Intrarater and Interrater Reliability of the Hierarchical Balance Short Forms in Patients With Stroke

Wan-Hui Yu; Kuan-Lin Chen; Sheau-Ling Huang; Wen-Shian Lu; Shu-Chun Lee; Ching-Lin Hsieh

doi:10.1016/j.apmr.2016.07.003

Intrarater and Interrater Reliability of the Hierarchical Balance Short Forms in Patients With Stroke

Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2016 Dec;97(12):2137-2145.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2016.07.003. Epub 2016 Jul 25.

Authors

Wan-Hui Yu¹, Kuan-Lin Chen², Sheau-Ling Huang³, Wen-Shian Lu⁴, Shu-Chun Lee⁵, Ching-Lin Hsieh⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan.
³ School of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ School of Occupational Therapy, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Occupational Therapy Room, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁵ School of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Occupational Therapy, Taipei City Hospital Songde Branch, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ School of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: clhsieh@ntu.edu.tw.

PMID: 27465751
DOI: 10.1016/j.apmr.2016.07.003

Abstract

Objective: To examine the intrarater and interrater reliability of a quick balance measure, the Hierarchical Balance Short Forms (HBSF), in outpatients with stroke receiving rehabilitation.

Design: A repeated-assessments design (1wk apart) was used to examine the intrarater and interrater reliability of the HBSF. The HBSF was administered by a single rater in the intrarater reliability study and by 2 raters in the interrater reliability study. The raters had sufficient working experience in stroke rehabilitation.

Setting: Seven teaching hospitals.

Participants: Two independent groups of outpatients (N=106; each group, n=53) with stroke in chronic stages and in stable medical condition were recruited.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main outcome measure: HBSF.

Results: For the intrarater reliability study, the values of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), minimal detectable change (MDC), and percentage of minimal detectable change (MDC%) were .95, 1.02, and 16.3%, respectively, for the HBSF. The 95% limits of agreement (LOA) of the HBSF ranged from -.69 to 1.19. For the interrater reliability study, the values of the ICC, MDC, and MDC% were .91, 1.22, and 18.3%, respectively, for the HBSF. The 95% LOA of the HBSF ranged from -1.01 to 1.35.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that the HBSF has satisfactory intrarater and interrater reliability for assessing balance function in outpatients with stroke. The MDC values of the HBSF are useful for both researchers and clinicians to determine whether the change in balance function of an individual patient is real when administered by an individual rater or by different raters.

Keywords: Postural balance; Rehabilitation; Reproducibility of results; Stroke.

MeSH terms

Aged
Disability Evaluation*
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Observer Variation
Physical Therapy Modalities / standards*
Postural Balance / physiology*
Reproducibility of Results
Stroke Rehabilitation / methods*