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


OBJECTIVE
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).


METHODS
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 0.87 and 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.


CONCLUSIONS
The VLT-SV seems a reliable and valid test to assess arm/hand function of persons with tetraplegia after SCI.
Post
M W M
MW
IRv Institute for Rehabilitation Research, Hoensbroek, The Netherlands.
Van Lieshout
G
G
Seelen
H A M
HA
Snoek
G J
GJ
Ijzerman
M J
MJ
Pons
C
C
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D001132:Arm / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018737:Hand Strength; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011782:Quadriplegia / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric