title: Content Validity Index and Intra- and Inter-Rater Reliability of a New Muscle Strength/Endurance Test Battery for Swedish Soldiers.
abstract: The objective of this study was to examine the content validity of commonly used muscle performance tests in military personnel and to investigate the reliability of a proposed test battery. For the content validity investigation, thirty selected tests were those described in the literature and/or commonly used in the Nordic and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries. Nine selected experts rated, on a four-point Likert scale, the relevance of these tests in relation to five different work tasks: lifting, carrying equipment on the body or in the hands, climbing, and digging. Thereafter, a content validity index (CVI) was calculated for each work task. The result showed excellent CVI (≥0.78) for sixteen tests, which comprised of one or more of the military work tasks. Three of the tests; the functional lower-limb loading test (the Ranger test), dead-lift with kettlebells, and back extension, showed excellent content validity for four of the work tasks. For the development of a new muscle strength/endurance test battery, these three tests were further supplemented with two other tests, namely, the chins and side-bridge test. The inter-rater reliability was high (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC2,1 0.99) for all five tests. The intra-rater reliability was good to high (ICC3,1 0.82-0.96) with an acceptable standard error of mean (SEM), except for the side-bridge test (SEM%>15). Thus, the final suggested test battery for a valid and reliable evaluation of soldiers' muscle performance comprised the following four tests; the Ranger test, dead-lift with kettlebells, chins, and back extension test. The criterion-related validity of the test battery should be further evaluated for soldiers exposed to varying physical workload.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Physiotherapy,Karolinska Institutet, SE-141 83, Huddinge, Sweden; Swedish Armed Forces, Stockholm, SE-107 85, Sweden.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Physiotherapy,Karolinska Institutet, SE-141 83, Huddinge, Sweden; Department of community medicine and rehabilitation, Umeå University, SE-901 87, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tegern
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Physiotherapy,Karolinska Institutet, SE-141 83, Huddinge, Sweden; Swedish Armed Forces, Stockholm, SE-107 85, Sweden.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Monnier
authors.affiliation: Department of community medicine and rehabilitation, Umeå University, SE-901 87, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jörgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Skoglund
authors.affiliation: Department of community medicine and rehabilitation, Umeå University, SE-901 87, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Helander
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Perioperative Science, Umeå University, SE-908 87, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Emelie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Persson
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Perioperative Science, Umeå University, SE-908 87, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Christer
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Malm
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Physiotherapy,Karolinska Institutet, SE-141 83, Huddinge, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lisbet
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Broman
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Physiotherapy,Karolinska Institutet, SE-141 83, Huddinge, Sweden; Department of community medicine and rehabilitation, Umeå University, SE-901 87, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ulrika
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Aasa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D013548:Sweden; D055815:Young Adult