Questionnaire-based evaluation of everyday competence in older adults

Figures & data

Table 1 Housing and living conditions. Subjects were divided into four groups representing different lifestyles in terms of independence, social contacts, and physical activity

Group	Lifestyle	Explanation	% of cohort
1 (n = 51)	“General”	Independently living subjects with regular social contacts and agile lifestyle. No workout.	32.3%
2a (n = 30)	“Active”	Independently living subjects with regular social contacts and active lifestyle. Regular amateur dancing.	19.0%
2b (n = 22)		Independently living subjects with regular social contacts and active lifestyle. Regular workout.	13.9%
2c (n = 21)		Independently living subjects with regular social contacts and active lifestyle. Irregular workout.	13.3%
3 (n = 27)	“Sedentary”	Subjects living in senior residences. Reduced social contacts. No workout.	17.1%
4 (n = 7)	“Nursing care”	Subjects in need of care living in a nursing home. Very limited social contacts. Almost static lifestyle.	4.4%

Table 2 Education of the subjects: overview of the education level, years in professional training, and duration of retirement for all subjects

School form (according to the German school system)	Usual duration (years)	Average duration (years)	% of cohort
“Grundschule”	4	4	100.0
“Volksschule”	8	7.9	63.1
“Hauptschule”	9	8.8	6.4
“Realschule”	10	9.5	15.3
“Gymnasium”	13	12.8	14.6
Professional training	3	3.2	72.6
Retirement	–	17.2	89.8

Table 3 Everyday Competence Questionnaire: the questionnaire consisted of 17 items with one specific question per item (additional information for the investigator is given in parentheses)

Item	Questions	Domain	Ranking	Score (points)
1	“What kind of hobbies do you have?” (self-contained, not with other people) (jump to other questions if necessary)	lsa	Mentally and physically challenging	3
			Mentally or physically challenging	2
			Other (television etc)	1
			None	0
			Up to 1 point bonus for very challenging activities
2	“How do you manage housekeeping?” (estimate the need for help)	hk/dr	Independently	3
			With a little support	2
			With major support	1
			Dependent	0
3	“How do you manage shopping?” (estimate the need for help)	hk/dr	Independently	3
			Supported by partner	2
			Only with the support of partner	1
			Dependent (delivery service)	0
4	“Do you cook at home?” (estimate the need for help)	hk/dr	Independently and regularly	2
			Occasionally	1
			No (meals on wheels, partner)	0
5	“How do you commute?” (estimate mobility)	m	Bike	3
			Car	2
			Local transit	1
			Pedestrian	0
			1 point bonus for 2 options, 2 points bonus for all options
6	“Do you play any sport?” (estimate frequency and effort)	s	Regular workout	3
			Sporadic or simple activities (walking)	2
			Physiotherapy, focused movements	1
			None	0
7	“How do you spend your leisure time with other people?” (honorary offices, social networks)	lsa	Very challenging (honorary office)	3
			Intellectually and socially demanding	2
			Intellectually or socially demanding	1
			None	0
8	“Do you play any music instruments?” (at present not in the past)	ms/lsa	Regularly and challenging	2
			Amateur/rarely	1
			None	0
9	“Are you able to type on a machine/keyboard?” (if applicable estimate computer skills)	ms/lsa	Touch typing	2
			Visually guided	1
			None	0
			Up to 2 points bonus for computer and Internet skills
10	“Do you travel?”	m	Independently and often	2
			Only with partner or in a group	1
			None	0
			Up to 2 points bonus for challenging tours and foreign language use
11	“Is there any skilled manual work or home improvement activities you carry out?”	ms/lsa	Arts or technical challenging work	2
			Repair work	1
			None	0
12	“What about gardening?”	lsa	Allotment holder	2
			Front garden/balcony	1
			None	0
13	“How often do you write by hand?”	ms	Often (letters, poems, diary)	2
			Rare (shopping lists)	1
			None	0
14	“Do you like to be in the company of other people or do you prefer being on your own?” (estimate frequency of contacts)	lsa/dr	Very sociable, rarely alone	3
			Regularly meet family and friends	2
			Choosy about companions/few contacts	1
			Mostly alone	0
15	“How are your daily routines structured?” (estimate flexibility)	dr	Proactive behavior/alternately	3
			Some activities but fixed schedule	2
			Very fixed schedule for basic activities of daily living	1
			Nursing care	0
16	“How do you feel–are you comfortable with your health situation?” (estimate subjective health condition)	swb	Very good	4
			Good	3
			Acceptable	2
			Bad	1
			Very unsatisfied	0
17	Fluency of speech (no question, ranked by investigator)	la	Eloquent/responds to various topics	3
			Small deficiencies, but still flexible	2
			Deficiencies in speech and understanding	1
			Limited comprehension	0

Abbreviations: lsa, leisure activities; s, sports; swb, subjective wellbeing; la, linguistic abilities; hk, housekeeping; dr, daily routine; ms, manual skills; m, mobility.

Table 4 Four-factor structure of the Everyday Competence Questionnaire: factor analysis for the questionnaire items revealed a four-factor structure

Factor	Item	Domain	Factor loading
1	9	ms/lsa	0.706
	10	m	0.683
	1	lsa	0.633
	8	ms/lsa	0.586
	7	lsa	0.532
	13	ms	0.433
	5	m	0.413
2	2	hk/dr	0.866
	3	hk/dr	0.824
	4	hk/dr	0.819
3	14	lsa/dr	0.834
	6	s	0.562
	11	ms/lsa	0.742
4	17	la	0.746
	16	swb	0.695
	15	dr	0.602
	12	lsa	0.460

Abbreviations: lsa, leisure activities; s, sports; swb, subjective wellbeing; la, linguistic abilities; hk, housekeeping; dr, daily routine; ms, manual skills; m, mobility.

Figure 1 Everyday Competence Questionnaire scores for all subjects.

Notes: Subjects characterized by an active lifestyle (blue bars) outperformed all other subjects. We found a significant decrease in Everyday Competence Questionnaire scores from data of Group 2 (active lifestyle) over data of Group 1 (general lifestyle), Group 3 (sedentary lifestyle) and data of Group 4 (nursing care) (Spearman correlation) r = −0.354, P ≤ 0.001). *Bonferroni post hoc test P ≤ 0.05.