ACTIVLIM-Stroke: a crosscultural Rasch-built scale of activity limitations in patients with stroke.
OBJECTIVE
This study describes the development of a Rasch-built scale measuring activity limitations in stroke patients, named ACTIVLIM-Stroke.


METHODS
This new Rasch-built measure was constructed based on stroke patients' perceptions of difficulty in performing daily activities. Patients were recruited from inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation departments in Belgium and Benin. A 73-item questionnaire was completed by 204 participants. A random subsample of 83 subjects was given the questionnaire a second time. Data were analyzed using RUMM2030 software.


RESULTS
After successive Rasch analyses, the ACTIVLIM-Stroke questionnaire, a unidimensional and linear 20-item measure of activity limitations, was constructed. All 20 items fulfilled Rasch requirements (overall and individual item fit, category discrimination, invariance, local response independence, and nonredundancy in item difficulty). This simple patient-based scale encompasses a large range of activities related to self-care, transfer, mobility, manual ability, and balance. The ACTIVLIM-Stroke questionnaire exhibited high internal validity, excellent internal consistency, and good crosscultural validity. The test-retest reliability of item difficulty hierarchy (intraclass correlation coefficient=0.99) and patient location (intraclass correlation coefficient=0.92) were both excellent. Furthermore, it showed good external construct validity using correlations with the Functional Independence Measure motor and the Barthel Index and a higher discriminating capacity than either of these widely used indices.


CONCLUSIONS
The ACTIVLIM-Stroke questionnaire has good psychometric qualities and provides accurate measures of activity limitations in patients with stroke. It is recommended for evaluating clinical and research interventions in patients with stroke, because it provides a higher discrimination and might be more sensitive to change.
Institut of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 53 avenue Mounier, COSY-B1.53.04, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium.
Charles Sèbiyo
CS
Batcho
Alan
A
Tennant
Jean-Louis
JL
Thonnard
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D001541:Benin / Q000453:epidemiology; D002138:Calibration; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051346:Mobility Limitation; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012648:Self Care; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome