Kohlman Evaluation of Living Skills (KELS)—Fourth Edition

CHAPTER 87: KOHLMAN EVALUATION OF LIVING SKILLS (KELS)—FOURTH EDITION


Description


The Kohlman Evaluation of Living Skills (KELS), 4th Edition, developed by Kohlman-Thompson (1992), is an evaluation tool used to determine an individual’s ability to function with basic life skills and combines both a structured interview and the performance of various tasks to determine those life skills (Kohlman-Thompson, 1992). The assessment comprises five domains: (1) self-care, (2) safety and health, (3) money management, (4) transportation and telephone, and (5) work and leisure, and has 17 tasks/items (Kohlman-Thompson, 1992). KELS uses two scoring categories: (0) independent or (1) assistance/unable to complete task successfully, with the exception of work and leisure where half points are also possible. Each item on the scale has its own inclusion/exclusion criteria for correct scoring. For example, the item relating to knowledge of emergency numbers would be administered through a standardized interview outlined in the manual in which the subject would be scored as independent if he or she is able give local emergency numbers or the operator’s number and would be scored as needs assistance if he or she is unable to give those numbers, or if they look in the phone book and do not find the number(s) without assistance (Kohlman-Thompson, 1992). Total scores are summarized with higher scores being more problematic. A short qualitative summary, prepared by the clinician, may also be included with results. KELS can be completed in less than 45 minutes.


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Jul 27, 2017 | Posted by in MEDICAL ASSISSTANT | Comments Off on Kohlman Evaluation of Living Skills (KELS)—Fourth Edition

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