BACKGROUND: Occupational therapists are frequently asked to document the interplay between individuals' neuropsychological deficits and the requirements of their daily lives. PURPOSE: The present study was designed to develop and validate a measure of independence in everyday functioning that considers recent advances in research regarding the ecological assessment of executive functions. METHOD: Experts (n=8) judged the IADL Profile's content validity and the tool was pilot tested with the target population (n=8). To document the tool's reliability, 30 patients aged 16 to 65 with moderate or severe TBI were recruited. A trained examiner administered the IADL Profile, and three trained judges rated video recordings on two occasions. RESULTS: An eight-task (29-item) test was developed. Comparing ratings of four raters, 95 percent of kappa coefficients indicated moderate to almost perfect agreement, and 94% showed almost perfect intrarater agreement. IMPLICATIONS: The IADL Profile provides occupational therapists with a set of measures of IADL independence with strong preliminary evidence of reliability.
BACKGROUND: Occupational therapists are frequently asked to document the interplay between individuals' neuropsychological deficits and the requirements of their daily lives. PURPOSE: The present study was designed to develop and validate a measure of independence in everyday functioning that considers recent advances in research regarding the ecological assessment of executive functions. METHOD: Experts (n=8) judged the IADL Profile's content validity and the tool was pilot tested with the target population (n=8). To document the tool's reliability, 30 patients aged 16 to 65 with moderate or severe TBI were recruited. A trained examiner administered the IADL Profile, and three trained judges rated video recordings on two occasions. RESULTS: An eight-task (29-item) test was developed. Comparing ratings of four raters, 95 percent of kappa coefficients indicated moderate to almost perfect agreement, and 94% showed almost perfect intrarater agreement. IMPLICATIONS: The IADL Profile provides occupational therapists with a set of measures of IADL independence with strong preliminary evidence of reliability.