Table 1 Assessment of ADLs
Interview questions | Scoring |
|---|---|
1: Are you able to walk without walking aids for 500 m? | Questions 1 to 7 could be answered by “yes” or “no”. |
2. Are you able to climb stairs up and down without walking aids? (Walking aids here included also the use of the handrails.) | |
3: Can you use your fingers to grab and use small things like a pencil without problems? | |
4: Can you turn on a tap or unscrew the lid of an instant coffee can without any aids without a problem? | |
5: Are you able to stretch your hand that you can shake hands without problems? | |
6: Are you able to bend or kneel down without a problem? | |
7: Are you able to lift and carry a shopping bag with 5 kg without a problem? | |
8: Do you usually have any problems to eat independently? | Questions 8 to 19 could be answered by “yes”, “no”, and “unsure”. The answers “yes” and “unsure” were merged together as “having a problem”. |
9: Do you usually have problems to sit down on the bed or on a chair and stand up without help? | |
10: Do you usually have problems to put on or take off clothes? | |
11: Do you usually have problems to go to the toilet?” (Going to the toilet included take off and put on clothes, sit down and get up from the toilet, keep clean or manage a urinary catheter, urostomy or colostomy.) | |
12: Do you usually have problems to take a bath or a shower? | |
13: Do you usually have problems to prepare your food on your own? | |
14: Do you usually have problems to use the telephone independently? | |
15: Do you usually have problems to manage your shopping independently? | |
16: Do you usually have problems to wash clothes independently? | |
17: Do you usually have problems to do light house work independently? | |
18: Do you usually have problems to do sometimes heavy house work independently? (Examples for heavy house work were sliding heavy furniture, making spring-cleaning, clean windows, and washing up the floor.) | |
19: Do you usually have problems to manage your financial affairs independently?” (Those included withdrawal money or filling in a payment form.) | |
Final scoring of ADL questions | All 19 variables were dichotomised with 0 “having no problem” and 1 “having a problem”. |