Independencia en las actividades de la vida: Estudio de validación de una escala para la población portuguesa

functionality has primordial importance in old people's independence; situation we wish to be as long as possible in the course of one's life. functionality is a multidimensional construct measured through personal and instrumental activities of the life (adl and iadl). the aim of this study is to validate a scale of daily life activities for the portuguese population, middle-aged and elderly (n = 1322). results of this study show us the existence of three factors, with suitable psychometric characteristics, which are: mobility, instrumental activities of daily life and personal activities of daily life, with an explained variation of 64.75%. it has a specific interest for the population living in the community.