This FIM-SR, similar to the FIM, assesses burden of care and functional impairment. The original FIM is completed by trained clinicians whereas the FIM-SR is completed by the patient. The FIM-SR, contains 6 scales: self-care, sphincter control, mobility, locomotion, communication, and social cognition (Masedo et al. 2005).

Number of items: N/a

Procedure/Administration: The FIM Self Report was developed for administration by telephone interview. The scores can be reported as FIM Motor scores, FIM Cognitive scores or FIM Total summed scores.

How scored: The 18 items are rated on a 1 – 7 scale where 1 = total assistance is needed and 7 = complete independence.

Interpretability: Total FIM-SR scores range from 18 (total dependence) to 126 (total independence). The higher the FIM score, the fewer care hours required upon discharge (Hamilton et al. 1999; Heinemann et al. 1997).

Acceptability: Most items on the FIM-SR generalize to all populations, however modified versions of the FIM exist to accommodate the needs of individuals with SCI. The motor scale adequately discriminated subjects with different injury levels

Languages: N/a

Usability: N/a

Time to administer: Requires minimal time to complete (is very short).

Time to score: N/a

Training required: Health care professionals scoring the FIM–SR are required to complete training and testing protocol.

Availability: N/a

Equipment required: N/a

Summary:

• The instrument reports the patient perspective on their level of independence and in general, is well known as the internationally accepted, global tool to measure functional independence.  
• The FIM-SR has less clinician and client burden than the original FIM which requires observation of tasks.

Psychometric Summary

Note: TR= Test re-test; IC= Internal Consistency; Inter-O= Inter-observer; Intra-O= Intra-observer; SS= Sensitivity/Specificity; N/a= No information.

Red light= A single study involving SCI subjects which has less than adequate findings of reliability, validity, and/or responsiveness.

Yellow light= A single study involving subjects with SCI which has adequate to excellent findings of reliability, validity, and/or responsiveness.

Green light= At least 2 studies involving subjects with SCI which have adequate to excellent findings of reliability, validity, and/or responsiveness.

References

• Graves D. The construct validity and explanatory power of the AISA Motor Score and the FIM: implications for theoretical models of spinal cord injury Top Spinal Cord Inj Rehabil 2005;10:65-74.
• Hall KM, Cohen ME, Wright J, Call M, Werner P. Characteristics of the Functional Independence Measure in traumatic spinal cord injury. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1999;80:1471-1476.
• Hamilton BB, Deutsch A, Russell C, Fiedler RC, Granger CV. Relation of disability costs to function: spinal cord injury. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1999;80:385-391.
• Heinemann AW, Kirk P, Hastie BA Semik,P, Hamilton BB, Linacre JM, Wright BD, Granger C. Relationships between disability measures and nursing effort during medical rehabilitation for patients with traumatic brain and spinal cord injury. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1997;78:143-149.
• Masedo AI, Hanley M, Jensen MP, Ehde D, Cardenas DD. Reliability and validity of a self-report FIM (FIM-SR) in persons with amputation or spinal cord injury and chronic pain. Am J Phys Med Rehabil 2005;84:167-176.