| dc.description.abstract | Background: Increased prevalence of obesity among the population has resulted in greater
need for measures of activities of daily living (ADL) and health-related quality of life
(HRQOL). Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) is one of the most
commonly used measurements within occupational therapy. The researcher is not familiar
with any research using COPM among obese patients.
Purpose: To describe difficulties in ADL related to obesity. Further more to examine whether
COPM is able to reveal the same difficulties in ADL as the activity specific questions in
Impact of Weight on Quality of Life-Lite (IWQOL-Lite).
Material and Methods: A mixed methods design was used consisting of qualitative
interviews, with quantitative data as supplementary. COPM was used as an interview guide to
gather information about difficulties in ADL perceived by the informants. The interviews
were later analysed using systematic text condensation. The quantitative data was solely
intended to describe the results of the assessment with COPM and IWQOL-Lite. To compare
and identify patterns and topics across the quantitative and qualitative data, a meta-matrix
analysis was used for every informant.
Results: Mean age among the informants was 43,5 years and mean body mass index (BMI)
was 44,2. Nine men and seven women were interviewed. The results showed that the
informants had difficulties within three areas: self-care, productivity and leisure. The
difficulties were a result of physical function, the society ´s custom size, and as consequences
of experienced norms. COPM and the activity specific questions in IWQOL-Lite correlates
positively for some informants, for others the correlation is less or poor.
Conclusions: Obesity has an impact on daily living. The results indicate that COPM is not
able to reveal the same information as IWQOL-Lite among all informants. By combining
COPM and IWQOL-Lite in a clinical context they could complement each other.
Relevance: Research indicates that people with obesity have difficulties in ADL, but to what
extent is less described. IWQOL-Lite is commonly used in assessing HRQOL. COPM is a
patient-specific outcome measure developed to describe aspects of problems, limitations and
restrictions as perceived by the individual, and is commonly used in occupational therapy. If
an interview (COPM) provides similar or better information compared to a questionnaire
(IWQOL-Lite) for difficulties in ADL in obese, it will provide a potential beneficial use of
COPM due to the patients’ possibility to speak freely. | nb_NO |
