[Psychometric properties of the Activities Daily Life Scale (ADL)]

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychometrics
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Social functioning deficits are core to mental health conditions.
• The Activities Daily Life (ADL) scale is a proposed tool for assessing social functioning in French psychiatric inpatients.
• Its use is considered for financing and organizing mental health services.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the ADL scale in hospitalized psychiatric patients.
• To assess construct validity, reliability, external validity, reproducibility, and sensitivity to change.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 1066 patient records from a French psychiatric ward (Jan-June 2008).
• Data collected included demographics, diagnoses (ICD-10), ADL scale, and Assessment of Social Self-Sufficiency (ASSS) scale.
• Psychometric properties were examined using factor analysis, reliability tests, and correlation analyses.

Main Results:

• A 2-factor structure was identified for the ADL scale, accounting for 82% of variance (personal care and social functioning).
• Internal consistency and reproducibility were satisfactory, but construct validity (unidimensionality of personal care items) and external validity (correlation with ASSS) were limited.
• The ADL scale showed poor sensitivity to change and did not adequately cover sentimental life or social relationships.

Conclusions:

• The ADL scale exhibits insufficient psychometric properties for validity and sensitivity to change.
• The utility of a heteroquestionnaire versus a self-administered format warrants discussion.
• Findings necessitate careful consideration for the economic and administrative management of psychiatric care using the ADL scale.