Reliability and Validity of the Checklist for Function-Focused Care in Service Plans.

Only 242 residents from 26 assisted living settings in three states were included, so the results may not apply elsewhere. The Barthel Index was based on a care worker's report rather than direct observation of the resident. The physical activity item did not fit the rest of the checklist well, and the paper says the definition of physical activity was unclear. Many service plans scored so high or so low that the checklist could not differentiate them. Checklist scores were not related to residents' measured function or activity, so it cannot be treated as a proxy for independence or activity level.

The article is marked as supported by NIH extramural research funding. No author conflict-of-interest statement is included in the supplied text.

Do not assume a higher checklist score means a resident is more independent or more active. The scores were not related to Barthel Index function or activity counts. They were related only to observed care that encouraged residents to do tasks themselves.