Spinal Function Sort Kit

Video: Evaluation using the Spinal Function Sort

The purpose of the Spinal Function Sort (SFS) is to quantify ability to perform work tasks that involve the spine and lower extremities. The SFS quantifies and documents reported functional capacity with very little effort or expense. In treatment programs, the patient’s progress can be documented easily. The SFS provides a baseline measure of function in everyday tasks, to compare to progress in subsequent treatment, extending the benefits beyond the clinic’s walls, into the patient’s life at home, at work, and in the community. In comparison with functional tests, magnification of dysfunction can be identified. In employment screening programs in industrial settings, the SFS compares the job applicant’s current abilities to job demands, and sets a baseline of abilities. 

In the SFS, drawings of spine and lower extremity tasks are supplemented by drawings that depict common activities of daily living and work tasks. The drawings have been selected by experts in rehabilitation from hundreds of tasks that persons with lower extremity impairments report present significant challenges. Each of the 50 drawings in the test booklet is accompanied by a simple task description. Procedures The SFS is an untimed paper and pencil test. The evaluee is instructed to “Look at each drawing and read the description. On a separate answer sheet, indicate your current level of ability to perform the task.”

The answer sheet provides a 5-point rating from “Able” to “Restricted” to “Unable.” Operational definitions of these adjectives are provided in the standardized instructions. There is also a sixth rating which is depicted as “?” and indicates, “I don’t know.” The SFS can be administered by a technician following standardized instructions. Although administration is not timed, the SFS usually requires 8 minutes to complete. Items can be read to the evaluee who is illiterate, although the combination of text and pictures allows evaluees with low literacy levels to complete the test independently.

Hand Scoring - The SFS is easily scored by hand and yields a single “Rating of Perceived Capacity” which ranges from zero to 200. Two “internal validity check” drawings are included that are similar to drawings presented earlier. These are used to screen for inconsistent responding, along with a graded scoring strategy that evaluates intra-test consistency.

Normative values for both healthy and disabled males and females are provided in the SFS examiner’s manual. In addition, the SFS Rating of Perceived Capacity score is cross-referenced to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Physical Demand Characteristic of Work system, described below:

Video: Spinal Function Sort, Hand Function Sort, and Multidimensional Task Ability Profile bridge the gap!

Through use of the PDC crosswalk, the evaluee’s score can be linked to performance on the EPIC Lift Capacity test, to more than 12,000 occupational descriptions in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, and hundrers of job descriptions in the Occupational Information Network (O*NET).

Additional Information, Research, and Resources for the Spinal Function Sort

Includes

• 2 test booklets with 50 drawings selected by experts in rehabilitation from hundreds of tasks that persons with spine and lower extremity impairments report present significant challenges.  Each drawing is accompanied by a simple task description.
• 1 examiner’s manual with instructions, reliability studies, and normative data
• 100 response sheets (2 score pads, 50 sheets each) with Department of Labor Physical Demand Characteristic chart

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