Test-retest and inter-rater reliability of the Danish version of the management of everday technology assessment for use with older adults with and without COPD

Abstract

Background: The trend towards telemedicine increasingly requires clients to manage everyday technology (ET) to access and use health services. The Management of Everday Technology Assessment (META) is an observation-based instrument developed to evaluate the ability to manage ET.

Aim: To examine test-retest (TRR) and inter-rater reliability (IRR) of the Danish translation of the META for older adults with and without COPD.

Method and Materials: 47 older adults with COPD (n = 23) and without (n = 24) were recruited. IRR was examined by four raters paired across 30 participants. TRR was examined for 21 participants by the same rater administering the META twice within four weeks. A rank-based method for paired ordinal data was used to calculate percentage agreement (PA) and measures of systematic disagreement and individual variability. Mann Whitney U tests were used to compare PA to health status (presence/absence of COPD).

Results: Inter-rater PA was acceptable across 10 of 11 items and test-retest PA across 8 of 11 items. Systematic disagreement was present for one item in TRR. No significant differences in PA were found regarding health status.

Conclusion: The Danish META generates reliable scores for this sample. However, conclusive statements cannot be made for all items.

Keywords:

• Psychometrics
• COPD
• occupational therapy
• technology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported financially by Technologies Closely Connected to Citizens’ Health research program and the Division of Occupational Therapy, University College of Northern Denmark.