Presentation 3: Assessing disability in older adults: the effects of asking questions with and without health attribution1

Abstract Objective: To determine the effects of using questions with and without health attribution on a self-reported disability instrument developed for use with older adults. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Community-based. Participants: 75 community-dwelling older adults from central and eastern Massachusetts. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: We administered the disability component of the Late Life Function and Disability Instrument. To test whether altering attribution influenced scores, we administered the same 16 questions with attribution to specific health conditions. Results: A higher prevalence of disability was reported in the nonattributed compared with the health attribution ( t =5.76, P Conclusions: In this sample of older adults, estimates of disability were underestimated by questions that included specific attribution to health conditions. Factors other than health appear to influence self-report of disability related to participation in travel outside of the home.