Face validity of standardized assessments for wheeled mobility & seating evaluations

ABSTRACT

A problem in the Complex Rehabilitation Technology industry is the lack of standardization in the assessment for wheeled mobility and seating (WMS). The aim of this paper was to identify assessment tools commonly used by clinicians during WMS evaluations. After the tools were identified by a panel of 12 subject matter experts, a presentation at the 2018 International Seating Symposium in Vancouver, Canada and the 2018 European Seating Symposium in Dublin, Ireland polled attendees via the Sli.do polling application to determine professional opinions of each tool, resulting in face validity for use in wheelchair evaluations. The Lawshe Content Validity Ratio was used to convert this anecdotal data into numerical data, indicating which tools were most and least used by attendees. Finally, a literature search was conducted to determine the reliability, validity, and International Classification of Functioning, Disability, & Health domain for each measure. The findings indicate that while there are many standardized and reliable assessment tools available for wheeled mobility and seating evaluations, most clinicians use only a few standardized assessment tools during WMS evaluations.

KEYWORDS:

• assessment tools
• clinical documentation
• complex rehabilitation technology
• standardized assessments
• wheelchair evaluation
• wheeled mobility and seating

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Joseph Straatmann, Vince Schiappa, Kaila Grenier, and Mauricio Arredondo for their assistance with presenting at the sessions and developing the content. Thanks to Igede Pramana for assistance with the analysis of the data.

Disclosure statement

The primary author has no real or perceived conflicts of interest to disclose. Mark R. Schmeler is a developer of the Functional Mobility Assessment (FMA) which has been evaluated in this paper, and for which he receives royalties.

Additional information

Funding

The contents of this publication were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90DPGE0014-01-00). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this publication do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.