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Inter-rater reliability and concurrent validity of walking speed measurement after traumatic brain injury

Maastricht University, The Netherlands

A M Moseley

Rehabilitation Studies Unit, University of Sydney, Australia

J M Bosman

Maastricht University, The Netherlands

R A de bie

Department of Epidemiology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands

L Hassett

Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit, Liverpool Health Service, Sydney, Australia

Objective: To assess the inter-rater reliability and concurrent validity of walking speed measurement after traumatic brain injury.

Design: Twelve subjects each completed five comfortably paced and five fast-paced walking trials. Walking speed was measured simultaneously by five observers using a stopwatch (clinical procedure) and by infrared timing gates (gold standard).

Setting: Brain injury rehabilitation unit.

Subjects: People with traumatic brain injury who could walk independently and were participating in a rehabilitation programme.

Main outcome measures: Walking speed over a 10-metre distance.

Results: The inter-rater reliability of walking speed measured using a stopwatch was very high, with an intraclass correlation coefficient of at least 0.998 for both comfortable and fast-paced tests. Concurrent validity was excellent for comfortable and fast tests, with perfect correlations between the stopwatch and infrared timing gate measurement procedures.

Conclusions: Physiotherapists can use a stopwatch as a reliable and valid measurement tool to quantify walking speed over a short distance at both comfortable and fast paces in people who have sustained traumatic brain injuries.

Clinical Rehabilitation, Vol. 17, No. 7, 775-779 (2003)
DOI: 10.1191/0269215503cr677oa


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