Title: (PDF) The needs assessment checklist: A clinical approach to measuring outcome
Headings: The needs assessment checklist: A clinical approach to measuring outcome
The needs assessment checklist: A clinical approach to measuring outcome
Authors:
Paul Kennedy
L R Hamilton
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Psychological Outcomes of MRSA-Isolation in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation
Spinal Cord Injuries

Content: rehabilitation
Introd uctio n
Research has shown that there is a discrepancy
between what actual ly occurs and what people believe
occurs during reha bilitation. 1,2
Engagement in compre-
hensive rehabilitation has been found to be the best
predictor of both post-discharge physical and psycho-
logical status,
3
but adherence remains a problem across
the healthcare domain. 4
Slade
5
suggests that an
assessment tool for everyday clinical use should go
beyond symptomatology and behaviour observed by
professionals, by incorporating the client's perceptions. McGrath, Marks and Davis
6
found that by taking the
client's wishes into account, compliance is certainly
increased. Rehabilitation programmes aim to change
behaviour in ways that sup port improved physical,
social and psychological functioning, and outcomes are
manifest changes of such programmes. To mana ge the pr oble ms of inst itut ional isat ion and
increase patient engagement, the Needs Assessment
and Goal Planni ng Programm e was i mplem ente d at
the National Spinal Injuries Centre in 1989. 1
Exis ting
measures which assessed client abilit y were examined
for sui tabil ity, i ncludi ng the FI M,
7
meas ures of
function al independen ce such as the Barthel Index,
8
and me a sures of ha ndi c ap such as t he CHAR T.
9
The
FIM i s a sh ort (1 7 cor e ite m), ea sily admin ister ed,
reliable and valid scale designed to measure the level
of inde pende nce in sel f-car e, sphin cte r con trol,
tran sfers , locom otio n, communic atio n and social
cogni tion. The Ba rthel I ndex wa s orig inall y devi sed
as a way of die rent iatin g pa tient s who wer e
inde pende nt i n ac tivi ties of da ily living (ADL), an d
inclu des the 10 m ost com mon are as consi dered w ithi n
the br oad de ®nitio n of A DL. The C raig H andi cap
Asse s sment and R epor ting Techn ique (CH A RT) is a
weig hted mea sure of func tion bas ed on the Worl d
Healt h Or ganis ation 's con cept ualis ation of I mpair -
ment, D isabi lit y a nd H andic ap. Dim ensio ns inc lude
mobi lity, soc ial in tegra tion and e c ono mi c self -suffi -
cienc y. These measur es are all we ll establ ishe d wi th
demon stra ted relia bili ty and valid ity prop erti es and
have be en us ed ex t ensi vely i n heal th an d rehab ilit ative
care.