Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2026
A Novel Method for Assessing Proximal and Distal Forelimb Function in the Rat: the Irvine, Beatties and Bresnahan (IBB) Forelimb Scale
Published on: December 16, 2010
Short versions of the telephone motor Functional Independence Measure for use with persons with spinal cord injury
1Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, Wayne State University, Detroit, USA.
Objective:
To determine if the motor ability of persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) can be reliably estimated using a subset of the 13 Functional Independence Measure (FIM) items.
Study Design:
FIM item subsets of 5, 6, or 7 items were selected using one of five strategies: random, coefficient alpha maximization, spread across the range of item difficulties, optimization by neurologic category, and individual optimization. Motor ability estimated by these 15 subsets was compared to the 13-item estimate, using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), Rasch calibration person reliability estimate, and other indices of reliability.
Subjects:
Subjects were 4,128 persons with SCI, 1 to 25 years postinjury, interviewed for annual research follow-up using the FIM.
Results:
All subsets had high ICC reliability (>.90). Subsets of 7 items performed generally better than those of 6 or 5 items. The best performance was provided by individual optimization subsets. The ICC for the 7-item set thus selected was .99.
Conclusion:
In annual follow-up, the number of FIM motor items can be reduced almost 50% while maintaining reliable estimates of subjects' motor ability. This approach may also be useful for other applications of interviewing to obtain FIM data, eg, for program evaluation.
