Measurement properties of the short version of the Van Lieshout test for arm/hand function of persons with tetraplegia after spinal cord injury

M. W.M. Post*, G. Van Lieshout, H. A.M. Seelen, G. J. Snoek, M. J. Ijzerman, C. Pons

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

44 Citations (Scopus)
5 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Study design:

Two validation studies.

Objectives:

To assess the measurement properties of the short version of the Van Lieshout test (VLT-SV), a new test for arm/hand function of persons with tetraplegia after spinal cord injury (SCI).

Setting:

Two specialized rehabilitation centres in The Netherlands.

Methods: 

Study 1 (N = 12) - assessment of inter-rater reliability (intraclass correlations (ICC); weighted kappa; Bland-Altman plots). Study 2 (N = 55) - assessment of convergent validity by computing Spearman's correlations with the Grasp-Release test (GRT; criterion standard) and with motor level of injury, ASIA impairment scale, international classification for surgery of the hand, and the self-care and transfer scales of the functional independence measure. All statistics were computed separately for the right- and the left-hand scores.

Results:

Inter-rater reliability was excellent (ICC 0.98 and 0.99). Agreement was independent of the height of the scores and the limits of agreement were ±0.5 points on a 0-5 scale. Convergent validity was very good with a Spearman correlation of 0.87and 0.90 between the VLT-SV and the GRT and correlations between 0.35 and 0.85 with the other indicators of arm/hand function.

Conclusion:

The VLT-SV seems a reliable and valid test to assess arm/hand function of persons with tetraplegia after SCI.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)763-771
Number of pages9
JournalSpinal Cord
Volume44
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2006
Externally publishedYes

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