Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Social Vulnerability Index for Use in the Dutch Context

Being able to identify socially frail older adults is essential for designing interventions and policy and for the prediction of health outcomes, both on the level of individual older adults and of the population. The aim of the present study was to adapt the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) to the...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Steven Bunt, Nardi Steverink, Melissa K. Andrew, Cees P. van der Schans, Hans Hobbelen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2017-11-01
Series:International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/11/1387
Description
Summary:Being able to identify socially frail older adults is essential for designing interventions and policy and for the prediction of health outcomes, both on the level of individual older adults and of the population. The aim of the present study was to adapt the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) to the Dutch language and culture for those purposes. A systematic cross-cultural adaptation of the initial Social Vulnerability Index was performed following five steps: initial translation, synthesis of translations, back translation, a Delphi procedure, and a test for face validity and feasibility. The main result of this study is a face-valid 32 item Dutch version of the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI-D) that is feasible in health care and social care settings. The SVI-D is a useful index to measure social frailty in Dutch-language countries and offers a broad, holistic quantification of older people’s social circumstances related to the risk of adverse health outcomes.
ISSN:1660-4601