The German version of the Stroke Upper Limb Capacity Scale: Translation,cross-cultural adaption and evaluation of its psychometric properties

Abstract

Objective:

To investigate the psychometric properties of a newly developed German version of the Stroke Upper Limb Capacity Scale (SULCS).

Design:

Prospective cohort study.

Setting:

Neurorehabilitation clinic.

Subjects:

Patients after stroke (n = 50) with moderate to severe upper limb hemiparesis undergoing inpatient rehabilitation.

Intervention:

Not applicable.

Main measures:

The SULCS was administered twice by two different raters on the first day of assessments and another time the day after. Additionally the Fugl-Meyer-Assessment, Action Research Arm Test and the Box and Block Test were conducted. Three and six weeks later, the SULCS, Fugl-Meyer-Assessment and Box and Block Test were repeated. Floor and ceiling effects were analyzed.

Results:

Reliability was demonstrated to be excellent as displayed by weighted kappa of 0.960 (95%-confidence interval: CIκw = 0.808–1.112) for the intra-rater reliability and 0.936 (CIκw = 0.749–1.123) for the inter-rater reliability. High correlations of the SULCS with the Fugl-Meyer-Assessment (ρ = 0.889), Action Research Arm Test (ρ = 0.872), and Box and Block Test (ρ = 0.845; all P < 0.001) confirmed a high convergent validity. The longitudinal validity was determined by a moderate to high correlation of the SULCS and Box and Block Test changes (ρ ⩾ 0.695, P ⩽ 0.001). Although floor effects were observed for the SULCS (16%), they were more substantial for the Action Research Arm Test and the Box and Block Test (>38%).

Conclusion:

Due to the good to excellent psychometric properties and the low level of floor effects of the German version of the SULCS, the usage for clinical and scientific purposes can be recommended.