Assessing competence: the European Survey on Aging Protocol (ESAP).

Objectives: The main goal of this research project was to translate and adapt the European Survey on Ageing Protocol (ESAP) to 7 European countries/cultures. This article presents preliminary results from the ESAP, the basic assessment instrument of EXCELSA (European Longitudinal Study of Aging).

Methods: 672 individuals aged 30-85, selected through quota sampling (by age, gender, education and living conditions), participated in this study, with 96 subjects from each of the 7 European countries.