In-Home Occupational Performance Evaluation (I-HOPE).

OBJECTIVE

We describe the development and preliminary psychometric properties of an assessment to quantify the magnitude of an environmental barrier's influence on occupational performance.

METHOD

The assessment was developed and then piloted on a group of 77 older adults before and after an occupational therapy intervention focused on environmental barrier removal. Refinements were made to the assessment before it was evaluated for interrater reliability in a sample of 10 older adults using 2 raters.

RESULTS

The In-Home Occupational Performance Evaluation (I-HOPE) is a performance-based measure that evaluates 44 activities in the home. The 4 subscales of Activity Participation, Client's Rating of Performance, Client's Satisfaction With Performance, and Severity of Environmental Barriers are sensitive to change in the environment. The subscales' internal consistency from .77 to .85, and intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from .99 to 1.0.

CONCLUSION

This preliminary study suggests that the I-HOPE is a psychometrically sound instrument that can be used to examine person-environment fit in the home.