Reliability and Validity Analysis of the Transfer Assessment Instrument

Objectives: To describe the development and evaluate the reliability and validity of a newly created outcome measure, the Transfer Assessment Instrument (TAI), to assess the quality of transfers performed by full-time wheelchair users.

Design: Repeated measures.

Setting: 2009 National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Spokane, WA.

Participants: A convenience sample of full-time wheelchair users (N=40) who perform sitting pivot or standing pivot transfers.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for reliability and Spearman correlation coefficients for concurrent validity between the TAI and a global assessment scale (0-100 visual analog scale [VAS]).

Results: No adverse events occurred during testing. Intrarater ICCs for 3 raters ranged between .35 and .89, and the interrater ICC was .642. Correlations between the TAI and a global assessment VAS ranged between .19 (P=.285) and .69 (P>.000). Item analyses of the tool found a wide range of results, from weak to good reliability. Evaluators found the TAI to be safe and able to be completed in a short time.

Conclusions: The TAI is a safe, quick outcome measure that uses equipment typically found in a clinical setting and does not ask participants to perform new skills. Reliability and validity testing found the TAI to have acceptable interrater and a wide range of intrarater reliability. Future work indicates the need for continued refinement including removal or modification of items found to have low reliability, improved education for clinicians, and further reliability and validity analysis with a more diverse subject population. The TAI has the potential to fill a void in assessment of transfers.