The Newcastle Independence Assessment Form—Research: Development of an alternative functional measure

The Newcastle Independence Assessment Form-Research (NIAF-R) is a 55-item global measure of the functional independence of people with neurologic disability. It has been designed to establish outcome over time-throughout recovery and at long- term follow-up. This paper recounts the development of this scale and demonstrates its expediency, acknowledging the presence of other less suitable or less user-friendly extended ADL and global functional assessment measures. Interrater agreement was demonstrated throughout the developmental stages of the NIAF-R. The majority of kappa ratings were greater than 0.6 in a comparison between the NIAF-R and the Functional Independence Measure (FIM). Values at this level are agreed to be a substantial result. Recommendations for future analyses include validation studies at longer term follow-up and with a wider range of neurologic disabilities, an increased sample size to increase statistical power, and further testing to establish NIAF-R as a clinical tool.