Comparing assessments of physical functional independence in older adults with mobility limitations

Objectives 1) To assess the agreement and correlation between self-reported functional independence and observations of family caregivers in a heterogeneous population of community-dwelling older adults with disabilities. 2) To determine how self- and caregiver-reports correlate with evaluator rated functional independence over time. Design Data were drawn from a larger, randomized controlled trial examining the effects of a caregiver-inclusive intervention on outcomes of care recipients and their family caregivers. Functional independence measures were obtained using a self-report version of the Functional Independence Measure (care recipient FIM-SR, caregiver FIM-SR) and the Functional Autonomy Measurement System (evaluator perspective). They were administered at baseline (pre-intervention), and following the intervention at 6-, 22-, and 58-weeks. Results Bivariate correlation analyses of ninety dyads consisting of older care recipients and their family caregivers reported moderate to very strong correlations between the three functional independence measures across all time points (rS=0.45-0.91; P

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