Clinical functioning information tool – coronavirus disease 2019 (ClinFIT COVID-19): psychometric evaluation and development of an interval-scaled functioning score across the care continuum

Authors

  • Masahiko Mukaino Department of Rehabilitation Medicine I, School of Medicine, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Japan; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Hokkaido University Hospital, Sapporo, Japan https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4348-8715
  • Catarina Aguiar Branco Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Centro Hospitalar de Entre o Douro e Vouga, Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal; Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Porto, Portugal https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5666-842X
  • Alia Alghwiri Department of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2122-9280
  • Sonia Amato Multidisciplinary Department of Medical-Surgical and Dental Specialities, University of Campania 'Luigi Vanvitelli', Naples, Italy
  • Antonios Kontaxakis Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Department, 414 Military Hospital of Special Diseases, Athens, Greece https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7076-890X
  • Mihai Berteanu University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” Bucharest, Romania https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9379-4580
  • Hüma Bölük Şenlikci University of Ankara Medipol, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ankara, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6771-3265
  • Pinar Borman University of Ankara Medipol, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ankara, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1212-6797
  • Salmane Diouane Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah, Fez, Morocco
  • Maryam Fourtassi Life and Health Sciences Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Tangier, Moroc https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4915-5399
  • Francesca Gimigliano Department of Mental and Physical Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1905-6405
  • Abderrazak Hajjioui Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah, Fez, Morocco; Life and Health Sciences Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Tangier, Morocco https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2311-5543
  • Xiaolei Hu Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umeå University, Sweden https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9864-7432
  • Sinforian Kambou Institute of Applied Neurosciences and Functional Rehabilitation, Yaoundé, Cameroon
  • Cho-I Lin Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital Yunlin Branch, Yunlin, Taiwan
  • Mohamed I. Mabrouk Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9191-1240
  • Evanthia Mitsiokapa Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Department, Sotiria General Hospital of Chest Diseases of Athens, Greece https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0574-4047
  • Remus Iulian Nica Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Midwifery and Nursing, Bucharest, Romania https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3722-6877
  • Christina-Anastasia Rapidi Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Department, General Hospital “G.Gennimatas”, Athens, Greece https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3340-1444
  • Gabriella Serlenga Multidisciplinary Department of Medical-Surgical and Dental Specialities, University of Campania 'Luigi Vanvitelli', Naples, Italy
  • Arianna Silvestri Multidisciplinary Department of Medical-Surgical and Dental Specialities, University of Campania 'Luigi Vanvitelli', Naples, Italy
  • Sinikka Tarvonen-Schröder Neurocenter, Turku University Hospital and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Turku, Turku, Finland; Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Turku, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2314-7166
  • Clara Ursescu University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” Bucharest, Romania https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8121-9561
  • Arja Viinanen Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Turku University Hospital, Finland; Pulmonary Diseases and Clinical Allergology, University of Turku, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4990-6228
  • Panagiotis Vorniotakis Blocks Rehab, Rehabilitation Center, Athens, Greece
  • Melissa Selb ICF Research Branch, Nottwil, Switzerland; Swiss Paraplegic Research, Nottwil, Switzerland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5882-6644

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2340/jrm.v57.43227

Keywords:

COVID-19, functional status, International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, Functional outcomes, Rehabilitation, Functioning

Abstract

Objective: to report on the development and global testing of the COVID-19 version of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health-based Clinical Functioning Information Tool called “ClinFIT COVID-19” to collect functioning data of rehabilitation patients across the care continuum to establish an interval-scaled functioning score.

Design: Multicentre, cross-sectional observational study.

Subjects/Patients: Rehabilitation patients in acute, post-acute, and long-term settings.

Methods: Three context-specific versions (13–16 ICF categories) of ClinFIT-COVID-19 were administered to collect information on patient functioning. Rasch analysis examined psychometric properties and generated conversion tables from ordinal raw scores to a 0–100 interval metric.

Results: Twenty-six study centres in 17 countries across the globe collected data from 1,747 patients. Problems in exercise tolerance functions were most frequently reported in the acute and post-acute settings (74.2%; 87.6%), while long-term care patients most frequently reported pain as problematic (71.1%). With a testlets approach and item splitting, all 3 ClinFIT COVID-19 versions satisfied Rasch model expectations (item-trait χ² p > 0.05; PSI 0.742–0.812), making it feasible to develop respective transformation tables.

Conclusion: This study found the psychometric properties of ClinFIT COVID-19 acceptable. Future studies are needed to validate the use of the transformation tables to monitor functioning and evaluate intervention impact.

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2025-08-17

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Mukaino, M., Aguiar Branco, C., Alghwiri, A., Amato, S., Kontaxakis, A., Berteanu, M., … Selb, M. (2025). Clinical functioning information tool – coronavirus disease 2019 (ClinFIT COVID-19): psychometric evaluation and development of an interval-scaled functioning score across the care continuum. Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 57, jrm43227. https://doi.org/10.2340/jrm.v57.43227

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Vol. 57 (2025)

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Copyright (c) 2025 Masahiko Mukaino, Catarina Aguiar Branco, Alia Alghwiri, Sonia Amato, Antonios Kontaxakis, Mihai Berteanu, Hüma Bölük Şenlikci, Pinar Borman, Salmane Diouane, Maryam Fourtassi, Francesca Gimigliano, Abderrazak Hajjioui, Xiaolei Hu, Sinforian Kambou, Cho-I Lin, Mohamed I. Mabrouk, Evanthia Mitsiokapa, Remus Iulian Nica, Christina-Anastasia Rapidi, Gabriella Serlenga, Arianna Silvestri, Sinikka Tarvonen-Schröder, Clara Ursescu, Arja Viinanen, Panagiotis Vorniotakis, Melissa Selb

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