Basic psychometric properties of the transfer assessment instrument (version 3.0).

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation medicine
• Biomedical engineering
• Clinical assessment

Background:

• Transferring is a critical daily activity for wheelchair users.
• Accurate assessment of transfer ability is essential for effective rehabilitation and training.
• Existing assessment tools may lack comprehensive psychometric validation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To refine the Transfer Assessment Instrument (TAI) to version 3.0.
• To develop and implement a training program for the TAI.
• To analyze the psychometric properties of TAI 3.0, including reliability, SEM, MDC, and construct validity.

Main Methods:

• Repeated measures design.
• Participants included 41 wheelchair users performing sitting-pivot or standing-pivot transfers.
• TAI 3.0 was assessed for reliability using ICCs and for construct validity via Spearman correlations, ANOVA, and t-tests.

Main Results:

• TAI 3.0 exhibited acceptable to high reliability (ICC range: .74-.88).
• Standard Error of Measurement (SEM) ranged from .45 to .75, with a Minimal Detectable Change (MDC) of 1.5 points on the final score.
• Construct validity was supported by weak correlations between TAI scores and participant characteristics.

Conclusions:

• The refined TAI 3.0, with comprehensive training, provides reliable and unbiased quantitative measurement of wheelchair transfers.
• TAI 3.0 is a valuable tool for identifying transfer deficits and guiding rehabilitation interventions.
• This instrument addresses a need for a validated, quantitative measure in transfer assessment.