objectives: the aim of this paper was to describe the development and psychometrical testing procedures of the nutritional screening instrument Nutritional Form For the Elderly. Development: the instrument was constructed after studies about important nutritional issues, found in the scientific literature, regarding older people and contains 15 items without anthropometrical measurements. It is developed in the Swedish context and has been translated into several languages. Psychometrical testing procedures: homogeneity and stability, as measures of reliability, and face validity, criterion-related, concurrent and construct validity as well as sensitivity and specificity have been assessed. Conclusion: the Nutritional Form For the Elderly is reflecting factors of importance for the nutritional status of older people, and the testing procedures have shown that the instrument has sufficient psychometric properties in order to be used as a screening instrument in clinical practice and research