INTERRATER AGREEMENT AND STABILITY OF FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT IN THE COMMUNITY-BASED ELDERLY

The purpose was to examine the inter-rater agreement and test-retest s tability of the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and the Instrume ntal Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADL) from the Multidimensional Functional Assessment of Older Adults. These two instruments were adm inistered to 20 older persons living in the community. Two experienced raters administered the assessment instruments over either a short (7 -10 days) or long (4 to 6 week) interval. The intraclass correlation ( ICC) was used to analyze the data. ICC values were computed for agreem ent between and within raters and actress short and long intervals. IC C values for inter-rater agreement and stability ranged from 0.90 to 0 .99. The relation between scores on the FIM and IADL scale was also ex amined. The analysis produced an r value of 0.85, suggesting a positiv e statistical relationship among the items assessed. The high ICC valu es indicate that the Functional Independence Measure Instrument and IA DL scale of the Multidimensional Functional Assessment of Older Adults provide consistent information across two experienced raters and over time when used with a sample of elderly persons residing in the commu nity.