The Older Americans Resources and Services interview and the medically disabled elderly

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Medical Sociology
• Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

• Assessing functional status is crucial for the medically disabled elderly.
• The Older Americans Resources and Services (OARS) is a multidimensional assessment tool.
• Understanding predictors of dysfunction in elderly veterans is a public health priority.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the predictive validity of OARS dimensions for medically disabled elderly veterans.
• To identify OARS subscales related to age-related functional deficits.
• To explore the relationship between OARS scores and cognitive performance (serial learning, reaction time).

Main Methods:

• Administered the OARS multidimensional functional assessment to veteran inpatients, outpatients, and nonpatient volunteers.
• Assessed serial learning and differential reaction time in the three participant groups.
• Compared OARS subscale ratings across groups and analyzed correlations with cognitive measures.

Main Results:

• Inpatients exhibited significantly greater impairment across all five OARS subscales compared to outpatients and nonpatients.
• Outpatients showed more impairment than nonpatients in mental health and activities of daily living.
• OARS physical health and mental health subscales were the only ones consistently related to serial learning and reaction time.

Conclusions:

• The OARS demonstrates validity in assessing the medically disabled elderly, particularly veteran populations.
• Physical and mental health dimensions are key indicators of overall functioning and cognitive performance.
• Findings suggest a profile of variables contributing to dysfunction in medically disabled elderly individuals.