Reliability of the International Spinal Cord Injury Physical Therapy-Occupational Therapy Basic Data Set.

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Clinical Trial Methodology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Differentiating experimental interventions from concurrent rehabilitation is crucial in spinal cord injury (SCI) clinical trials.
• Rehabilitation significantly impacts motor outcomes in SCI patients.
• The International Spinal Cord Injury (ISCI) Physical Therapy-Occupational Therapy Basic Data Set (PT-OT BDS) was developed to standardize tracking of rehabilitation interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the inter-rater reliability of the PT-OT BDS for recording physical and occupational therapy interventions in SCI clinical trials.
• To evaluate the influence of various factors on the reliability of the PT-OT BDS.

Main Methods:

• Physical therapists (PTs) and occupational therapists (OTs) from 10 SCI centers in 7 countries participated.
• Therapist pairs recorded therapy sessions for 20 patients using the PT-OT BDS after online training.
• Agreement between therapist pairs was analyzed, considering therapist, patient, and setting characteristics.

Main Results:

• High agreement was found for five of seven intervention categories, with medium agreement for the remaining two.
• No significant differences in category selection were observed between treating and observing therapists for most categories.
• Therapist/patient characteristics, setting, and location did not meaningfully influence agreement levels.

Conclusions:

• The PT-OT BDS demonstrates reliable use across diverse settings, countries, and SCI patient impairment levels.
• The data set is suitable for consistent tracking of rehabilitation interventions in SCI clinical trials.
• Refinements to the training syllabus may further enhance data set utility.