Construct Validation of an Acute Care Occupational Therapy Cerebral Vascular Accident Assessment Tool

Abstract

French

This study was the last in a series of six investigations of the construct validity' of the St. Marys CVA evaluation, a clinician constructed test composed of items designed to evaluate sensory, perceptual, motor, and self care performance in cerebral vascular accident patients. Data for the present study were obtained from 250 new patients referred for occupational therapy services from 1983 to 1988. Factor analysis with varimax orthogonal rotation was per formed on 22 items of the evaluation including perception, recovery stages, measures of grasp and pinch strength and other functional variables. Three factors emerged — Right Function, Recovery Stage, and Left Hand Strength. The results of the study, combined with results of previous research, indicate that this CVA Evaluation has reasonable construct validity as an occupational therapy assessment tool in an acute care setting.

Keywords

Cerebrovascular disorders Clinical competence Factor analysis,statistical

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Anastasi

(1982). Psychological testing (5th ed.). New York: MacMillan

Brunnstrom

(1970). Movement therapy in hemiplegia. New York: Harper & Row.

Crocker

L.M.

Algina

J.A.

(1985). Introduction to classical and modern test theory. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.

Gorsuch

R.L.

(1983). Factor analysis, 2nd ed. Hillsdale, NJ: Laurence Erlbaum Associates.

Granger

C.V.

Sherwood

C.C.

Greer

D.S.

(1977). Functional status measures in comprehensive stroke care program. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 58, 555–561.

Harlowe

Van Deusen

(1984). Construct validation of the St. Marys CVA evaluation: Perceptual measures. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 38, 184–186.

Harlowe

Van Deusen

(1985). Brief: Evaluating cutaneous sensation following CVA: Relationships among touch, pain and temperature tests. The Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, 5, 70–72.

Horton

A.M.

Jr. Wedding

(1984). Clinical and behavioral neuropsychology, New York: Praeger.

Jongbloed

Collins

J.B.

Jones

(1986). A sensorimotor integration test battery for CVA clients: Preliminary evidence of reliability and validity. The Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, 6, 131–150.

10.

Lezak

(1983). Neuropsychological assessment (2nd ed.) New York: Oxford University Press.

11.

Nunnally

J.C.

(1978). Psychometric theory, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

12.

SAS Institute, Inc. (1985) SAS user's guide: Statistics, version 5 edition. Cary, NC: SAS Institute.

13.

Schenkenberg

Bradford

D.C.

Ajax

E.T.

(1980). Line Bisection and unilateral visual neglect in patients with neurologic impairment. Neurology, 30, 509–517.

14.

Thorndike

R.L.

Hagen

(1969). Measurement and evaluation in psychology and education (3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

15.

Van Deusen

Fox J.

Harlowe

(1984). Construct validation of occupation therapy measures used in CVA evaluation: A beginning. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 38, 101–106.

16.

Van Deusen

Harlowe

(1986). Continued construct validation of the St. Marys CVA Evaluation: Brunnstrom arm and hand stage ratings. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 40, 561–563.

17.

Van Deusen

Harlowe

(1987). Continued construct validation of the St. Marys CVA Evaluation: Bilateral awareness scale. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 41, 242–245.