Response to letter to the Editor by Gunnar Grimb y and Asa Lundgren -Nilsson , 'Comments on the article 'Can the ICF be used as a Rehabilitation Outcome Measure ? A stud y looking at the inter - And intra -Rater reliabilit y of the ICF categories deri ved from an ADL assessment tool'

摘要

Grimby & Nilsson comment on various methods used to improve the reliability of qualifiers in both the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and the Functional Independence Measure (FIM?). We are aware of these methods and the problems of both reliability and linearity of functional outcome measures. As we indicated in our paper, our intention was not to develop, or for that matter replicate, a functional assessment measure, but to determine if individual ICF categories and their qualifiers could be used as components of an assessment tool or an outcome measure. Our motivation was to promote broader acceptance of the ICF, particularly in the rehabilitation community, and to encourage its use in countries and settings where the use of proprietary instruments is not affordable. We note that the authors of this letter agree with our approach; namely that we should test the reliability of the ICF categories against the items of a well-known and well-accepted instrument, whose psychometric properties have been well described in the literature.