Functional independence domains in patients receiving rehabilitation in skilled nursing facilities: evaluation of psychometric properties.
OBJECTIVE
To provide evidence for the validity of using FIM items to derive 4 domains of functional independence (mobility, activities of daily living [ADLs], sphincter management, executive function) in patients receiving rehabilitation in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs).


METHODS
A retrospective analysis of secondary data using data from a privately owned administrative dataset. Setting Seventy SNFs under contract with SeniorMetrix Inc health plan clients.


METHODS
Patients (N=7536) with a variety of conditions, covered by Medicare+Choice plans, and admitted to an SNF in 2002.


METHODS
Not applicable.


METHODS
Item score distributions, corrected item-total correlations, factor correlations, internal consistency, and stage ceiling and floor effects for each hypothesized functional independence domain.


RESULTS
With the exception of 2 items, the items within a domain had similar standard deviations and distributions of items were not highly skewed. Four factors accounted for 73.4% of the variance in functional independence. Corrected item-total correlations ranged from .58 to .80 for the ADL domain, from .23 to .71 for the mobility domain, and from .78 to .88 for the executive function domain. The correlation between bowel and bladder management items was .84. Cronbach alpha coefficients ranged from .76 for the mobility domain to .96 for the executive function domain. At admission, there were substantial floor effects for the sphincter management (34.4%) and mobility domains (43.1%) and ceiling effects for the executive function domain (26.7%).


CONCLUSIONS
With a few exceptions, the items proposed for each functional independence domain met the criteria for supporting the validity of the domains.
Jette
Diane U
DU
Physical Therapy Department, Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115, USA. jette@simmons.edu
Warren
Reg L
RL
Wirtalla
Christopher
C
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D003071:Cognition; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare; D011594:Psychometrics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012866:Skilled Nursing Facilities; D014481:United States