BioPsychoSocial Assessment Tools for the Elderly - Assessment Summary Sheet Test: Physical Self-Maintenance Scale (PSMS) Year: 1969 Domain: Biological Assessment Tool Category: Physical Functioning/ADLs Test Category (Bio, Psycho or Social): Biological Variations/Translations: None Setting: Institutions (hospitals and rehabilitation facilities) and community setting Method of Delivery: Completed by a health professional or self-administered Description: The PSMS is a disability measure used for planning and evaluation treatment for elderly individuals. It includes both ADL and IADL items and focuses on observable behaviours. Scoring/Interpretation: Rating for all six items is done on a five-point Guttman rating scale which ranges from total independence to total dependence. Scoring could be done by either a count of the number of items where there is the identification of any degree of disability or on a severity scale that summarizes the scoring of each item. The latter option provides an overall score which ranges from 6 to 30, where higher scores indicate greater dependence. Time to Administer: 5 minutes (Lawton & Brody, 1969) Availability: Found in Lawton & Brody (1969). Software: None Website: None Quantitative/Qualitative: Quantitative Validity (Quantitative): The PSMS showed a correlation of 0.62 with a physician’s rating of functional health and 0.61 with an IADL scale (Lawton & Brody, 1969). Reliability (Quantitative): ): Pearson correlation of 0.87 was achieved. An inter-rater reliability of 0.91 has also been reported. A Guttman reproducibility coefficient of 0.96 was attained (Lawton & Brody, 1969). References: Lawton, M.P. & Brody, E.M. (1969). Assessment of older people: self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. Gerontologist. 9, 179-186. Comments: None.