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Research Paper | Occupational Therapy | Volume 15 Issue 4, April 2026 | Pages: 1007 - 1010 | India
Development and Preliminary Psychometric Evaluation of the Activities of Daily Living Scale for Persons with Mental Illness
Abstract: Background: Activities of daily living (ADL) are central to occupational therapy evaluation, particularly in mental health settings where functional impairment influences independence, recovery, and community participation. A psychometrically sound clinician-rated scale specific to persons with mental illness is therefore clinically valuable. Objective: To develop and examine the preliminary psychometric properties of the Activities of Daily Living Scale (ADLS) for use among persons with mental illness. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional psychometric study evaluated a 43-item clinician- rated ADLS covering six conceptual domains: personal hygiene, grooming, toileting skills, dressing skills, eating skills, and mobility skills. Content validation was undertaken with 30 occupational therapy experts. A test try-out and field validation were performed with 100 persons with mental illness. Internal consistency was examined using Cronbach?s alpha and corrected item-total correlations. Exploratory construct validity was examined using principal component analysis with Varimax rotation. Results:The ADLS demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach?s alpha=0.967). Corrected item-total correlations were acceptable for most items, although four items (Q1, Q16, Q19, and Q34) showed comparatively lower coefficients. Communalities ranged from 0.684 to 0.941, indicating adequate shared variance for all items. Principal component analysis identified eight components with eigen values greater than 1, accounting for 83.86% of the total variance. The rotated solution showed interpretable clustering of items, supporting a multidimensional structure. Conclusion: The ADLS shows promising preliminary evidence of reliability and construct validity as a clinician-rated instrument for evaluating daily living performance in persons with mental illness. The scale may be useful for occupational therapy assessment, intervention planning, and outcome monitoring. Further testing with larger and more diverse samples, including confirmatory factor analysis and temporal stability testing, is recommended.
Keywords: activities of daily living, occupational therapy, mental illness, psychometric validation, reliability, construct validity
How to Cite?: T. Jegadeesan, R. Renuchitra, "Development and Preliminary Psychometric Evaluation of the Activities of Daily Living Scale for Persons with Mental Illness", Volume 15 Issue 4, April 2026, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), Pages: 1007-1010, https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=SR26316192913, DOI: https://dx.dx.doi.org/10.21275/SR26316192913