Additional psychometric evaluation of the Outcomes and Assessment Information Set (OASIS).

The OASIS represents a rich opportunity for researchers interested in home health care outcomes. However, little psychometric information has been published. The purpose of this study was to provide additional psychometric data for selected portions of the OASIS using a sub-set of 201 subjects from a previously published study. Conceptual domains were identified-functional, affect, behavioral and clinical. Reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha and the kappa coefficient for intra-rater reliability. Construct validity was evaluated by principal axis factor analysis within each domain. The functional domain had the best reliability and validity. The affect and behavioral domains had adequate kappa scores, but the alphas and the factor analyses were problematic. Two of the clinical items did not perform well with kappa scores. Recommendations and suggestions for use of the OASIS are made.