The Challenge of Understanding the Disablement Process in Older Persons: Commentary Responding to Jette AM. Toward a Common Language of Disablement

DISABILITY is caused by a diverse set of conditions and diseases and can affect people across the full age spectrum. Understanding the development of disability, the impact of disability on the individual and ways to both prevent disability and mitigate the impact of disability on quality of life are high priorities. But disability is a complex and challenging process to study, especially when it develops over years or decades. Researchers who study disability face many challenges and need all the help we can give them. A key tool to support this research is a simple, clear model to help examine steps along the pathway to disability. Such a model should provide measurable concepts along the pathway that are unambiguously operationalized. This approach is critical to making discoveries that can turn into useful interventions.