title: A validation study of the daily activities questionnaire: an activities of daily living assessment for people with Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: The Daily Activities Questionnaire (DAQ) was developed to assess activities of daily living (ADL) independence in people with Alzheimer's disease. After administering it to 276 people diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, we examined the quality of the rating scale and its structure using a Rasch measurement approach. Results indicated that the original 10-point rating scale should be restructured to a 5-point rating scale to improve the quality of the instrument. In addition, we found that all but two ADL items defined the same construct and could be combined into a single summary measure of ADL independence. The remaining items were positioned along a hierarchical continuum, with IADL tasks more difficult than PADL tasks. Furthermore, the tasks were logically ordered by difficulty. We therefore report that the DAQ is a valid scale and conclude that it is a viable measure of ADL independence for studies of Alzheimer's disease.
authors.affiliation: National Institutes of Health, Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD 20892-1604, USA. Fran_Oakley@nih.gov
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oakley
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sunderland
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires