Structured assessment of independent living skills : preliminary report of a performance measure of functional abilities in dementia

Assessment of functional abilities is integral to the diagnosis and management of elderly patients with dementia. We present a measure of activities of daily living, the Structured Assessment of Independent Living Skills (SAILS), and report preliminary reliability and validity data for 18 patients w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of gerontology (Kirkwood) 1991-03, Vol.46 (2), p.P58-P66
Main Authors: MAHURIN, R. K, DEBETTIGNIES, B. H, PIROZZOLO, F. J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activities of Daily Living
Aged
Alzheimer Disease - psychology
Alzheimers disease
Attention
Biological and medical sciences
Dementia
Eating
Female
Humans
Intelligence
Interpersonal Relations
Language
Male
Medical sciences
Memory
Motor Skills
Neuropsychology
Nosology. Terminology. Diagnostic criteria
Older people
Orientation
Psychological Tests
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychomotor Performance
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Reproducibility of Results
Social research
Techniques and methods
Tests
Visual Perception
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Summary:Assessment of functional abilities is integral to the diagnosis and management of elderly patients with dementia. We present a measure of activities of daily living, the Structured Assessment of Independent Living Skills (SAILS), and report preliminary reliability and validity data for 18 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 18 age- and education-equivalent controls. The SAILS utilizes behaviorally anchored rating scales to directly assess 10 areas of everyday functioning: Fine Motor Skills, Gross Motor Skills, Dressing, Eating, Expressive Language, Receptive Language, Time and Orientation, Money-Related Skills, Instrumental Activities, and Social Interaction. AD patients scored significantly worse than controls in all 10 areas. High correlations were obtained between the SAILS, visuospatial abilities, attention, and visual memory. In contrast, verbal memory, degree of depression, and praxis were not significantly correlated with the SAILS. The SAILS offers a criterion-based means of quantifying patient functional status for both clinical and research applications.
ISSN:0022-1422
2331-3323
DOI:10.1093/geronj/46.2.P58