title: Reliability, validity, sensitivity and internal consistency of the ICF based Basic Mobility Scale for measuring the mobility of patients with musculoskeletal problems in the acute hospital setting: a prospective study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The assessment of mobility is important in the acute care setting. Existing tests suffer from limitations. The aim of the study was to examine the inter-rater reliability, the validity, the sensitivity to change, and the internal consistency of an ICF based scale.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a prospective study inpatients in the acute care setting with restricted mobility aged above 50 years assigned to rehabilitative treatment were included. Assessment of subscales of the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and the ICF based Basic Mobility Scale (BMS) were performed at admission and before discharge. Furthermore pain, length of stay in hospital, and post-discharge residential status were recorded. Inter-rater reliability, criterion-concurrent validity, sensitivity to change, and internal consistency were calculated. Furthermore, floor and ceiling effects were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred twenty-five patients (79 women/46 men) were included. The BMS showed an excellent inter-rater reliability for the total BMS (ICC BMS: 0.85 (95 % CI: 0.81-0.88). The criterion-concurrent validity was high to excellent (Spearman correlation coefficient: -0.91 in correlation to FIM) and the internal consistency was good (Cronbach's alpha 0.88). The BMS proved to be sensitive to improvements in mobility (Wilcoxon's signed rank test: p < 0.0001; The effect size for the BMS was 1.075 and the standardized response mean 1.10. At admission, the BMS was less vulnerable to floor effects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The BMS may be used as a reliable and valid tool for the assessment of mobility in the acute care setting. It is easy to apply, sensitive to change during the hospital stay and not vulnerable to floor and ceiling effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical University of Vienna General Hospital of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria. karin.pieber@meduniwien.ac.at.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pieber
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical University of Vienna General Hospital of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria. malvina.herceg@meduniwien.ac.at.
authors.forename: Malvina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Herceg
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical University of Vienna General Hospital of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria. tatjana.paternostro-sluga@meduniwien.ac.at.
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paternostro-Sluga
authors.affiliation: Section for Medical Statistics, Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics and Intelligent Systems, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. eleonore.pablik@meduniwien.ac.at.
authors.forename: Eleonore
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pablik
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Karl Landsteiner Institute of Remobilization and Functional Health, Kaiser Franz-Joseph Hospital, Vienna, Austria. michael.quittan@wienkav.at.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Quittan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical University of Vienna General Hospital of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria. peter.nicolakis@meduniwien.ac.at.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nicolakis
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical University of Vienna General Hospital of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria. pmr-office@meduniwien.ac.at.
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Fialka-Moser
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical University of Vienna General Hospital of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria. richard.crevenna@meduniwien.ac.at.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Crevenna
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051346:Mobility Limitation; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results