Article

Augmenting changes in recovery is core to the
rehabilitation process following a stroke. Hence it is essential that outcome
measures are able to detect change as it occurs, a property known as
responsiveness. This article critically reviewed the responsiveness of functional
outcome measures following stroke, specifically examining tools that captured
upper-extremity (UE) functional recovery. METHODS: A systematic search of the
literature was undertaken to identify articles providing responsiveness data for
3 types of change (observed, detectable, and important). RESULTS: Data from 68
articles for 14 UE functional outcome measures were retrieved. Larger percentage
changes were required to be considered important when obtained through
anchor-based methods (eg, based on patient opinion or comparative measure)
compared with distribution methods (eg, statistical estimates). Larger percentage
changes were required to surpass the measurement error for patient-perceived
functional measures (eg, Motor Activity Log) compared with laboratory-based
performance measures (eg, Action Research Arm Test).
The majority of
rehabilitation interventions have similar effect sizes on patient-perceived UE
function and laboratory-based UE function. CONCLUSIONS:
The magnitude of
important change or change that surpasses measurement error can vary
substantially depending on the method of calculation. Rehabilitation treatments
can affect patient perceptions of functional change as effectively as
laboratory-based functional measures; however, larger sample sizes may be
required to account for the larger measurement error associated with patient-perceived functional measures.

Langue : ANGLAIS