Brazilian Functioning Index application in stroke individuals: Functional profile assessment

Abstract

The Brazilian Functioning Index (BR-FI) was developed and published by an interministerial task force at the request of the Presidency of the Republic, aiming to standardize and quantify the functioning assessment of the population for social benefit purposes. Analyze psychometric properties and the functional profile of stroke individuals using the BR-FI. An observational, longitudinal, prospective, and descriptive study. In order to ascertain intra- and inter-examiner concordance two evaluations were conducted, with a six-month interval between them, in which the BR-FI was applied and compared with another evaluation instrument, the functional independence measure (FIM), in 30 individuals (women 56.7%, mean age: 64.6 ± 14.6) that had a history of stroke from December 2016 to January 2018. The Spearman correlation between the BR-FI and the FIM was performed (0.85; P < 0.001), after which a strong, positive relationship was observed, indicating that the functional assessment instruments are directly proportional. When comparing the inter-examiner data, all of the correlations were identified as positive among the stroke individuals. In turn, when analyzing the intra-examiner data during the six-month interval, both evaluation instruments displayed positive associations, and all of the stroke individuals were observed to be more functional. Among the seven domains that compose the BR-FI, the sensorial, domestic life and education, work, and economic life domains did not exhibit any correlation with FIM. The BR-FI is considered a complete evaluation instrument to assess functional profiles since it analyzes aspects that are not contemplated in other tools, such as environmental factors.