Psychometric properties of the modified Emory Functional Ambulation Profile in stroke patients

• Published in: Clinical rehabilitation Vol. 20; no. 5; pp. 429 - 437
• Main Authors: Liaw, Lih-Jiun, Hsieh, Ching-Lin, Lo, Sing-Kai, Lee, Su, Huang, Mao-Hsiung, Lin, Jau-Hong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA SAGE Publications 01.05.2006; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Aged; Barthel Index; Convergent validity; Disability Evaluation; Exercise Test; Female; Gait; Hospitals; Humans; Inpatient care; Male; Middle Aged; Mobility; Patient admissions; Physical therapy; Predictive validity; Predictive Value of Tests; Psychometrics; Quantitative psychology; Recovery; Rehabilitation; Reproducibility of Results; Responsiveness; Stroke; Stroke - physiopathology; Stroke - psychology; Stroke Rehabilitation; Strokes; Test-Retest reliability; Validity; Walking; Walking - physiology; Walking speed; Taiwan
• ISSN: 0269-2155; 1477-0873
• DOI: 10.1191/0269215506cr950oa

Objective: To examine the test-retest reliability, convergent and predictive validity and responsiveness of the modified Emory Functional Ambulation Profile (mEFAP) in assessing gait function in stroke patients undergoing rehabilitation. Subjects: Forty subacute stroke inpatients were enrolled in the validity and responsiveness study. Twenty chronic patients participated in the reliability study. Setting: Rehabilitation department of a medical centre. Design: In the validity and responsiveness study, patients were tested using the mEFAP, 10-m walking speed test, Barthel Index and Rivermead Mobility Index at admission and at discharge. For the reliability study, the patients completed the mEFAP twice one week apart. Results: The patients' performances on the mEFAP were moderately to highly correlated with results of the 10-m walking speed test and Rivermead Mobility Index (absolute correlation coefficients ≥0.67), indicating good convergent validity. Patients' performance on the mEFAP at admission was moderately correlated with the Barthel Index and Rivermead Mobility Index scores at discharge (Spearman's rank correlation coefficients=-0.52 and-0.78, respectively), indicating good predictive validity. The standardized response mean of the mEFAP was 1.1 (P<0.0001), suggesting good responsiveness. The intraclass correlation coefficient ICC(3,1) for the mEFAP was 0.997, indicating excellent test-retest reliability. Conclusions: Our results provide strong evidence that the mEFAP has good reliability, validity and responsiveness for assessing stroke patients undergoing rehabilitation. The mEFAP is a useful scale for measuring walking function and recovery in stroke patients.