Introduction: The well-being of older persons is a multidimensional concept that includes happiness, self-contentment, fulfilling social relationships and independence. Occupations are the daily tasks that people perform as individuals and are closely associated with their perception of well-being. Malaysia is predicted to be an ageing nation in 2030. However, there is a shortage of well-being assessments that focus on older persons’ level of satisfaction in daily occupation and are culturally suited to Malaysia.
Objectives: This study focuses on developing and validating a self-rated well-being assessment for older persons in the Malay language
Methods: This study was a cross-sectional design conducted in two phases. In Phase One, the assessment was developed through existing questionnaires, framework, past literature, and focus group discussion (FGD). Purposive sampling was used to recruit seven FGD participants, including occupational therapists (OTs), clinical psychologists, Senior Citizens Activity Centres’ (PAWE) supervisor and older person. The findings from FGD were analysed thematically and used to develop the assessment. In Phase Two, the developed assessment was validated by nine expert panels including OTs, clinical psychologists and the supervisor of PAWE using the content validity index (CVI) and face validity index (FVI).
Results: The developed assessment had excellent content and face validity with high values of Item-CVI (0.93-1.00), Scale-CVI/Average (0.99-1.00), Scale-CVI/ Universal Agreement (0.90-1.00) and percentage of agreement among raters (0.90-1.00).
Conclusion: The newly developed well-being assessment is valid and, hence, can be used to assess the level of satisfaction in the daily occupation of older persons in Malaysia.