Functioning and Disability

Sources

The National Health Interview Survey provides DQS with data about this topic from household interviews.

Any difficulty in the functioning domain is based on responses of "some difficulty," "a lot of difficulty," or "cannot do at all."

Sources

The National Health Interview Survey provides DQS with data about this topic from household interviews.

This three-level composite combines responses to all six functioning domain questions.

• Responses of "no difficulty" to all six domains are categorized as "No difficulties."
• Responses of "a lot of difficulty" or "cannot do at all" to at least one question are combined and categorized as "A lot of difficulties or cannot do at all."
• Remaining responses of "some difficulty" or "no difficulty" to at least one question are categorized as "Some difficulties."

Source

The National Health Interview Survey provides DQS with data about this topic from household interviews.

For children aged 2–4, those with "some difficulty", "a lot of difficulty" or with responses of "cannot do at all" for at least one of the questions asking about the following are considered with any difficulty functioning:

• Seeing
• Hearing
• Walking
• Dexterity
• Communication
• Learning
• Playing
  

Those who had a response of "more" or "a lot more" to a question asking about the sample child's behaviors of kicking, biting or hitting other children or adults are also considered with any difficulty functioning.

For children aged 5–17, those with "some difficulty", "a lot of difficulty" or with responses of "cannot do at all" for at least one of the questions asking about the following difficulties are considered with any difficulty functioning:

• Seeing
• Hearing
• Walking
• Self-care
• Communication
• Learning
• Remembering
• Concentrating
• Accepting change
• Controlling behavior
• Making friends

Those who had a response of "weekly", "monthly" or "daily" to questions asking how often the sample child feels anxious, nervous, or worried or feels depressed are also considered with any difficulty functioning.

The remaining sample children, that is those with "no difficulty" for at least one question (and are not already classified as with any difficulty functioning) are classified as without any difficulty functioning.

Those with responses of "don't know" or "refused" to all questions are excluded.

Source

The National Health Interview Survey provides DQS with data about this topic from household interviews.

For adults, any difficulty functioning is defined by the reported level of difficulty (no difficulty, some difficulty, a lot of difficulty, or cannot do at all) in six functioning domains:

1. Seeing (even if wearing glasses)
2. Hearing (even if wearing hearing aids)
3. Mobility (walking or climbing stairs)
4. Communication (understanding or being understood by others)
5. Cognition (remembering or concentrating)
6. Self-care (such as washing all over or dressing)

Adults who responded, "some difficulty", "a lot of difficulty", or "cannot do at all" to at least one question were considered to have any difficulty functioning.

Those with responses of "don't know" or "refused" to all questions are excluded.

Prior research has shown that functioning difficulties status are strongly associated with age.

Differences in estimates of health measures shown by functioning status may therefore reflect differences in age.

Sources

The National Health Interview Survey provides DQS with data about this topic from household interviews.

This composite indicator combines responses to all six functioning domain questions. Responses of "a lot of difficulty" or "cannot do at all" to at least one question are categorized as having disabilities.

Preliminary Data

DQS includes final data from NHIS. More recent preliminary data for this topic are available through the NHIS Early Release Program.

Source

The National Health Interview Survey provides DQS with data about this topic from household interviews.

For children aged 2–4, those with "a lot of difficulty" or with responses of "cannot do at all" for at least one of the questions asking about the following difficulties are considered with disability:

• Seeing
• Hearing
• Walking
• Dexterity
• Communication
• Learning
• Playing
  

Those who could not control behavior at all are also considered with disability.

For children aged 5–17, those with "a lot of difficulty" or with responses of "cannot do at all" for at least one of the questions asking about the following difficulties are considered with disability:

• Seeing
• Hearing
• Walking
• Self-care
• Communication
• Learning
• Remembering
• Concentrating
• Accepting change
• Controlling behavior
• Making friends

Those who had a response of "daily" to questions asking how often the sample child feels anxious, nervous, or worried or feels depressed are also considered with disability.

The remaining sample children, that is those with "some difficulty" or "no difficulty" for at least one question (and did not have responses of "a lot of difficulty" or "cannot do at all" for any of the questions) are classified as without disability.

Those with responses of "don't know" or "refused" to all questions are excluded.