J Korean Geriatr Soc.  2004 Dec;8(4):196-205.

Weighting the items of Korean Activities of Daily Living(K-ADL) Scale and its Validity

• Won CW
• Kim SY
• Cho BR
• Sunwoo D
• Jung ES

Abstract

BACKGROUNDS: Though K-ADL was developed and validated, weighting each item of K-ADL is needed to evaluate the severity of functional disability as a whole.
METHODS
Nominal group technique was used to weight individual items of K-ADL. Relevant experts were recruited; one specialist in geriatrics, one expert in elderly health service, one doctor expert in questionnarie, one nurse and two social welfare workers and one caregiver who work in nursing home for elderly, one nurse working at dementia care center. At the first round, each expert assigned the weights of each item. At the second round, those experts met, discussed, and re-evaluated each weighting. Using the newly developed weighted score, we measured its validity compared to brain-disability grade and three experts' decision of severe dysfunction.
RESULTS
For inability to perform task, 7 points were given to 'dressing'and 'washing face', 6 points to 'bathing', 9 points to 'feeding', 8 points to 'transfer and toileting'. If any assistance is needed, 7 points were scored to 'dressing', 4 points were scored to 'washing face', 'feeding', 'transfer' and 'toileting', 2 points were scored to 'dressing'. Correlation coefficient between weighted K-ADL sum and brain-disability grade was -0.665(p=0.000).
CONCLUSIONS
We assigned differential weighting to each of K-ADL and found that summing weighted K-ADL was excellent in some validity test.

MeSH Terms

Aged
Caregivers
Dementia
Geriatrics
Health Services
Humans
Nursing Homes
Social Welfare
Specialization
Weights and Measures