Background Housing-related control beliefs are associated with aspects of health among older people in general. Research on Parkinson's disease (PD) focusing on perceptions of the home are rare and instruments capturing perceived aspects of home have seldom been used. Aims To evaluate psychometric properties of the external Housing-related Control Beliefs Questionnaire (HCQ) among people with PD. Methods The external HCQ were administrated to 245 participants with PD, (mean age = 69.9 years; mean PD duration = 9.7 years). External HCQ has 16-items, with five response options. The psychometric properties evaluated were data quality, structural validity (factor analysis), floor and ceiling effects, corrected item total correlations, internal consistency and construct validity (testing correlations with relevant constructs according to pre-defined hypotheses). Results Data quality was high. Structural validity showed a unidimensional construct with removal of two items. Homogeneity was questionable, but strengthened after the removal of the two items. For the 14-item version internal consistency was α = 0.78 and SEM 4.47. Corrected item total correlation ranged between 0.31 and 0.54 and no floor or ceiling effects. Significant correlations with relevant constructs supported the construct validity. Conclusions Taken together, the psychometric results suggest a 14-item version of the external HCQ to be sufficiently reliable and valid for use in the PD population. The results pave the way for further studies, using the HCQ to analyse how perceptions of control of the home may be associated with health among people ageing with PD.

Background Many individuals with late effects of polio have difficulties participating in daily activities. The Reintegration to Normal Living Index (RNL‐I) is a self‐report questionnaire that evaluates perceived participation, but knowledge of the test‐retest reliability and measurement errors in this population is lacking. Objective To evaluate the test‐retest reliability of the RNL‐I in adults with late effects of polio. Design A postal survey with a test‐retest design. Setting University hospital outpatient clinic. Participants Fifty‐one adults (20 women and 31 men; mean age 72 years) with late effects of polio. Main Outcome Measurements The Reintegration to Normal Living Index (RNL‐I). Methods The participants responded to the RNL‐I twice, 3 weeks apart. Data were analyzed with the following statistical methods: percentage agreement (PA), quadratic kappa coefficients, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), mean difference, standard error of measurement (SEM/SEM%), and the smallest real difference (SRD/SRD%). Results The PA (ie, the same scoring at both test occasions) was >70% for 10 of 11 items. The kappa coefficients showed good test‐retest agreement (>0.61) for 7 items. The ICC was 0.88 and the mean difference was −0.74. The SEM (SEM%) was 7.4 (9.7%) and the SRD (SRD%) was 20.5 (27.0%). Conclusion The RNL‐I can be considered reliable for adults with mild to moderate late effects of polio. It can thereby be used to assess changes in perceived participation over time or after rehabilitation interventions, both for a group of individuals and a single individual. Level of Evidence III.

Background Research addressing perceptions of housing in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) is rare, and existing instruments capturing perceived aspects of housing are rarely used. Perceived housing comprises of several domains and is associated with health in general older populations. One such domain is meaning of home, captured by the Meaning of Home Questionnaire (MOH). The aim of this study was to evaluate psychometric properties of the MOH among people with PD. Materials and methods The MOH was administrated to 245 participants with PD (mean age = 69.9 years; mean PD duration = 9.7 years). The instrument consisted of four sub-scales with 28 items, each with 11 response options (strongly disagree = 0; strongly agree = 10). We evaluated data quality, structural validity (factor analysis), construct validity (i.e., testing correlations with relevant constructs according to pre-defined hypotheses), corrected item total correlations, floor and ceiling effects and internal consistency. Results The data quality was high (0–1.2% missing data). The exploratory factor analysis suggested removal of five items and revealed three new factors; “My home is my castle”, “My home is my prison” and “My home is my social hub”. The 23-item MOH showed statistically significant correlations with life satisfaction, usability and ADL dependence, while not correlated with number of environmental barriers. These findings were largely as hypothesised, thus supporting construct validity (both convergent and discriminant). The corrected item total correlations were >0.3 for all items and the internal consistency was >0.70 for all sub-scales. No floor or ceiling effects were reported except for the sub-scale “My home is my castle” (ceiling effect = 15.6%). Conclusions The 23-item MOH version with three new sub-scales is sufficiently reliable and valid for use in PD populations. This paves the way for further research of meaning of home among people with PD, using the 23-item MOH version.