A new functional outcome assessment tool for military musculoskeletal rehabilitation: a pilot validation study
Andrew J Roberts1, Andrew D Franklyn-Miller, John Etherington
1Centre for Human Performance, Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Headley Court, Epsom, Surrey, KT18 6JW, United Kingdom. DMRC-Researcher@mod.uk
Objective:
To examine the construct and concurrent validity of a new occupational military outcome measure (the Functional Activity Assessment [FAA]).
Design:
A validation study.
Setting:
British Defence rehabilitation facilities.
Participants:
A total of 141 service personnel who attended a musculoskeletal injury assessment clinic.
Methodology:
The association among the Short Form 36 (SF-36), Physical Workload Questionnaire, and the FAA was examined. Agreement and correlation with an actual medical category also was examined.
Main Outcome Measures:
FAA, SF-36 and Physical Workload Questionnaire scores.
Results:
The FAA was significantly correlated with heavy physical workload and all SF-36 subscale and component scores, in line with predictions. The regression model retained 3 variables that accounted for 49% of the variation in FAA, most of which was accounted for by the role-physical subscale score of the SF-36. The FAA was well correlated with actual medical category.
Conclusions:
The FAA is a valid measure of physical health in relation to physical workload.
