Developing a Short Form of the Postural Assessment Scale for People With Stroke

Abstract

Objective. To develop a Short Form of Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke patients (SFPASS) with sound psychometric properties (including reliability, validity, and responsiveness).Methods. This study consisted of 2 parts: developing the SFPASS and cross-validation. In the 1st part, 287 people with stroke were evaluated with the PASS at 14-and 30-day poststroke intervals. The authors reduced the number of test items that constitute the PASS by more than half (i.e., making 5-, 6-, and 7-item sets) and simplified the scoring system (i.e., collapsing the 4-level scale in the original PASS into a 3-level scale [PASS-3L]), making both 4-L and 3-L versions available. Thus, a total of 6 SFPASSs were generated. In addition, 2 external criteria, the Barthel activities of daily living index and the Fugl-Meyer motor test, were used to examine the validity of the 6 SFPASSs. The psychometric properties of the new 6 SFPASSs were compared with each other as well as with those of the original PASS to determine which scale outperformed the others. In the 2nd part of the study, the authors crossvalidated the best SFPASS using another independent sample of 179 people with stroke. Results. All 6 SFPASSs demonstrated good reliability, validity, and responsiveness. However, the Bland-Altman plots showed that only the 5-item PASS-3L demonstrated no systematic trend between the difference and mean score of the 5-item PASS-3L and the original PASS. The 5-item PASS-3L also had psychometric properties similar to those of the original PASS, as demonstrated in a crossvalidation sample. Conclusion. The authors' results provide strong evidence that the 5-item PASS-3L has sound psychometric properties in people with stroke. The 5-item PASS-3L is simple and fast to administer and is thus recommended.

Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke Patients Scores as a predictor of stroke patient ambulation at discharge from the rehabilitation ward

“…PASS further has the advantage of possessing dynamic and functional items that are appropriate for low-functioning patients. (28) developed a short form of PASS, and the study provides strong evidence that the short form of PASS has sound psychometric properties in people with stroke. The short form of PASS is simple and fast to administer.…”

Comparison of the Original and Reduced Versions of the Berg Balance Scale and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index in Patients Following Hip or Knee Arthroplasty

“…1 Many outcome measures have been revised to offer shorter versions, in an effort to gather similar information while reducing the time and complexity of administration. [2][3][4] The original 24-item Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) Osteoarthritis Index has been reduced to 12-item and 8-item WOMAC versions; 5,6 similarly, the original 14-item Berg Balance Scale (BBS) has been reduced to a 7-item BBS. 7 Although the original version of the WOMAC has been used extensively in research to assess patients' subjective opinions of their functional disability and is estimated to take about 5 to 10 minutes to complete, 8 clinical experience suggests that in the case of elderly patients, it often takes longer to complete, and the questions may require further explanation.…”

The Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke Patients: translation into Norwegian, cultural adaptation, and examination of reliability

“…It has shown high intrarater and interrater reliability (9), good individual item agreement (11), and acceptable or high test-retest reliability (7,12). PASS has been examined for different aspects of validity in several studies, showing good to excellent validity (9,11,(13)(14)(15). Clinical instruments should be used in the patient's native language to ensure a common understanding of the original intention with the test.…”