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Assessment of Functional Abilities in Older Adults (BADLs, IADLs)

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Encyclopedia of Geropsychology

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Synonyms

Independence; activities of daily living

Definition

The assessment of functional abilities in older adults refers to a comprehensive assessment to determine the level of independence that older adults have when performing activities of daily living. This assessment enables the planning of therapeutic interventions, social care and clinical support, and also supports clinical reasoning in detecting early signs of dementia.

The Importance of Being Active in Healthy Aging

Due to the ongoing growth of elderly populations in modern societies, the issue of how to maintain and improve the functional abilities of aging people has become a matter of urgency, in order to help to live independently in the community and, furthermore, to enhance the quality of their lives (Glass et al. 1999).

The traditional focus of research on aging has been on general health, but the idea of functional capacity has recently gained more attention. It was not until the 1950s that the significance of...

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to Martin Boon for his help in editing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    Julieta Camino & Eneida Mioshi

Authors
  1. Julieta Camino
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  2. Eneida Mioshi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eneida Mioshi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Nancy A. Pachana

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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore

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Camino, J., Mioshi, E. (2016). Assessment of Functional Abilities in Older Adults (BADLs, IADLs). In: Pachana, N. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_266-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_266-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-287-080-3

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