Barriers to self-administered home-based task-oriented practice post-stroke: development and content validity of a...

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Rehabilitation Science
• Instrument Development

Background:

• Post-stroke recovery often involves home-based task-oriented practice.
• Identifying barriers to this practice is crucial for effective rehabilitation.
• Existing tools may not adequately address specific challenges in self-administered practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a new instrument to identify barriers to self-administered home-based task-oriented practice post-stroke.
• To assess the content validity and comprehensibility of the developed instrument.

Main Methods:

• Instrument development involved literature search, interviews with stroke survivors, and online questionnaires for professionals.
• Content validity was tested through multiple rounds of evaluation by individuals with stroke and neurological rehabilitation professionals.
• Statistical thresholds for Content Validity Index (≥0.80) and Kappa agreement (≥0.75) were used.

Main Results:

• A preliminary 46-item instrument was refined over three rounds.
• The final instrument, Barriers to self-administered home-based task-oriented practice post-stroke (BASH-TOP-Stroke), comprises 34 items.
• Excellent content validity was achieved for the instrument, with items rated on a five-category scale indicating the number of barriers.

Conclusions:

• A new, valid instrument (BASH-TOP-Stroke) has been developed to identify barriers to home-based task-oriented practice for stroke survivors.
• This instrument can assist clinicians and researchers in understanding and addressing challenges in post-stroke self-rehabilitation.
• The findings support the use of BASH-TOP-Stroke for improving adherence and outcomes in home-based stroke recovery programs.