BACKGROUND: The Support Needs Approach for Patients (SNAP) enables patients to reflect on, identify and prioritise their own support needs from a holistic perspective and enable tailored support. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the content validity and response processes for the Swedish version of the SNAP Tool among patients with life-threatening illness and palliative care needs, and registered nurses (RN) in specialized palliative home care services.

METHODS: This was a two-stage validation study: (I) translation of the original English version of the SNAP Tool into Swedish, and (II) examination of content validity for patients and RNs in specialized palliative home care, and response processes among the patients. Cognitive interviews were conducted with patients (n=11) and focus groups with RNs (n=10). Data were, in stage II, analysed for relevance, clarity, and sensitivity.

RESULTS: The translation process identified a few differences in wordings that were thoroughly debated to retain the meaning of the questions. Both patients and RNs considered the Swedish version of the SNAP Tool relevant to the palliative care context and its questions clear and easy to understand. Patients believed that their responses on the tool could be helpful in providing a clear structure for conversations and present a picture of their individual support needs. There were just a few considerations about sensitivity of questions from the patients' perspectives and the RNs felt that some of the questions may need to be handled with care.

CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that the Swedish version of the SNAP Tool has good coverage of Swedish patients' support needs, and that the questions are perceived as intended. This indicates that the SNAP Tool effectively captures a wide range of support needs and aligns with its intended purpose. The tool is appropriate for specialized palliative home care and allows the SNAP intervention to be made available to this group of patients.