Test-retest reliability of the Arabic translation of the Lower Extremity Functional Status of the Orthotics and Prosthetics Users' Survey.
Ahmed Alhowimel, Faris Alodaibi, Khalid Al-Nowaisri and 2 others
PMID 35704603WHAT IT FOUND
The Arabic translation of the Lower Extremity Functional Status scale is stable over time.
Scores from 63 patients remained consistent when retested 5 to 7 days later, allowing therapists to trust changes in a patient's score as real functional shifts rather than measurement error.
Key findings
01The Arabic version of the OPUS-LEFS showed excellent test-retest reliability with an Intraclass Correlation Coefficient of 0.99.
02The minimal detectable change was 4.138 points, meaning a score change of less than this amount may not represent a true clinical improvement or decline.
03Participants reported no difficulties understanding the items in the cross-cultural validity sample, supporting the translation's clarity.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study used convenience sampling from a single institution in one country, which may limit generalizability to other Arabic-speaking regions despite the use of classical Arabic. All participants in the reliability testing were prosthetics users; the study did not include orthotics users, so reliability for that group is not established here. The sample size for the cross-cultural validity check was small (18 patients).
Declared interests
The project was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the scale is equally reliable for orthotics users or for all Arabic dialects. The study tested only prosthetics users in a single country, and while classical Arabic was used, local comprehension issues may still arise in different regions.