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Level-of-Functioning Assessment
A functional assessment provides the clinician with a means to quantify the patient’s impairment.
- Level-of-functioning instruments measure a person’s ability to interact with others, form relationships and handle day-to-day tasks. (1)
- Self-report of level-of-functioning has been found to have an important role in treatment as it encourages patient participation and collaborative dialogue. (1)
- Monitoring response to treatment in bipolar disorder should extend beyond symptom reduction to include a focus on a person’s improvement in functioning. (2)
Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) :
- Highly validated instrument developed to assess functional impairment, which can be used to assess response to treatment.
- Self-rated scale that evaluates 3 inter-correlated domains. The patient rates the extent to which his or her work, social life, and home life or family responsibilities are impaired by his or her symptoms on a 10 point visual analog scale.
- This anchored visual analog scale uses spatiovisual, numeric, and verbal descriptive anchors simultaneously to assess disability.
References:
- O’Malia L, McFarland B, et al, A Level-of Functioning Self Report Measure for consumers with severe mental illness. Psychiatric Services, March 2002, Vol 53, No 3 26-331
- Keck PE, Defining and Improving response to treatment in patients with bipolar disorder. J Clin Psychiatry 2004; 65 (suppl 15) 25-29
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