Assessment of Motor and Process Skills as a Measure of IADL Functioning in Pharmacologic Studies of People With Alzheimer’s Disease: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the usefulness of the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) as an outcome measure of instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) in pharmacologic studies of people with Alzheimer's disease. The AMPS simultaneously measures motor and process skills and their effect on the ability of the person to perform familiar IADL tasks. We administered the AMPS to 11 Alzheimer inpatients in a 3 1/2-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study of fluoxetine and selegiline administered as single agents and in combination with physostigmine. Results indicated that there was a significant difference in IADL ability among study conditions for process skills, but not for motor skills, thereby suggesting that the AMPS is useful as a sensitive outcome measure of IADL ability in drug trials with this population.