The Juvenile Arthritis Functional Assessment Scale (JAFAS) can be used to measure disability in a child affected by juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. It can be performed quickly in any setting without specialized equipment. The authors are from Children's Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio.
|
Activity |
Target Time in seconds |
|
button shirt or blouse |
22.4 |
|
pull shirt or sweater over head |
14.6 |
|
pull on both socks |
27.2 |
|
cut food with a knife and fork |
12.8 |
|
get into bed |
3.4 |
|
get out of bed |
2.9 |
|
pick something up off the floor from standing position |
2.4 |
|
from standing position sit on floor, then stand up |
4.0 |
|
walk 50 feet without assistance |
15.1 |
|
walk up a flight of 5 steps |
3.7 |
from Table 4, page 1393
|
Functional Ability |
Points |
|
can perform in a time <= target time |
0 |
|
takes more than target time to complete |
1 |
|
unable to perform |
2 |
where:
• The target time was set based on the mean time + 2 standard deviations for normals to complete.
total JAFAS =
= SUM(points for all 10 actions)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 20
• The higher the score, the greater the disability.
Performance:
• The score shows excellent internal and convergent validity.
• The score shows excellent internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.85).
Purpose: To evaluate the functional disability of a child with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis using the Juvenile Arthritis Functional Assessment Scale (JAFAS).
Specialty: Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation, Immunology/Rheumatology
Objective: severity, prognosis, stage, response to therapy, disability and performance
ICD-10: M08,
