The Association between ADL Ability and Quality of Life among People with Advanced Cancer.
Mette Falk Brekke, Karen la Cour, Åse Brandt and 2 others
PMID 31531007WHAT IT FOUND
Observed motor ability during daily tasks was significantly associated with higher quality of life in people with advanced cancer.
Self-reported ability and observed process skills showed no significant link, though trends suggested those with higher observed motor skills reported better well-being.
Key findings
01Observed high ADL motor ability was significantly associated with higher quality of life, while self-reported ADL ability and observed ADL process ability were not.
02Self-reported ADL ability did not have a stronger association with quality of life than observed ADL ability.
03Participants with high observed ADL ability had the highest probability of rating their quality of life in the better end of the scale.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample size was small (108 participants), which may have limited the ability to detect significant associations for self-reported and observed process skills. Participants with extreme quality of life ratings (very low or very high) were excluded from the regression analysis, meaning the results do not represent the full spectrum of patient experience. The study used a single item to measure quality of life, which may not capture the multidimensional nature of the concept. Self-reported ADL ability was categorized using arbitrary cut-points because no standard thresholds exist, which may affect the interpretation of those results.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was part of the ACQ Project, which received funding from the Danish Cancer Society and the University of Southern Denmark.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that self-reported ability is useless for assessing quality of life. The lack of a significant statistical association may be due to the small sample size and the exclusion of participants with extreme quality of life scores, rather than a true absence of relationship.