A Study to Examine the Relationship of the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) to other Tests of Cognition and Function

Abstract

In this study, the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS), an observational assessment of functional ability, was compared with other tests of function and cognition, namely the Functional Independence Measure (RM), the CAMCOG (the cognitive component of the CAMDEX [Cambridge Examination for Mental Status in the Elderly]) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The subjects were people with diagnosed dementia or mild memory impairment. The results were as expected, revealing significant relationships between AMPS process ability and the CAMCOG, the MMSE and the FIM social/cognition scale, and between AMPS motor ability and the RM physical scale. This supported the validity of the AMPS as an evaluation of the interaction between cognitive impairments and disability in complex activities of daily living.