The Function Assessment Scale

Abstract

The Function Assessment Scale (FAS), developed by Bah et al. (2025), is an original psychometric tool designed specifically to screen and assess perinatal women’s self-perceived ability to perform essential daily tasks. The scale development process began with a preliminary 12-item pool, informed by activities relevant to pregnant women and new mothers within their family and community roles. Utilizing a technique established by Bolton and Tang (2002), the items underwent rigorous translation and back-translation between English and Krio, culminating in linguistic validation in Krio. The final administered version, following iterative refinement that included the addition of the item “cooking” and the removal of five items due to cultural or task irrelevance, resulted in a 5-item scale focused on functional status among women surveyed in the Western Area and Bombali of Sierra Leone.

Keywords

Daily Activities, Functional Status, Mothers, Perinatal Period, Pregnancy, Adaptive Behavior Measures, Expectant Mothers, Krio language, Sierra Leone.

Authors

Abdulai Jawo Bah, Haja Ramatulai Wurie, Mohamed Samai, Rebecca Horn, Alastair Ager.

Purpose

The primary objective of the Function Assessment Scale (FAS) is to evaluate the subjective perceptions of perinatal women regarding their competence and ease in carrying out routine daily responsibilities. This assessment is crucial for identifying potential functional impairments or difficulties experienced during the demanding periods of pregnancy and early motherhood.

Construct

The FAS primarily measures the construct of Functional Status or Adaptive Behavior specific to the challenges faced by new and expectant mothers in a specific cultural context (Sierra Leone). It focuses on practical, day-to-day activities related to self-care, family maintenance, and community engagement. The scale seeks to quantify self-reported difficulties in performing these essential daily tasks.

Validity

At the time of publication (Bah et al., 2025), specific data regarding the scale’s construct validity, criterion validity, or predictive validity was reported as unavailable. Further psychometric research is recommended to establish the validity indices of the Function Assessment Scale.

Reliability

Initial reliability testing focused on the internal consistency of the measure. For the 7-item version of the scale examined during the development phase, the internal consistency was strong, yielding a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.890. Further statistical analysis revealed that the removal of the item “Engage in income-generating activities” would significantly enhance the scale’s cohesion, increasing the alpha value to 0.92. This improvement was attributed to the low incidence and variance of scores related to income-generating activities among the specific population surveyed. This high internal consistency suggests strong reliability for the finalized instrument.

Factor Analysis

Data derived from factor analytical methods, such as exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis, were not available in the initial documentation for the Function Assessment Scale. Future research should undertake factor analysis to confirm the underlying dimensionality and structural integrity of the final 5-item instrument.

Instrument

Test Type: Original psychometric instrument developed through an emic-etic approach.

Format: Rating Scale, utilizing a four-point Likert scale format. Respondents rate the difficulty faced in performing each task compared to other perinatal women of their age. The scale employs a novel visual aid depicting a man carrying varying degrees of weight to represent the four difficulty levels.

Language Available: English and Krio (Creole, Patois).

Population Group: Human females, specifically focused on the perinatal period (pregnant women and new mothers).

Age Group: Adults (18 years and older).

Population Details: The scale was developed and administered to pregnant women and new mothers residing in the Western Area and Bombali regions of Sierra Leone.

Test Methodology: The methodology involved rigorous scale development based on the technique proposed by Bolton and Tang (2002), combined with comprehensive linguistic validation (translation and back-translation). Test reliability was assessed primarily through internal consistency measures using Cronbach’s alpha.

Keywords

Functional Status, Adaptive Behavior, Perinatal Health, Sierra Leone, Scale Development, Cultural Validation, Krio, Daily Activities.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier:

• Abdulai Jawo Bah: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3334-7882
• Rebecca Horn: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9869-544X
• Alastair Ager: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9474-3563

Affiliation Email addresses: The corresponding author is Abdulai Jawo Bah, affiliated with the Institute for Global Health and Development, Queen Margaret University ([email protected]).

Correspondence Address: Abdulai Jawo Bah: [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: To obtain permissions for scale usage, interested parties should contact the corresponding author, Abdulai Jawo Bah.

Fee: There is currently no fee associated with the utilization of the Function Assessment Scale.

Test Year: 2025

Reference’s

Bah, A. J., Wurie, H. R., Samai, M., Horn, R., & Ager, A. (2025). Developing and validating the Sierra Leone perinatal psychological distress scale through an emic-etic approach. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 19, Article 100852. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2024.100852

Items of the the Function Assessment Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

This is a 5-item measure.