Adaptation of the Functional Independence Measure for use in Turkey

Küçükdeveci, Ayse A
Yavuzer, Günes
Elhan, Atilla H
Sonel, Birkan
Tennant, Alan

Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine (Küçükdeveci) (Yavuzer)
Department of Biostatistics (Elhan)
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ankara, Ankara, Turkey and (Sonel)
Academic Unit of Musculo-skeletal and Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK (Tennant)

Address for correspondence: Associate Professor Dr Ayse A Küçükdeveci, GÖkkusagi Sitesi, Mor Blok, 12/25 Karakusun-lar 06530 Ankara, Turkey. e-mail: [email protected]

Received 4th January 2000; returned for revisions 16th March 2000; revised manuscript accepted 28th April 2000.

Clinical Rehabilitation 15(3):p 311-319, March 2001.

Objective

To adapt the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) for use in Turkey and to assess its validity and reliability.

Design

After the translation procedure, reliability was assessed using internal consistency, inter-rater reliability (kappa) and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Construct validity was tested by association with impairments and by fit of data to the Rasch model.

Setting

The study was undertaken in an inpatient rehabilitation unit of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ankara.

Subjects

Consecutive stroke (n = 51) and spinal cord injury (SCI) (n = 62) patients admitted for rehabilitation over a period of three years were assessed at admission and discharge.

Results

Internal consistency was good for stroke, and for SCI. The level of agreement between two raters was sufficient with kappa levels of above 0.48 for SCI and above 0.44 for stroke. Minimum ICC found was 0.90. Construct validity showed expected associations with the impairment scales. However, Rasch analysis showed that bladder and bowel items compromise unidimen-sionality in the motor scale.

Conclusion

Adaptation of the FIM has been successful and it can be used in Turkey as long as the limitations are recognized.