Disability, physical-functional performance and neighborhood environment: evaluation of community-dwelling older adults based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health

Abstract

: International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) is still a distant and often feared tool in the area of older adults health and, given that, the objective of this study was to describe a disability in activities of daily living (ADLs), limitations in the physical-functional performance and the perception of the neighborhood environment in community-dwelling older adults from the extreme south of Santa Catarina, classifying them in the domains and qualifiers proposed by the ICF. This was a cross-sectional study, with older adults of both sexes. The variables analyzed were classified and categorized according to the categories of the ICF: 1) Body Functions and Structures: physical-functional performance tests; 2) Activity and Participation: ADL self-assessment instrument; and 3) Environmental factors: self-perception of the neighborhood environment. A total of 308 older adults were evaluated, most of them women (57.8%) and aged 60 to 69 years (54.7%). There were higher prevalences of moderate/severe difficulty in the 5-Repetition Sitting and Standing Chair Test (5RSCT) (66.2%), of moderate/severe disability in the activity of cutting toenails (21.2%), and no reports of places for the practice of physical activity close to the residence (72.5%). As for the ICF qualifiers, there was greater “moderate/severe difficulty” for the 5RSCT in the “Body Function and Structure” categories and in the task of cutting like toenails in the “Activity and Participation” categories. In the category “Environmental factors”, there was a higher prevalence of lack of places for physical activity in the neighborhood.