title: Is rehabilitation associated with change in functional status among nursing home residents?
abstract: Assessing functional status of residents in nursing homes is one way to evaluate the quality of care provided. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether rehabilitation interventions could lead to improved functional independence. A prospective study was carried out to examine the change in activities of daily living (ADL) of 310 residents aged 65 or above over a period of 6 months. About 41.3% (n = 128) received rehabilitation therapy. Functional improvement was observed in 30.6% of the participants. The corresponding figures for stabilization and functional decline were 45.2% and 24.2%, respectively. Using a multinomial logistic regression, we found that factors significantly associated with change in functional status included baseline ADL score, family visit, number of beds in the institution, and transfer to acute hospitals. After adjusting for these confounding variables, change in functional status of those who received rehabilitation and those who did not was not significantly different.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health Care Management, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China. syeb@cm.nsysu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Shu-Chuan Jennifer
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.forename: Sing Kai
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lo
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009735:Nursing Homes; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000592:standards*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013624:Taiwan; D016896:Treatment Outcome