CULTURE-RELEVANT FUNCTIONAL PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF THE HISPANIC ELDERLY

Because the Hispanic population is growing, there is a need for a reli able and valid functional assessment that is not culturally biased for white North Americans and that incorporates culture-relevant tasks fo r this large minority group. The Assessment for Motor and Process Skil ls (AMPS) (Fisher, 1993) is a unique evaluation tool that appears to m eet that need. The AMPS consists of two scales (motor and process) tha t are assumed to be universal taxonomies that are free from cultural b ias. This study was designed to investigate whether four Hispanic-cult ure-relevant tasks could be added to the AMPS as task choices and whet her the AMPS could be used as a sensitive cross-cultural assessment fo r Hispanic elderly. Hispanic older adults performed two Hispanic-cultu re-relevant tasks and two culture-free tasks. Both goodness-of-fit amo ng tasks and the performance of Hispanic subjects compared with North American subjects who had performed the same culture-free tasks were e valuated. The results indicated that (a) the Hispanic subjects' respon se patterns were consistent with response patterns of the North Americ an subjects, and (b) the four Hispanic-culture-relevant tasks showed t he same psychometric characteristics as previously established AMPS ta sks. These findings support the potential to further develop the AMPS as a sensitive cross-cultural assessment for the Hispanic elderly.