Assessment approaches for older people receiving social care: content and coverage

Assessment was identified as one of the 'cornerstones' of community care. This study presents findings from the first nationally representative analysis of assessment documents used by social services agencies in the UK.

In this paper analysis is made of 50 assessment documents used for the 'comprehensive' assessment of older people. The documents were examined in the extent to which they covered 33 assessment domains, grouped into four areas: functional domains; cognitive, mood and psychosocial domains; social environment domains; and clinico-medical domains. The documents were analysed on three dimensions: whether the domains were covered at all; whether the domain was covered in sufficient detail; and whether it would elicit a structured response.

Activities of daily living were covered to some extent on the majority of documents, as were the instrumental activities of daily living. Very few documents were designed to elicit information on the potential for rehabilitation. Whilst the majority of forms were designed to collect some information on cognitive patterns, mood state and social activity, very few were designed to collect this in any detail. Although functional activities of daily living were covered in greater detail than the other domains overall, there was enormous variability between the documents, thus hampering their ability to generate any standardized information.