Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Research paper
Construction and pilot assessment of the Upper Limb Assessment in Daily Living Scale
  1. Marc Rousseaux1,
  2. Huei-Yune Bonnin-Koang2,
  3. Bernadette Darné3,
  4. Phillippe Marque4,
  5. Bernard Parratte5,
  6. Alexis Schnitzler6,
  7. Patrick Dehail7,
  8. Nacera Bradai8,
  9. Jean Michael Viton9,
  10. Walter Daveluy1,
  11. Alain Yelnik8,
  12. Myriam Zadikian10,
  13. Charles Benaïm11
  1. 1Service de Rééducation Neurologique, CHRU et Université de Lille, Lille, France
  2. 2Service de Médecine Physique et de Réadaptation, CHU, Université de Nîmes, France
  3. 3Monitoring Force Group, Maisons-Laffitte, France
  4. 4Service de MPR, CHU, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
  5. 5Service de MPR, CHU, Université de Besançon, Besançon, France
  6. 6Service de MPR, AP-HP, Université de Versailles-Saint Quentin, France
  7. 7Service de MPR, CHU, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
  8. 8Service de MPR, AP-HP, Lariboisière-Fernand Widal, Université de Paris, Paris, France
  9. 9Service de MPR, CHU, Université de Marseille, Marseille, France
  10. 10Merz Pharma France, Nanterre, France
  11. 11Service de MPR, INSERM CIE1 and INSERM 803, CHU, Université de Dijon, Dijon, France
  1. Correspondence to Dr M Rousseaux, Service de Rééducation Neurologique, Hôpital Swynghedauw, CHRU, Lille Cedex 59037, France; marc.rousseaux{at}chru-lille.fr

Abstract

Objective The upper limb function of hemiplegic patients is currently evaluated using scales that assess physical capacity or daily activities under test conditions. The present scale, the Upper Limb Assessment in Daily Living (ULADL) Scale, was developed to explore the subjective and objective functional capacities of such patients in a proximal to distal sequence.

Methods A group of experts constructed a scale addressing 17 upper limb functions (five active passive and 12 active) which could be explored by a questionnaire (Q) and a test (T). Reproducibility, internal consistency, concurrent validity (Rivermead Motor Assessment (RMA)) and learning effect were estimated in a multicentre study.

Results 49 stroke patients were each rated three times within 7 days by a total of 21 physicians, yielding a total of 142 ratings. The ULADL took 16±8 min to complete compared with 9±5 min for the RMA. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.95 for Q and 0.97 for the practical tests (T). The global Q and T scores, and in particular the global Q score, were slightly higher at the second rating. The intra-rater intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.65 (95% CI (0.44 to 0.79)) for Q and 0.97 (0.95 to 0.98) for T, and the inter-rater ICC was 0.95 for both Q and T. The Bland and Altman method showed good intra- and inter-rater reliability with no systematic trend. Correlation coefficients for ULADL versus RMA were >0.80 for both Q and T.

Conclusions The ULADL Scale has good psychometric properties and can explore patients with different degrees of upper limb impairment.

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Funding This research was supported by Merz Pharma France (Nanterre).

  • Competing interests None.

  • Ethics approval The observational study was approved by the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL).

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.