BioPsychoSocial Assessment Tools for the Elderly - Assessment Summary Sheet

Test: Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale (ASES)

Year: 1989

Domain: Psychological

Assessment Tool Category: Self-assessment

Variations/translations: A shorter 8-item scale is also used, which is less burdensome to patients. It is available in English, Swedish, and Spanish.

Setting: Any

Method of delivery: Face to face or mail-out survey.

Description: This is a self-administered, disease-specific questionnaire. It consists of 20 questions divided into three subscales: physical function (9 questions), other symptoms (6 questions) and pain (5 questions). Clients are instructed to circle a number to indicate their level of certainty that they can perform each task. The 8-item version includes questions from each of these areas. Groups tested with this measure include those with chronic arthritis and fibromyalgia.

Scoring/interpretation: Each question is scored on a 9 cm numeric rating scale ranging from 1 = very uncertain, 5 - 6 = moderately uncertain, and 10 = very certain. Each subscale is scored separately by taking the mean score of the items. Higher scores indicate higher self-efficacy. For the shorter 8-item scale, the score is the mean of the eight items.

Time to administer: Less than 10 minutes.

Availability: contact author, Kate Lorig, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lorig@Stanford.edu. It is also available in the 1989 seminal article by the authors. Any of the scales may be used at no cost and without permission.

Software: N/A

Website: http://patienteducation.stanford.edu/research/

Qualitative/Quantitative: Quantitative

Validity: No references for content validity. Construct validity – scores correlated with task performance: r = 0.61; with health status: r = 0.35 to 0.73

Reliability: Internal consistency for the subscales of physical function = 0.90, for other physical symptoms = 0.87, for pain = 0.75. Test – retest reliability for physical function = 0.85, for other physical symptoms = 0.90, for pain = 0.87.

References:

Lorig, K., Chastain, R., Ung, E., Shoor, S., & Holman, H.R. (1989). Development and evaluation of a scale to measure the perceived self-efficacy of people with arthritis. Arthritis and Rheumatism, 32(1), 37-44.

Lorig, K., & Holman, H. (1998). Arthritis self-efficacy scales measure self-efficacy. Arthritis Care and Research, 11, 155-157.

Gonzalez, V.M., Stewart, A., Ritter, P.L., & Lorig, K. (1995). Translation and validation of arthritis outcome measures into Spanish. Arthritis and Rheumatism, 38, 1429-1446.

Comments: The original scale contained response categories from 10 – 100 with 10 very uncertain, moderately certain in the midway section and 100 very certain. Because subjects were found to circle the phrases rather than the numbers, the phrases were dropped and the scale revised from 1 – 10.