Improvement of a questionnaire measuring activity limitations in rising and sitting down in patients with lower-extremity disorders living at home

Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2005 Nov;86(11):2204-10. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2005.06.005.

Abstract

Objective: To improve a self-administered questionnaire that includes 42 dichotomous items and measures activity limitations in rising and sitting down (R&S) in patients with lower-extremity disorders who live at home.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Outpatient clinics of secondary and tertiary care centers.

Participants: Patients (N=759; 47% men; mean age +/- standard deviation, 60.7+/-15.2y) living at home, with lower-extremity disorders resulting from stroke, poliomyelitis, osteoarthritis, amputation, and complex regional pain syndrome type I.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main outcome measures: (1) Unidimensionality, indicating that items assess only a single construct; (2) fit with the one-parameter logistic model (OPLM), yielding information about patient and item location parameters; (3) intratest reliability, indicating consistency of patients' item scores; and (4) content validity, indicating completeness with which the items cover the important aspects of the construct that they are attempting to represent.

Results: Thirty-nine of 42 items: (1) loaded on 1 component (variance explained, 59%; item component loadings, >or=.51), (2) showed good fit with the OPLM (P=.15), (3) had a good intratest reliability (Cronbach alpha=.96), and (4) had a good content validity (all important aspects represented).

Conclusions: A unidimensional scale that fits with the OPLM has been developed for measuring activity limitations in R&S in patients with lower-extremity disorders who live at home.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Activities of Daily Living*
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Disability Evaluation*
  • Disarticulation
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Leg / physiopathology*
  • Logistic Models
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Motor Activity / physiology*
  • Osteoarthritis, Hip / physiopathology
  • Poliomyelitis / physiopathology
  • Posture / physiology
  • Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy / physiopathology
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Residence Characteristics*
  • Stroke / physiopathology
  • Surveys and Questionnaires*