Computer adaptive testing: a strategy for monitoring stroke rehabilitation across settings

Current functional assessment instruments in stroke rehabilitation are often setting-specific and lack precision, breadth, and/or feasibility. Computer adaptive testing (CAT) offers a promising potential solution by providing a quick, yet precise, measure of function that can be used across a broad range of patient abilities and in multiple settings. CAT technology yields a precise score by selecting very few relevant items from a large and diverse item pool based on each individual's responses. We demonstrate the potential usefulness of a CAT assessment model with a cross-sectional sample of persons with stroke from multiple rehabilitation settings.