Search

Purpose: With an ageing population, the use of mobility scooters by community-dwelling older adults with mobility limitations has been increasingly prevalent in Singapore. Their experiences in using mobility scooters remain unclear. This study aimed to explore the impact of mobility scooters on occupational performance and engagement among elderly Singaporeans., Materials and Methods: Mobility scooter users were recruited via purposive and snowballing sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in English or Mandarin via phone call or face-to-face and audio-recorded with permission. Interviews were transcribed verbatim in their original language and translated to English (when applicable) for thematic analysis., Results: Twelve eligible participants (mean age: 75 years) completed the interviews. They were predominantly female Chinese with 7 receiving training from occupational therapists (OT). Four main themes emerged from the interviews describing their experiences of using mobility scooters: factors of decision-making in getting a mobility scooter, enhanced occupational participation with the use of the mobility scooter, enablers for community participation and barriers to community participation. Despite having barriers, older adults with mobility limitations generally still had positive experiences to continue using mobility scooters to perform occupations in the community., Conclusions: This study highlights the benefits of mobility scooters in supporting users' occupational performance and engagement in the community. Continual efforts are required from all stakeholders to provide an accessible environment and improve societal attitudes to further support the mobility scooter users.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONMobility scooter users can be deterred from performing their preferred occupations if they had a prior negative encounter and they mainly rely on self-developed coping strategies to overcome possible barriers in the community.Occupational therapists should identify and address the potential barriers when prescribing mobility scooters to older adult users.Occupational therapists should work collaboratively with other key stakeholders, such as external vendors and government agencies, to co-create a universal guideline to support and safeguard mobility scooter users.

Objective: Chinese is the most commonly spoken language in the world. The availability of Chinese translations of assessment scales is useful for research in multi-ethnic and multinational studies. This study aimed to establish whether each of the Chinese translations (Mandarin, Hokkien, Teochew, and Cantonese) of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) achieved measurement equivalence to the English version., Method: Participants included 1856 ethnic Chinese, older adults. The RBANS was administered in the language/dialect according to the participants' preference by interviewers who were fluent in that language/dialect. Multiple regression analysis was used to adjust for demographic and clinical differences between participants who spoke different languages/dialects. Equivalence (practical equivalence) was declared if the 90% confidence interval for the adjusted mean difference fell entirely within the pre-specified equivalence margin, ±.2 (±.4) standard deviations., Results: The delayed memory index was at least practically equivalent across languages. The Mandarin, Hokkien, and Teochew versions of the immediate memory, language, and total scale score were practically equivalent to the English version; the Cantonese version showed small differences from the English version. Equivalence was not established for the Hokkien and Teochew versions of the visuospatial/constructional index. The attention index was different across languages., Conclusions: Data from the English and Chinese versions for the total scale score, language, delayed, and immediate memory indexes may be pooled for analysis. However, analysis of the attention and visuospatial/constructional indexes from the English and Chinese versions should include a covariate that represents the version in the statistical adjustment.

Introduction: Various cognitive deficits associated with reduced pulmonary function are reported in different studies, but the pattern of cognitive deficits across multiple domains and its associated everyday functional disability remain unclear., Methods: We analyzed neuropsychological functioning, cognitive impairment and accompanying disability in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) associated with reduced pulmonary function in community-living middle-aged and older adults in Singapore. Performance on a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests, spirometry and cognitively demanding IADLs were assessed in the population-based Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Studies., Results: Consecutive 10% increase in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) as percent of predicted was positively associated with 0.18 points increase in Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and 0.04 points increase in executive function, independent of age, education and other variables. Subjects with moderate-to-severe airway obstruction showed significantly poorer MMSE score (p for linear trend = 0.001), and information processing speed (p for linear trend < 0.001). FEV1 (per 10% of predicted) was significantly associated with lower risk of cognitive impairment (OR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.87-0.98, P = 0.005) and cognitive IADL disability (OR = 0.86,95% CI:0.79-0.93, P < 0.001). Pulmonary restriction was associated with greater risk of cognitive impairment (OR = 1.98, 95% CI: 1.26-3.11, P = 0.003) and cognitive IADL disability (OR = 2.43, 95% CI: 1.31-4.53, P = 0.005). Moderate-to-severe airway obstruction (OR = 2.04, 95% CI: 1.11-3.74, P = 0.022) was positively associated with cognitive IADL disability., Conclusion: The findings suggest a measurable but modest cognitive effect of low pulmonary function that was accompanied by corresponding disability in living activities. The effect on executive functioning should be further investigated in longitudinal studies.