Abstract

SIMOES, Ana Lúcia; FERREIRA, Pedro Lopes  and  DOURADO, Marília. Measurement of Independence in Activities of Daily Living. Port J Public Health [online]. 2018, vol.36, n.1, pp.1-7. ISSN 2504-3137.  https://doi.org/10.1159/000492139.

Introduction: Activities of daily living constitute a basic level of independence, which allow the participation in the daily routine, in terms of survival and basic well-being. In this work, we will focus on the need to evaluate activities of daily living in continuing and palliative care. Objective: To describe and compare instruments measuring activities of daily living. Materials and Methods: Literature review of measuring instruments of daily life activities that measure self-care, in English and in Portuguese, between 1980 and 2017, in databases recognized in this field. Results: We found six instruments and, for each one, we identified the number of questions and dimensions, the psychometric properties, and the existence of a validated Portuguese version. Discussion: All instruments are filled in by professionals via direct observation and evaluate self-care. Dressing/undressing, feeding, and mobility are common to all instruments, with other activities that are specific to just one scale. Conclusion: Dressing/undressing, feeding, and mobility are the most evaluated dimensions. Only the Barthel Index is validated for the Portuguese population. Concerning quality criteria, a scale offers reliability for stroke. Most of the scales show good correlation with other assessment scales of autonomy.

Keywords : Health measurement; Scales; Independence; Activities of daily living.

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