Validity of the Kohlman Evaluation of Living Skills (KELS) with Israeli elderly individuals living in the community

The Kohlman Evaluation of Living Skills (KELS) was developed to evaluate Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental ADL (IADL) in a psychiatric population. Later the KELS was assessed and adapted for a geriatric population. The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of the KELS with elderly individuals living in the community in Israel. The subjects included 92 elderly people living in the community, in protected housing facilities for the elderly, and those living in the community and attending day care. Instruments included the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to determine cognitive function, the Functional Independent Measure (FIM) to determine performance in ADL, and the Routine Task Inventory (RTI) as a measure of IADL to determine criterion validity. Results showed high correlations between the KELS and the RTI (r = 0.895) and the FIM (r = 0.70). The KELS was also found to be highly sensitive to the differences between all three groups, supporting construct validity. Furthermore, the KELS was found to be more sensitive to these differences than the other instruments used in the study. In conclusion, the results show the KELS to be valid and appropriate for use by occupational therapists with the Israeli elderly population, similar to the US population. The study's small sample size limits the generalizability of the findings. It is recommended that further research be done on the KELS with larger and more diverse elderly populations.