Standardized Measures Commonly Used in Geriatric Assessment

Standardized assessments are systematic protocols that are used to gather information using well-defined standard elements and procedures. In standardized assessments, questions are asked, observations made, and replies recorded according to fixed rules. Standardized measures go a step beyond assessment to yield scores to describe the attributes of the older person and the older person's world that are being assessed. This chapter describes some of the more commonly used measures in the context of a discussion of why social workers need to be concerned about standardized assessment, the properties that should be considered in choosing and using assessment tools, and the domains or topics of assessment that are pertinent to social workers.