Barthel scale

The Barthel scale is an ordinal scale that measures performance in activities of daily living (ADL) and mobility using ten variables. Each item is rated based on the time and physical assistance required, and external environmental factors affect the score. A higher total score indicates a greater likelihood of living at home with some independence after hospital discharge.

Introduced in 1965, the original scoring yielded a range of 0–100. A later modification scored each domain in one-point increments, with a full score of 20 indicating functional independence. The scale has been used extensively in inpatient rehabilitation, particularly for stroke, and has demonstrated high inter-rater reliability (0.95) and test–retest reliability (0.89), as well as high correlations with other measures of physical disability.