User's Manual

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EPIC Hand Function Sort (Optional Upgrade)
The purpose of the 62-item Hand Function Sort (HFS) is to quantify the disabled person's
perception of their ability to perform work tasks that involve the hands and upper extremities.
The HFS can be useful to provide a baseline measure of the client's perception of their
functionality in everyday tasks prior to the onset of intervention. This allows progress to be noted
as it occurs, extending the benefits of treatment beyond the clinic's walls into the client's life at
home, at work, and in the community.
In the HFS, drawings of handling and fingering tasks are supplemented by drawings that depict
common activities of daily living. The drawings have been selected by experts in rehabilitation
from among hundreds of tasks that persons with upper extremity impairments report as
presenting significant challenges.
The client 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, depicted as "?", which indicates "I don't know."
The HFS is not timed and usually requires 8 to 10 minutes to complete. It can be administered by
a technician by following the standardized instructions