title: The brain injury rehabilitation scale (BIRS): a measure of change during post-acute rehabilitation.
abstract: This article describes the development of the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Scale (BIRS), a 20-item scale rating attention, memory, cognition, goal-directed behaviour, social interaction, and adjustment to injury. The BIRS was designed to provide ratings of clinical progress during post-acute rehabilitation from the perspective of the patient, the family and the treating staff. The BIRS was administered to two groups. Group one included five patients in a post-acute rehabilitation programme who were administered the BIRS each week for the 24 weeks of the programme. Group two was a control group composed of 21 college students. The BIRS was administered to each control subject for three consecutive weeks. The BIRS was found to be a sensitive and reliable measure of rehabilitation progress. Inter-rater reliability was high. Further evaluation of the BIRS is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Farmer
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Frank
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019965:Neurocognitive Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational