THE FURTHER VALIDATION AND PRECISION OF THE NIAF-R

It is essential that any tool which is measuring outcome following hea d injury is sensitive to change over time. The Newcastle Independence Assessment Form-Research (NIAF-R) has been developed to be appropriate and applicable both in the acute situation and in the long-term. This paper illustrates the NIAF-R's level of sensitivity to change over ti me from eight weeks through to one year postinjury. There were no ceil ing effects demonstrated at follow-up. Such effects can be a problem w ith other comparable measures. In addition, the results of further con current validation with the Barthel index, are reported. The NIAF-R sc oring is refined through the development of an Adjusted Severity Indic ator for more stringent analysis of level of independence. Scoring can now provide data in 55 individual areas of function for each subject or alternatively give an overall measure of severity of functional ind ependence. Finally, this paper demonstrates the ability of the NIAF-R to predict outcome at follow-up.