Exploration of subjective well-being and dependence in daily activities at the beginning of the geriatric rehabilitation process: a challenge to traditional goal-setting and evaluation procedures?

The objectives of this study were to describe a population of elderly patients at the beginning of their rehabilitation period as regards subjective well-being and dependence in activities of daily living (ADL). In a Swedish rural county 244 patients aged 65+ who had begun rehabilitation within the last month were targeted. One part of the self-administered Göteborg Quality of Life Instrument and a revised version of the ADL Staircase were used. No correlation was found between subjective well-being and ADL dependence. However, significant correlations between ADL dependence and separate subjective well-being items were found in three out of 17, i.e. the items ‘energy’, ‘leisure’, and ‘sense of significance and appreciation outside home’. Overall subjective well-being did not show any gender differences, but significant gender differences due to the distribution of scores was shown; females scored the items ‘health’, ‘sleeping’, and ‘economy’ as bad to a larger extent than males. Males were significantly more dependent than females in three out of nine ADL: ‘going to the toilet’, ‘dressing’, and ‘cooking’. Additional knowledge of subjective well-being and ADL dependence at the beginning of the rehabilitation process challenges the traditional goal-setting and evaluation procedures of geriatric rehabilitation services.