Abstract
Lindquist NJ, Loudon PE, Magis TF, Rispin JE, Kirby RL, Manns PJ. Reliability of the
performance and safety scores of the Wheelchair Skills Test Version 4.1 for manual
wheelchair users.
Objective
To evaluate the interrater, intrarater, and test-retest reliability of the total performance
and safety scores of the Wheelchair Skills Test version 4.1 (WST 4.1) for manual wheelchairs
operated by adult wheelchair users.
Design
Cohort study.
Setting
University research setting.
Participants
People (N=11) who used manual wheelchairs for community locomotion.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measure
Participants were videotaped as they completed the WST 4.1 (30 skills) on 2 separate
occasions 1 to 2 weeks apart. Subsequently, raters scored the WST 4.1 from the video
recordings and each participant received a total score for performance and safety.
Using those scores, interrater, intrarater, and test-retest reliability were determined
by using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Percentages of agreement between
raters for individual skills also were calculated.
Results
Mean ± SD overall WST 4.1 scores for performance and safety were 80.1%±8.5% and 98.0%±2.8%.
ICCs for the interrater, intrarater, and test-retest reliability of the performance
component were .855, .950, and .901 (P<.001). Safety component ICC scores were .061 (P=.243), .228 (P=.048), and .254 (P=.041). Percentages of agreement between raters for each test item for both the performance
and safety scales ranged from 68% to 100%.
Conclusions
Reliability of the performance component of the WST 4.1 was excellent, whereas ICCs
for the safety component indicated only slight to fair agreement, probably because
of the low variability in safety scores. Additional study is needed to further evaluate
the reliability of the safety component with a larger and more diverse sample group.
Key Words
List of Abbreviations:
ICC (intraclass correlation coefficients), R1 (first viewing of a trial (rating 1)), R2 (second viewing of a trial (rating 2)), T1 (first trial), T2 (second trial), WSP (Wheelchair Skills Program), WST (Wheelchair Skills Test), WST 4.1 (Wheelchair Skills Test version 4.1)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Footnotes
Supported by the Endowment Fund for the Future: Support for Advancement of Scholarship Small Faculties Research Grant Program at the University of Alberta.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
Reprints are not available from the author.
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
