Article

The Utrecht Scale for Evaluation of Rehabilitation (USER) is a measure
of functional independence that covers physical functioning (mobility,
self-care), cognitive functioning and additional domains of pain, fatigue and
mood. USER is implemented in the Netherlands as a generic rehabilitation outcome
measure. This article reports the development and psychometric characteristics of
USER. DESIGN: (1) Inter-rater reliability study and (2) responsiveness study with
measurements at admission and at discharge from clinical rehabilitation. SETTING:
Three rehabilitation facilities in the Netherlands. PATIENTS: Rehabilitation
inpatients (N = 319). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
Effect size (ES) and standardized response mean (SRM) of USER scales were
compared to those of the Barthel Index, Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and
to relevant scales of the SF-36. RESULTS: Inter-rater reliability of USER was
satisfactory to good. Strong correlations were found between the physical and
cognitive functioning scores of USER, the Barthel Index and FIM (0.84-0.94).
Correlations between USER pain, fatigue and mood scores and SF-36 scores were
also strong (0.58-0.84). Responsiveness of USER physical functioning (1.0-1.2)
was very good and slightly better than responsiveness of the Barthel Index
(0.9-1.1) and the FIM motor score (0.8-1.1). Responsiveness of the USER cognitive
score was below standard (0.2-0.3), but better than responsiveness of the FIM
cognitive scores (0.1-0.2). CONCLUSIONS: USER is a reliable, valid and responsive
measure of functional independence that can be used as an alternative for the
FIM. The pain, fatigue and mood scores were adapted after this study and need
additional validation.

Langue : ANGLAIS