Validity and Reliability of a Telehealth Physical Fitness and Functional Assessment Battery for Ambulatory Youth With and Without Mobility Disabilities: Observational Measurement Study.
Byron Lai, Danielle Wadsworth, Katherine Spring and 6 others
PMID 38345838WHAT IT FOUND
Hand grip, sit-to-stand, and timed walk tests matched in-person scores closely when done via video.
The home-modified six-minute walk did not match in-person distances and should not be compared to them. No falls occurred.
Key findings
01Teleassessment versions of the hand grip strength, five times sit-to-stand, and timed up-and-go tests showed good to excellent agreement with in-person laboratory assessments.
02The home-modified six-minute walk test did not agree with the in-person six-minute walk test on distance, so converted lap counts should not be compared to standard walking distances.
03Two raters achieved excellent agreement scoring the teleassessments for youth with cerebral palsy, suggesting that highly experienced personnel may not be required for these assessments.
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 sample was small (19 participants) and not representative of all youth with disabilities. All participants with disabilities had cerebral palsy and were ambulatory, so findings do not apply to nonambulatory individuals or other conditions. The teleassessments were conducted in a controlled laboratory setting simulating a home, not in actual participants' homes, so real-world technical issues and space constraints were not tested. Participants had high videoconference literacy, which may not reflect the general population. The home-modified six-minute walk test involved frequent turns in a small space, which participants reported as difficult and potentially causing dizziness. All tests were performed in a single session, leaving open the possibility of a learning effect influencing results.
Declared interests
None declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the home-modified six-minute walk test provides an accurate estimate of walking distance in meters. The study found that converting laps to distance did not agree with in-person measurements, and the authors recommend using the raw number of laps for remote tracking instead.