Validation of the ABILHAND questionnaire to measure manual ability in children and adults with neuromuscular disorders.
BACKGROUND
Neuromuscular disorders (NMDs) can lead to specific manual disabilities due to hand muscle weakness and atrophy, myotonia or loss of sensory function. The aim of this study was to adapt and validate the ABILHAND questionnaire in children and adults with NMDs using the Rasch model.


METHODS
This questionnaire contained specific manual activities for children and for adults, as well as common manual activities. 124 adult patients and the parents of 124 paediatric patients were asked to provide their perceived difficulty in performing each manual activity on a three level scale: impossible (0), difficult (1) or easy (2). Items were selected from well established psychometric criteria (ordered categories, equal item discrimination, adequate fit to the Rasch model, lack of redundancy) using the Rasch Unidimensional Measurement Models (RUMM2020) computer programme.


RESULTS
The 22 selected items contain four children specific items, four adult specific items and 14 items commonly applicable to both children and adults. They define a unidimensional and linear measure of manual ability and demonstrate continuous progression in their difficulty. The item hierarchy of difficulty was invariant across six patient related factors. The scale exhibited good precision (r=0.95) and the 22 items were well targeted to the patients' locations. The ABILHAND measures were strongly related to the ACTIVLIM measures (r=0.76) and poorly related to grip strength (r=0.36 for the right hand and r=0.40 for the left hand).


CONCLUSIONS
This scale can be used for adults and children, allowing manual ability to be assessed from childhood to adulthood.
Vandervelde
Laure
L
Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine Unit, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels 1200, Belgium.
Van den Bergh
Peter Y K
PY
Penta
Massimo
M
Thonnard
Jean-Louis
JL
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D009468:Neuromuscular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult