Development and cross-validation of a home functioning scale for people with multiple sclerosis

BACKGROUND: After extensive review of existing measures, it was deemed that a brief self-report instrument that measures the functioning difficulties and limitations of people with MS in and around their home should be developed. OBJECTIVE: The purposes of this study were to develop an instrument that can measure the degree of difficulty in functioning that people with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience within their residence and to test the psychometric properties of the newly developed scale. METHODS: To test the factorial validity of the Home Functioning Scale, both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were utilized in a cross-validation approach in this study. RESULTS: The new scale captured three functioning difficulty components: (1) functioning needed to take care of oneself at home, (2) functioning needed to conduct house work and house maintenance, and (3) functioning needed to carry out one's own medical needs and treatment at home. Unlike many other scales in the field, this measure is not disease or symptom-specific, but task-oriented and site-specific. CONCLUSION: The use of the scale can be instrumental to rehabilitation counselors and allied health practitioners in the field.