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Objectives: Recently, a Complexity Index (CI), based on the multidimensional complexity model and derived from the Resident Assessment Instrument for Home Care (interRAI HC) was proposed as a decision-support tool to help frontline health care professionals in their clinical evaluation to identify and analyze complex situations. This study aims to test the CI: (1) concurrent validity with another measure of complexity (ie, the COMID), (2) convergent validity with related constructs assessed by interRAI HC scales (eg, depression), (3) divergent validity (comparison between CI-COMID and scales-COMID correlations), and (4) predictive validity on coordination meetings., Design: A cross-sectional observational design was used for a secondary analysis of interRAI HC and COMID data collected in routine home care nursing practice (July-December 2021)., Setting and Participants: Participants were community-dwelling adults receiving home care, with full interRAI HC and COMID assessments (N = 3533)., Methods: Correlational analyses were conducted to test the concurrent validity of the CI (with the COMID) and the convergent and divergent validity of the CI (with interRAI HC Switzerland scales, eg, Depression Rating Scale, Method for Assigning Priority Levels, and a Frailty Index). A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was conducted to test the discriminative ability of CI on specific professional team coordination meetings., Results: Results showed that the CI correlated positively and strongly with the COMID (ρ = 0.691, P < .001, concurrent validity), positively with all the tested scales (P < .001, convergent validity), whereas the CI-COMID correlation was higher than the interRAI HC scales-COMID correlations (divergent validity). The ROC analysis showed the CI had a high area under the curve (AUC = 0.719, predictive validity)., Conclusions and Implications: The CI demonstrates good validity properties with a strong correlation with the COMID and a high predictive value for coordination meeting. It is distinct from the other interRAI HC scales and has its place among them to support the clinical analysis of complex situations., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Person-centered care allows for the inclusion of the totality of a person's needs and preferences, beyond just the clinical or medical aspect. This approach requires the development of tools to allow for the integration of the patient in his/her healthcare. Based on a 30-item tool developed for nurses to evaluate the complexity of home care situations (COMID), this study proposed a version for the patients (i.e. COMID-P). Both instruments were used, independently by nurses and patients, to rate the complexity of individual situations, in order to compare ratings. Methods: The COMID-P and the COMID were completed during the fraXity study at the patients' homes, independently by patients (aged 65 and over) and nurses. Item-level and scale-level analyses were performed using, Kappa and McNemar tests, and intra-class correlation (ICC). Results: A total of 159 pairs of COMID and COMID-P ratings were retained for analyses. Results demonstrated a high degree of patient/nurse agreement for 12/30 items, a moderate agreement for 10/30 items, and a low degree of agreement for 7/30 items. The intra-class correlation between the COMID-P and the COMID was high (ICC=.826, 95%CI [.761-.873]). Conclusions: The results demonstrate that patients and nurses can assess complexity using tools that have comparable structural properties. They also reveal congruencies and discrepancies in scoring the components of complexity, highlighting the need of reaching consensus in designing care plans. Further work is needed to demonstrate the benefits of joint assessment in developing care plans that truly meet patients' needs. Trial registration: The fraXity study was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03883425, on March 20, 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]