The accessibility of public facilities for all is an issue increasingly gaining focus in policy debates, especially with regard to the ageing population. This presentation deals with the development of an instrument for assessing the accessibility of public entrances. Items to include in the instrument were selected by means of literature review in an iterative process. Content validity was evaluated by expert panel approach. Five senior researchers were appointed representing different research areas, that is, Gerontology, Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy and Industrial design. Construct validity was tested using simulation techniques and by spearman correlation analysis with a related construct. Reliability was tested by inter-rater agreement analysis, where 15 public entrances were strategically selected to represent a variety with regard to type of entrance and service provided. The assessments were conducted by five rater pairs with different background, expertise and familiarity with assessment instruments. Content validity was assessed as high (3.6 on a scale from 1 to 4) and correlation indicating convergent validity between instrument scores and related construct was moderate (r=0.60, p<0.001). Inter-rater reliability was acceptable to good (kappa 0.42, overall agreement 81%). After an iterative process including review of validity and reliability results, the resulting assessment instrument consisted of 56 items in 7 sections. The instrument makes it possible to validly and reliably assess and analyze accessibility problems of public entrances. The goal is to support planning, evaluation and accomplishment of policies targeting participation of older people by making public entrances accessible for all, regardless of functional capacity.
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