The Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly (CANE) was developed for the assessment of physical-, psychological-, and environment-related needs in the elderly. The aim of this study was to revise and adapt the German version of the CANE with regard to the content validity of the instrument.

Following a multistage approach, face-to-face interviews using the CANE, an expert survey and a multidisciplinary consensus conference were conducted in order to evaluate the frequency and relevance of met and unmet needs in the German elderly population, and to modify the content of the CANE for the German-speaking countries.

In Germany, unmet physical needs including physical health, medication, eyesight/hearing/communication, mobility/falls, self-care, and continence were found to have top priority closely followed by social needs (company, intimate relationships, daytime activities, information, and abuse/neglect). Psychological needs were the lowest ranked care category. Experts’ proposals for the improvement of the German version of the CANE were collected. All findings were discussed and integrated in the multidisciplinary consensus conference with the result of a revised and adapted CANE that is applicable in the German-speaking context.

The provision of an adapted and improved German version of the CANE may substantially contribute to a comprehensive and valid assessment of needs in the elderly population. The results of this study represent an important basis for comprehensive needs assessment in the elderly in the theoretical and practical field of healthcare and health services research.

The current demographic and social developments in our society will lead to a significant increase in treatment and healthcare needs in the future, particularly in the elderly population. The Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly (CANE) was developed in the United Kingdom to measure physical-, psychological-, and environment-related treatment as well as healthcare needs of older people in order to identify their unmet needs. So far, the German version of the CANE has not been established in health services research. Major reasons for this are a lack of publications of CANE's German version and the missing validation of the instrument.

The aims of the present study were to evaluate the currently available German version of the CANE in a sample of older primary care patients. Descriptive statistics and inference-statistical analyses were calculated.

Patients reported unmet needs mostly in CANE's following sections: mobility/falls, physical health, continence, company, and intimate relationships. Agreement level between patients’ and relatives’ ratings in CANE was moderate to low. Evidence for the construct validity of CANE was found in terms of significant associations between CANE and other instruments or scores.

The study results provide an important basis for studies aiming at the assessment of met and unmet needs in the elderly population. Using the German version of the CANE may substantially contribute to an effective and good-quality health and social care as well as an appropriate allocation of healthcare resources in the elderly population.