Internal consistency and validity of an observational method for assessing disability in mobility in patients with osteoarthritis

✍ Scribed by Steultjens, M. P. M. ;Dekker, J. ;van Baar, M. E. ;Oostendorp, R. A. B. ;Bijlsma, J. W. J.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 141 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/1529-0131(199902)12:1<19::aid-art4>3.0.co;2-v

✦ Synopsis

Objective:

To establish the internal consistency and validity of an observational method for assessing disability in mobility in patients with osteoarthritis (oa).

Methods:

Data were obtained from 198 patients with oa of the hip or knee. results of the observational method were compared with results of self-report methods (questionnaires) on disability in mobility.

Results:

Both cronbach's alpha and mokken scale analysis indicate that the method is internally consistent. using factor analysis, observed and self-reported disability in mobility were found to be closely associated and could not be differentiated.

Conclusions:

The observational method is internally consistent and indeed measures disability in mobility (high convergent validity), but observations and self-report seem to yield largely equivalent information (low divergent validity). this raises questions regarding the simultaneous use of both observational and self-report methods in the assessment of disability in mobility in oa patients.