Measuring participation across impairment groups using the Craig Handicap Assessment Reporting Technique

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Disability Studies
• Societal Participation Measurement

Background:

• Societal participation is a key outcome in rehabilitation.
• Existing measures may not adequately capture participation across varied disability types.
• The Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique (CHART) was developed to assess societal participation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique (CHART) in measuring societal participation.
• To determine CHART's applicability across a spectrum of disability groups, including spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, stroke, burn, and amputation.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional analysis utilizing survey methodology.
• 1110 community-based individuals with various disabilities were interviewed twice, 2 weeks apart.
• Data collected using the CHART and the Functional Independence Measure (FIM).

Main Results:

• High intraclass correlation coefficients were observed for the total score and subscales of the CHART-Revised (CHART-R).
• CHART-R demonstrated the ability to differentiate between various impairment categories.
• Results indicated that CHART-R scores increased with increasing disability levels, as expected.

Conclusions:

• The Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique (CHART) appears to be a suitable tool for assessing handicap.
• CHART is appropriate for individuals with a wide range of physical and cognitive impairments.
• CHART provides a reliable measure of societal participation for diverse disability populations.