Commentary on ‘A Critical Evaluation of the Barthel Index’

Abstract

The Barthel Index is the most extensively researched scale and is considered superior to and more robust than any other ADL scale. The Barthel scores can gauge the need for care and help to report therapeutically meaningful and valid information of patient outcomes. Rehabilitation workers can feel confident in advocating the use of the Bl, as modified by Shah et al in 1989, as the preferred measure of ADL.