This project will investigate the Patient Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) as a measure to document and monitor patient-identified rehabilitation goals for patients with acquired brain injury (ABI).
The Patient Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) is a patient-specific outcome measure and is used to document patient-identified goals and monitor changes in functioning for individuals with musculoskeletal disorders.
The PSFS was developed as a self-reported measure of function and was meant to be applicable to many diagnoses and clinical presentations. The patients identify 1-5 activities (PSFS items) where they have performing difficulties due to injury or illness. The identified activities are then defined as the patients` rehabilitation goals.
It has been claimed that disturbances of consciousness, cognition and language impairment could be an obstruction to ascertaining the patients' goals, and that patients may have difficulties setting goals early after acquired brain injury.
Individuals with cognitive or language impairment have been excluded from studies that applied the PSFS as an outcome measure. There is uncertainty as to whether the PSFS is suitable for persons with ABI suffering from cognitive or language impairment and for patients in the acute phase of rehabilitation.
To the best of our knowledge, no studies concerning the clinical utility of PSFS for patients with ABI have been published.
Aim
The purpose of this PhD-project is to investigate the Patient Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) as a measure to document and monitor patient-identified rehabilitation goals for patients with acquired brain injury (ABI).
Method
The project includes three sub-studies:
- investigating the clinical utility of PSFS
- testing the reliability, validity and responsiveness of PSFS
- exploring the patients' rehabilitation goals derived from the PSFS. The PSFS is a patient-specific outcome measure where the patients identify and rate their own problems, whereupon individualized treatment goals can be set.
