Development and Validation of a Bedside Scale for Assessing Upper Limb Function Following Stroke: A Methodological...

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Existing upper limb (UL) function evaluation tools for stroke survivors often lack practicality for bedside use due to time and resource demands.
• There is a need for efficient and accessible assessment methods in stroke rehabilitation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a simple, resource-efficient, and time-efficient bedside tool for evaluating UL function in stroke survivors.
• To create a practical assessment for immediate clinical application.

Main Methods:

• Literature review informed the conceptualization of daily UL movement tasks.
• An item pool of 18 UL movements was refined to a 12-item scale using a mini-Delphi method for content validity.
• Concurrent validity was established by correlating the Bedside Upper Limb Evaluation Tool (BUFET) scores with the Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT), and internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha.

Main Results:

• The BUFET demonstrated strong concurrent validity, with a high correlation coefficient (r = 0.937; p<0.001) when compared to the WMFT.
• Internal consistency was excellent, indicated by a high Cronbach's alpha value of 0.948.

Conclusions:

• The newly developed BUFET is a valid and reliable bedside tool for assessing upper limb function in stroke survivors.
• The BUFET offers a practical, time-efficient, and resource-efficient solution for bedside evaluations in clinical settings.