FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT IN THE PSYCHOSOCIAL REALM

Functional assessment in all areas of rehabilitation is essential. Thi s journal discusses 8 functional assessment tools and describes their reliability, validity, method of scoring and administration. The areas measured by these tools are dementia, depression, and quality of life . In order to offer a broad range of methods, some of the tools are pe rformance tools and others are subjective evaluations. Each tool is di scussed individually and in detail. The description includes the popul ation appropriate for the tool, mode of administration, length of time to complete the test, method of scoring, interpretation of scores, an d reliability and validity for each tool. These tools are presented cl early and succinctly so that practitioners in the field of geriatric r ehabilitation can easily implement them in their own practices.