Measurement Property Evaluation of the Arabic Version of the Patient-Specific Functional Scale for Patients with Stroke

Abstract

Neurological disorders refer to disorders that occur due to disease or damage to the nervous system. Stroke is one of the most common neurological disorders in which individuals commonly present with motor and sensory deficits, leading to the limitations on the activities of daily life. Outcome measures are used to assess and monitor patients’ condition change. The patient-specific functional scale (PSFS) is an outcome measure used to assess changes in performance levels in participants with a functional disability during daily activities. This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Arabic version of the patient-specific functional scale (PSFS-Ar) in individuals with stroke. A longitudinal cohort study was used to examine the reliability and validity of the PSFS-Ar in patients with stroke. All participants completed the PSFS-Ar in addition to other outcome measures. Fifty-five individuals participated (fifty male, five female). The PSFS-Ar showed excellent test–retest reliability, with ICC2,1 = 0.96, p < 0.001. The SEM and MDC95 of the PSFS-Ar were 0.37 and 1.03, respectively. No floor and ceiling effect was observed in this study. Additionally, the construct validity of the PSFS-Ar showed 100% satisfaction with the pre-defined hypotheses. Since the number of female participants was very small in this study, the findings were established for male individuals with stroke. This study showed that the PSFS-Ar is a reliable and valid outcome measure for male individuals with stroke.