Measuring what matters to older persons for active living: part I content development for the OPAL measure across four countries

AimsMany older persons do not think of themselves as “patients” but as persons wishing to live as actively as possible for as long as possible. However, most health-related quality of life (HRQL) measures were developed for use with clinical populations. The aim of this project was to fill that gap and to develop, for international use, a measure of what matters to older persons as they age and seek to remain as active as possible, Older Persons for Active Living (OPAL).MethodsFor content development, interviews about active living were conducted with older persons from Canada, USA, UK, and the Netherlands in English, French, Spanish and Dutch, respectively with subsequent thematic analysis and harmonization.ResultsAnalyses of transcripts from 148 older persons revealed that active living was a “way of being” and not merely doing activities. Saturation was reached and a total of 59 content areas were identified. After grouping similar “ways” together and after conducting a consensus rating of importance, 19 unique and important “ways” remained. In some languages, formulating was challenging for three of the 19, resulting in changes to two English words and dropping two other words, yielding a final list of 17 “ways of being” with harmonized wording in 4 languages.ConclusionThis study underscores the significance of listening to older adults and highlights the importance of considering linguistic and cultural nuances in measure development.