Effects of home visits by home nurses to elderly people with health problems: design of a randomised clinical trial in the Netherlands [ISRCTN92017183]

Table 3 Outcome measures and their operationalisation

Outcome measure	Operationalisation*	Measurement**
Self-rated health***	report mark between 1–10	0, 1, 2, 3
Functional status***	GARS [28], score 18–72 Adl, subscore 11–44 Iadl, subscore 7–28	0, 1, 2, 3
Quality of life***	Rand-36 [29], 1item SF-20 [30], 2 subscales, score 0–100	0, 1, 2, 3
Changes in self-reported problems***	3 main problems, 3-points scale	0, 1, 2, 3
Health complaints	SCL-90 [31], 2 subscales	4
Depressive complaints	GDS [23], score 0–15	4
Mental status	MMSE-12 [32], score 0–12	4
Locus of control	Mastery Scale [33], score 7–35	4
Social support	SSL12-I [34], score 12–48	4
Loneliness	Loneliness Scale [35], score 0–11	4
Medication	volume, costs	4
Aids and modifications to the home	type, costs	4, 5
Mortality	number	5
Use of extramural and institutional care, e.g., medical specialist help* and hospital (re-) admission*	e.g., number of contacts GPs, days in hospital, costs	5

* the underlined scores indicate the most favourable score on the specific scale
** 0 = postal questionnaire at the start of the study
1 = postal questionnaire after 12 months
2 = postal questionnaire after 18 months (at the end of the intervention period)
3 = postal questionnaire after 24 months (at the end of a 6-months follow-up period)
4 = face-to-face interview after 18 months
5 = continuous registration by services over a 24-months period
*** primary outcome measures

ISSN: 1472-6963