Prediction of everyday task performance in older adults by perceived health, self-efficacy and cognitive ability

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Abstract
While research links neuropsychological performance to everyday functioning in cognitively impaired older adults, comparatively little research has investigated this relationship in unimpaired older people. This study investigated that relationship. A total of 134 independently living adults aged 60–93 years completed Cognistat, the Direct Assessment of Functional Status (DAFS), the Personality in Intellectual-Aging Contexts and a four-item subjective health measure. Hierarchical regression was used to examine the relative ability of these measures to predict the functional domains of the DAFS, hypothesizing that the health and self-efficacy measures would be more strongly associated with DAFS scores than with the cognitive domains. Self-reported health accounted for little variance in all measures, whereas self-efficacy contributed significantly to four functional domains. The cognitive variables contributed to only two domains, with memory the most consistent predictor. The study showed that a brief cognitive measure can partially predict the functional ability of older independently living adults.

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