Final answer:
The Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Scale is the tool specifically used to measure a dementia patient's ability to perform daily self-care activities. Cognitive abilities, assessed via various tests, strongly influence one's ability to live independently, which is directly related to the functions measured by the ADL Scale. option 3
Step-by-step explanation:
The tool used to measure the ability of a client to perform activities of daily living among dementia patients is the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Scale. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and Clock Drawing Test (CDT) are cognitive tests focused on different aspects such as orientation, memory, language, and visuospatial abilities, as well as abstract reasoning. However, the ADL Scale is specifically designed to assess a patient's ability to carry out their daily self-care activities.
Regular mental status exams assess cognitive abilities across four groups: orientation and memory, language and speech, sensorium, and judgment and abstract reasoning. These cognitive abilities are essential for one's capability to live independently, and their impairment can suggest the severity and progression of dementia.
Assessments like the three-word recall test or having patients perform actions such as spelling words backward are embedded within broader cognitive tests and illustrate the patient's memory function, a crucial part of the mental status exam. The ADL Scale complements these cognitive assessments by offering practical insight into the functional abilities of individuals with cognitive impairments.