Measuring Upper Limb Capacity in Patients After Stroke: Reliability and Validity of the Stroke Upper Limb Capacity Scale

• Published in: Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation Vol. 92; no. 9; pp. 1418 - 1422
• Main Authors: Houwink, Annemieke, PT, MSc, Roorda, Leo D., MD, PT, PhD, Smits, Wendy, OT, Molenaar, Ivo W., PhD, Geurts, Alexander C., MD, PhD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.09.2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biological and medical sciences; Cohort Studies; Disability evaluation; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Miscellaneous. Osteoarticular involvement in other diseases; Neurology; Observer Variation; Occupational Therapy - methods; Outcome assessment (health care); Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; Psychometrics; Radiotherapy. Instrumental treatment. Physiotherapy. Reeducation. Rehabilitation, orthophony, crenotherapy. Diet therapy and various other treatments (general aspects); Rehabilitation; Reproducibility of Results; Socioeconomic Factors; Stroke; Stroke - complications; Stroke - physiopathology; Stroke Rehabilitation; Treatment Outcome; Upper extremity; Upper Extremity - physiopathology; Vascular diseases and vascular malformations of the nervous system; Stroke; International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health; SULCS; occupational therapist; OT; CI; RMA; ICC; Psychometrics; Rivermead Motor Assessment; IQR; interquartile range; Upper extremity; ICF; Disability evaluation; Action Research Arm Test; intraclass correlation coefficient; ARAT; confidence interval; Rehabilitation; Outcome assessment (health care); Stroke Upper Limb Capacity Scale; Human; Nervous system diseases; Prognosis; Cardiovascular disease; Care; Cerebral disorder; Vascular disease; Disability; Validity; Reeducation; Orthopedics; Central nervous system disease; Upper limb; Reliability; Cerebrovascular disease
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apmr.2011.03.028
• ISSN: 0003-9993

Abstract Houwink A, Roorda LD, Smits W, Molenaar IW, Geurts AC. Measuring upper limb capacity in patients after stroke: reliability and validity of the Stroke Upper Limb Capacity Scale. Objective To investigate the interrater reliability and construct validity of the Stroke Upper Limb Capacity Scale (SULCS). Design Cohort study. Setting Inpatient department of a rehabilitation center. Participants Patients after stroke (N=21; mean age ± SD, 61.7±7.9y; 57% men), undergoing inpatient rehabilitation. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures The SULCS was administered by occupational therapists (OTs) within 6 weeks after stroke (t1), 3 months after t1 by the same OT (t2), and within 1 week after t2 by another OT (t3). Interrater reliability, the repeatability between different raters, was assessed by calculating the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) based on the scores at t2 and t3. Construct validity, indicating agreement with hypotheses concerning the construct that is being measured, was assessed with Spearman rank correlation coefficient ( ρ ). The SULCS scores were cross-sectionally correlated with those of the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) and the Rivermead Motor Assessment (RMA) at t1, and longitudinally with the respective change scores between t1 and t2. Results The SULCS (range, 0–10) had a high ICC (.94; 95% confidence interval, .86–.97) and strong cross-sectional correlation with both the ARAT and the RMA ( ρ =.91 and ρ =.85, respectively), while the respective change scores showed a strong correlation with the ARAT ( ρ =.71) and a moderate correlation with the RMA ( ρ =.48). Conclusions The SULCS has good interrater reliability and construct validity.