TELEPHONE AND IN-PERSON PROXY AGREEMENT BETWEEN STROKE PATIENTS AND CAREGIVERS FOR THE FUNCTIONAL INDEPENDENCE MEASURE

This study examined patient/proxy agreement for telephone administrati on of the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) to a sample of 25 comm unity-living stroke patients 18 mo post-stroke and their caregivers. P atients had all received in-patient rehabilitation for stroke. Because use of the FIM is increasing for follow-up purposes, it is important to document whether it is appropriate to administer a telephone versio n to proxy caregivers in situations in which patients cannot answer fo r themselves. Proxy agreement results were then compared with those ob tained for in-person administration of the FIM to the same sample 1 yr earlier. Overall, proxy agreement for telephone administration was ex cellent for total scores (intraclass correlation was 0.91) and the phy sical dimension (0.94) and lower for the cognitive dimension (0.52), c losely paralleling results obtained for the earlier in-person administ ration. Reasons for lower agreement on the cognitive dimension are dis cussed.