Measuring disability, physical functions and cognitive abilities of adults: Survey enhancements and options for a new panel study
Issue title: Assessing the need for a new nationally representative household
panel survey in the United States
Subtitle:
Guest editors: Robert Moffitt, Robert F. Schoeni, Charles Brown, P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, Mick P. Couper, Ana V. Diez-Roux, Erik Hurst and Judith A. Seltzer
Affiliations: [a] Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA | [b] Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Washington Heaths 1415, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. Tel.: +1 734 615 2134; Fax: +1 734 763 5706; E-mail:cmendes@med.umich.edu
Abstract: This paper reviews measures of the physical and cognitive abilities of
adults in the context of a national household panel survey and considers
whether a new household panel survey is needed to answer scientific and
policy questions related to disability. To address this topic, we first
review illustrative scientific and policy issues related to disability and
functioning and review gaps in the nation's disability-related data system.
Next, we offer a set of key domains to be measured, review several
additional covariates of interest, and describe existing summary measures to
identify the population living with disability. Finally, we take up the
challenging issue of tradeoffs in starting a new household survey versus
enhancing existing studies or developing specialized studies with a focus on
disability to address these issues.
