Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Dec;54(6):944-51.
doi: 10.1093/geront/gnt104. Epub 2013 Sep 19.

Reliability and validity of self-care and mobility accommodations measures in the National Health and Aging Trends Study

Vicki A Freedman  1 , Emily M Agree  2 , Jennifer C Cornman  3 , Brenda C Spillman  4 , Judith D Kasper  5
Affiliations

Reliability and validity of self-care and mobility accommodations measures in the National Health and Aging Trends Study

Vicki A Freedman et al. Gerontologist. 2014 Dec.

Abstract

Purpose of the study: Comprehensive measures of disability accommodations have been lacking in national health and aging studies. This article introduces measures of accommodations developed for the National Health and Aging Trends Study, evaluates their reliability, and explores the validity and reliability of hierarchical classification schemes derived from these measures.

Design and methods: We examined test-retest reliability for questions about assistive device use, doing activities less often, and getting help from another person with both percentage agreement and kappa (N = 111). Summary measures across activities and several hierarchical classification schemes (e.g., no accommodation, devices/activity reductions only, help) were developed. For the latter, we also evaluated validity by examining correlations with measures of capacity and demographic characteristics (N = 326).

Results: Items about assistive device use and help in the last month were robust (most kappas 0.7-0.9). Activity reduction measures were moderately reliable (around 0.5) but still showed reasonable agreement. Reliabilities for summary measures were good for device use (0.78-0.89) and help (0.62-0.67) but lower, albeit acceptable, for activity reduction (0.53). Hierarchical classifications had acceptable reliability and levels demonstrated hierarchical properties.

Implications: National Health and Aging Trends Study's self-care and mobility accommodation measures offer ample reliability to study adaptation to limitations and can be used to construct a reliable and valid hierarchy.

Keywords: Disability; Measurement; Technology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Cornman J. C., Freedman V. A., Agree E. M. (2005). Measurement of assistive device use: Implications for estimates of device use and disability in late life. The Gerontologist, 45, 347–358. 10.1093/geront/45.3.347 - PubMed
    1. Freedman V. A. (2009). Adopting the ICF language for studying late-life disability: A field of dreams? Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 64, M1172–M1174; discussion 1175. 10.1093/gerona/glp095 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Freedman V. A., Kasper J. D., Cornman J. C., Agree E. M., Bandeen-Roche K., Mor V., et al. (2011). Validation of new measures of disability and functioning in the National Health and Aging Trends Study. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 66, M1013–M1021. 10.1093/gerona/glr087 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fried L. P., Bandeen-Roche K., Williamson J. D., Prasada-Rao P., Chee E., Tepper S., Rubin G. S. (1996). Functional decline in older adults: Expanding methods of ascertainment. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 51, M206–M214. 10.1093/gerona/51A.5.M206 - PubMed
    1. Fried L. P., Herdman S. J., Kuhn K. E., Rubin G., Turano K. (1991). Preclinical disability: Hypotheses about the bottom of the iceberg. Journal of Aging and Health, 3, 285–300. 10.1177/089826439100300210

Publication types