Interpreting Action Research Arm Test Assessment Scores to Plan Treatment.
Emily S Grattan, Craig A Velozo, Elizabeth R Skidmore and 2 others
PMID 29444623WHAT IT FOUND
In 122 people with stroke-related upper-limb weakness, the ARAT behaved as one overall ability score.
A keyform can show which grasp tasks are just hard enough to target for short-term therapy goals, but patient outcomes were not tested.
Key findings
01The ARAT items measured one overall upper-limb ability in this stroke sample.
02The keyform identified a transition zone of items where a participant had some but not full ability, which can guide short-term grasp goals.
03The ARAT divided this sample into 9 ability levels, and all items showed adequate measurement performance.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The analysis used 122 participants from existing stroke rehabilitation studies, which the authors noted was a relatively small sample for the factor analysis. Participants could not have severe hemiparesis, severe spasticity, inability to follow one-step commands, or upper-limb pain, so the findings may not apply to those patients. The keyform was shown with example participants, not tested in routine practice, and the authors said future studies are needed to see whether it changes clinician use or upper-limb outcomes. The keyform may be less useful for people with very high or very low ARAT scores because measurement error is greater at those extremes.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that the ARAT keyform improves upper-limb function or treatment outcomes. The study tested the ARAT's measurement properties and illustrated how the keyform could guide goals; it did not compare patients treated with or without the keyform.