The de Morton Mobility Index (DEMMI): an essential health index for an ageing world.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Existing instruments for measuring mobility are inadequate for accurately assessing older people across the broad spectrum of abilities. Like other indices that monitor critical aspects of health such as blood pressure tests, a mobility test for all older acute medical patients provides essential health data. We have developed and validated an instrument that captures essential information about the mobility status of older acute medical patients.

Methods

Items suitable for a new mobility instrument were generated from existing scales, patient interviews and focus groups with experts. 51 items were pilot tested on older acute medical inpatients. An interval-level unidimensional mobility measure was constructed using Rasch analysis. The final item set required mini

SUBMITTER: de Morton NA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2551589 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature