Revised Levels of Assistance for Occupational Therapy – CARE Tool Section GG in Acute Rehab (ARU)

The following apply to the standards of the CARE Tool (Section GG) that replaced the FIM for levels of assistance terminology and their definitions/percentages. See this article for the original values used in settings such as acute care.

 

  • CARE 6: Independent — Person completes the activity by himself/herself with no assistance from a helper.
  • CARE 5: Setup or cleanup assistance — Helper SETS UP or CLEANS UP; person completes activity. Helper assists only prior to or following the activity. (The helper can walk away and leave the person to complete the task.)
  • CARE 4: Supervision or touching assistance — Helper provides VERBAL CUES or TOUCHING/STEADYING and/or CONTACT GUARD ASSISTANCE as person completes activity. Assistance may be provided throughout the activity or intermittently.
  • CARE 3: Partial/moderate assistance — Helper does LESS THAN HALF the effort. Helper lifts, holds, or supports trunk or limbs but provides less than half of the effort.
  • CARE 2: Substantial/maximal assistance — Helper does MORE THAN HALF the effort. Helper lifts or holds trunk or limbs and provides more than half the effort.
  • CARE 1: Dependent — Helper does ALL of the effort. Person does none of the effort to complete the activity. Or, the assistance of 2 or more helpers is required for the person to complete the activity.

Note: CARE values do not have a 0 prefix before them and are just the numbers themselves. Some codes do have 0’s, but not from CARE 1-6.