The Physical Activity and Disability Survey -- Revised (PADS-R): an evaluation of a measure of physical activity in people with chronic neurological conditions.
OBJECTIVE
To revise the Physical Activity Disability Scale (PADS) and to explore the acceptability and test-retest reliability of the revised measure, the PADS-R, in people with multiple sclerosis.


METHODS
This study was conducted over three phases: (1) PADS-R questionnaire development including modification to the original PADS, field testing and refinement; (2) PADS-R scoring; (3) PADS-R acceptability and reliability assessment, where participants completed the PADS-R twice over the telephone, three days apart, and then answered a series of semi-structured questions on the instrument's acceptability.


METHODS
Participants were recruited from the local Multiple Sclerosis Society, Stroke Foundation and Auckland District Health Board depending on the purpose of each phase: (1) PADS-R questionnaire development (n = 30, multiple sclerosis); (2) PADS-R scoring (n = 293, multiple sclerosis; and n = 83, stroke); and (3) PADS-R acceptability and reliability assessment (n = 29, multiple sclerosis).


METHODS
Physical Activity Disability Scale-Revised (PADS-R) RESULTS: The PADS-R took approximately 20 minutes to administer and most (n = 25; 86%) participants reported it to be easy to understand and complete. All participants reported that it enabled them to give an accurate picture of their physical activities. In terms of test-retest reliability, the intraclass correlation coefficient was high (0.87 (95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.78, 0.96)), but the 95% limits of agreement were wide (+/-1.13). When observations which potentially represented important changes in activity were excluded, these limits narrowed considerably (+/-0.89).


CONCLUSIONS
The PADS-R appears to be a conceptually and psychometrically sound measure of physical activity for people with chronic neurological conditions.
Kayes
Nicola M
NM
Health and Rehabilitation Research Centre, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand. nkayes@aut.ac.nz
Schluter
Philip J
PJ
McPherson
Kathryn M
KM
Taylor
Denise
D
Kolt
Gregory S
GS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000534:rehabilitation; D009520:New Zealand; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires