Community-dwelling seniors increasingly require physical assistance to perform the activities of daily living (ADL). To examine the possible association of this need with psychological distress, we conducted a prospective cohort study of community-dwelling people age 75 and older in Montreal, Canada. We report the results for women only (n = 530). Multivariable linear regression was used to examine the association between met and unmet need in instrumental ADL (IADL) and personal ADL (PADL) with concomitant psychological distress. Unmet IADL need was associated with elevated psychological distress [β = 0.42 (95% CI: 0.26, 0.60)], as was met IADL need [β = 0.19 (95% CI: 0.06, 0.33)], but not met and unmet PADL need. The full model explained 32.8 per cent of the total variance in psychological distress. Receiving assistance to meet IADL needs is associated with elevated psychological distress. Not receiving assistance, however, is associated with even greater distress.
