Validation of the Medication Management Ability Assessment Tool (MMAA) for the Portuguese Older Adults

Abstract

This study aimed to validate1 the Medication Management Ability Assessment (MMAA) and determine the level of functional ability of older adults to manage a simulated therapeutic regimen, understand their main limitations when facing alterations and determine the relationship between the functional ability to manage medication and cognitive function.

The adaptation was initiated with the translation and back-translation by four independent bilingual experts. The cultural dimension was developed through an external experts meeting, with a screening of concepts and constructs of the tool. The pilot study of MMAA-PT was run on a sample of 100 Portuguese community-dwelling elders. Three additional instruments were used to characterize the sample and to convergent analysis, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Clock Drawing Test (CDT), and the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL). Descriptive analysis, correlations, and convergent validity were conducted using Microsoft Office Excel (2022) and SPSS Statistics (v.27).

Of the 100 subjects, 70% were women, and the general mean age was 75.44 (±6.68) [65.00–94.00] years. The MMAA-PT mean score was 18.75 (±8.72) [0.00–33.00]. The convergent validity of the MMAA-PT was verified using the Spearman coefficient, with MMSE and CDT. It obtained an r-value of 0.44 in both correlations (p < 0.001), being, therefore, two significant positive correlations of moderate strength, which indicates that better scores on the MMAA-PT are associated with better cognitive function.

A European Portuguese version of the MMAA with acceptable convergent validity was obtained, which can be used in future research and clinical settings, namely in the medication reconciliation process.