Reliability of the Instrument for Classifying Elderly People's Capacity for Self-care

• Autor(a) principal: Almeida, Maria Helena Morgani de
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Outros Autores: Spínola, Aracy Witt de Pinho, Iwamizu, Paula Stefanoni, Okura, Roberta Irie Sumi, Barroso, Lucia Pereira, Lima, Antonio Carlos Pedroso de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Revista de Saúde Pública
• DOI: 10.1590/S0034-89102008005000003
• Texto Completo: https://www.revistas.usp.br/rsp/article/view/32415
• topic: Idoso; Autocuidado^i1^sclassifica; Avaliação da Deficiência; Terapia Ocupacional; Reprodutibilidade dos Testes; Aged; Self Care^i2^sclassificat; Disability Evaluation; Occupational Therapy; Reproducibility of Results

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the reliability of an instrument for classifying elderly people regarding their capacity for self-care, which was developed to assist occupational therapists in attending elderly people at primary healthcare units. METHODS: Stability and internal consistency tests were carried out. To validate the instrument, tests were applied to a sample of 30 individuals aged 60 years and over, on two occasions. The statistical analysis was performed after careful grouping of the responses. This led to the formulation of a simplified version of the instrument. The stability of this version was assessed using the kappa coefficient and the internal consistency by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. RESULTS: The stability ranged from moderate to excellent. The internal consistency was checked only for areas that were shown to be appropriate for using the methodology, based on calculations of Cronbach's alpha: three of the six questions in the "social profile" area and the blocks of basic and instrumental activities of daily living in the "functional capacity" area, which respectively consisted of nine and eight activities. CONCLUSIONS: Following the stability and internal consistency tests, the instrument made it possible to succinctly and simply classify elderly people with regard to their functional capacity for basic and instrumental activities, and to characterize them regarding other aspects of self-care. The evidence regarding its reliability and validity could be expanded by means of new studies.