Lala

Functional Independence Measure (FIM)
Description
The FIM, an assessment instrument of functional status, is part of the Uniform Data Set
for Medical Rehabilitation (UDS). It can be usedclinically as an outcome measure. 1-5
Population

Time to Complete

Cost

All rehabilitation
clients

30 minutes

Minimal

Training
Workshops to train
users and test
reliability areavailable

INSTRUCTIONS
Extensive manual for U.D.S. for Medical Rehabilitation available from:
82 Farber Hall, SUNY-South Campus, Buffalo, NY 14214
SCALING
Format
• Task performance.
Subscales
•The FIM consists of 23 items in 7 areas of function:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Self Care (6 items)
Sphincter control (2 items)
Mobility (3 items)
Locomotion (3 items)
Communication (2 items)
Socialadjustment/cooperation (4 items)
Cognition/problem solving (3 items)

Scoring
The client is scored as:
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.

Independent
Dependent

- complete
- modified
- modifiedrequires supervision
- modified requires minimal assistance
- modified requires moderate assistance
- requires maximal assistance
- complete

RELIABILITY
Internal Consistency
Not reported.Test-rated Reliability
Not reported.
Inter-rater Reliability
One hundred and twenty-seven newly injured spinal cord clients at 13 centres were
assessed by 2 raters at admission and discharge.Correlations were high (0.83 to 0.96)
VALIDITY
Content (domain or face)
Eight different disciplines involving 114 clinicians evaluated 110 clients to ensure face
validity.
Construct
Not reported.Concurrent
Forty-one spinal cord injured clients were evaluated within 45 days post-injury, on the
Modified Barthel and modified FIM (only self care – feeding, grooming, bathing,
dressing upperbody, dressing lower body, perineal care, and mobility – chair transfer,
toilet transfer, tub transfer, walking, wheelchair propulsion). One nurse clinician tested
the clients upon admission to...