Philippine E-Journals

An Intervention Model to Address Functional Disability Among the Elderly of Barangay 7A, General Malvar St., Davao City

Dorothy M. Dimaandal | Maria Leah F. Villano | Loyette Uy | Jocelyn Socorro J. Uy

Discipline: Psychology

 

Abstract:

Frailty is generally used to refer to elderly people who have difficulty with basic tasks such as dressing, shopping, housework, and ambulation. The main objective of this study is to examine the functional disability among the elderly living in Barangay 7A, Gen. Malvar and to propose an intervention model for this community. Specifically, this study aims to determine the demographic factors, level of psychosocial factors, level of biological health factors, level of sensory-perceptual capacity; determine the level of functional disability; and determine whether there is a significant relationship between functional disability with demographic factors, psychosocial factors, sensory-perceptual capacity and biological health factors. Fifty community-dwelling elderly aged 60 years old and above completed the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), Mini-Mental Examination (MMSE), Lawton’s Instrumental Activity of Daily Living (IADL) Scale and questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were employed to determine the mean and distribution of value for each of the dependent and independent variables. Variables that were significantly related in correlational analysis were further analyzed using the Simple Linear and Multiple Linear regression analyses to determine which among the variables had the strongest association with functional disability. This study was able to show that age, cognitive function and asthma were consistently associated with both self-rated functional disability and functional performance measurements; however, level of depression was associated only with self-rated functional disability while diabetes mellitus was associated only with functional performance. Age, cognitive function and level of depression explained 49 percent variance of self-rated functional disabilities while cognitive function explained 33 percent of the variance of functional performance. Knowing the common as well as the unique patterns of association relating to functional disability is important not only for effective intervention but also for appropriate policy development for the elderly.