Prospective evaluation of the AM-PAC-CAT in outpatient rehabilitation settings.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to prospectively evaluate the practical and psychometric adequacy of the Activity Measure for Post-Acute Care (AM-PAC) "item bank" and computerized adaptive testing (CAT) assessment platform (AM-PAC-CAT) when applied within orthopedic outpatient physical therapy settings.


METHODS
This was a prospective study with a convenience sample of 1,815 patients with spine, lower-extremity, or upper-extremity impairments who received outpatient physical therapy in 1 of 20 outpatient clinics across 5 states. The authors conducted an evaluation of the number of items used and amount of time needed to complete the CAT assessment; evaluation of breadth of content coverage, item exposure rate, and test precision; as well as an assessment of the validity and sensitivity to change of the score estimates.


RESULTS
Overall, the AM-PAC-CAT's Basic Mobility scale demonstrated excellent psychometric properties while the Daily Activity scale demonstrated less adequate psychometric properties when applied in this outpatient sample. The mean length of time to complete the Basic Mobility scale was 1.9 minutes, using, on average, 6.6 items per CAT session, and the mean length of time to complete the Daily Activity scale was 1.01 minutes, using on average, 6.8 items. BACKGROUND AND CONCLUSION: Overall, the findings are encouraging, yet they do reveal several areas where the AM-PAC-CAT scales can be improved to best suit the needs of patients who are receiving outpatient orthopedic physical therapy of the type included in this study.
Jette
Alan M
AM
Health and Disability Research Institute, School of Public Health, Boston University, 580 Harrison Ave, 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02218, USA. ajette@bu.edu
Haley
Stephen M
SM
Tao
Wei
W
Ni
Pengsheng
P
Moed
Richard
R
Meyers
Doug
D
Zurek
Matthew
M
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003201:Computers; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers; D013124:Spinal Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000628:therapy*