Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (2)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Laukkanen, P.
Right arrow Articles by Kauppinen, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Laukkanen, P.
Right arrow Articles by Kauppinen, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Age and Ageing 2001; 30: 489-494
© 2001, British Geriatrics Society

Research papers

Coping with activities of daily living in different care settings

Pia Laukkanen, Pertti Karppi1, Eino Heikkinen2 and Markku Kauppinen2

Health Centre of the City of Jyväskylä, PO Box 52, FIN-40701 Jyväskylä, Finland
1 Geriatric Unit, Central Finland Health Care District, Jyväskylä, Finland
2 The Finnish Centre for Interdisciplinary Gerontology, Jyväskylä, Finland

Abstract

Objective: to measure the functional capacity of elderly people cared for in different health and welfare care settings, with functional capacity defined in terms of activities of daily living.

Subjects and methods: we assessed all people aged >=65 in health-centre hospitals or nursing homes or receiving home nursing and home help services in Central Finland (n=5652) using the Evergreen activities of daily living index, which comprises nine physical and nine instrumental activities of daily living.

Results: assessments of functional capacity were obtained for nearly all subjects: only 33 forms (0.6%) were returned with incomplete data. The mean activities of daily living sum score (range 0–54) was lowest for women receiving home nursing (17.3), and highest for women in long-term care at health-centre hospitals (48.4). Low scores described good and high scores poor functional capacity. Age showed no association with the mean activities of daily living sum score in any of the care settings.

Conclusion: the Evergreen activities of daily living index was easy to use and successfully distinguishes between people in different care settings. Policies of assigning older people to different settings appear to be sound and sensible as the main defining criterion is level of functional capacity rather than age.

Keywords: activities of daily living, elderly people, home care, home help, home nursing, hospital care, long-term care, nursing home, short-term care


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.