Abstract
At the hand therapy unit at the Wellington Hospital, two of the hand therapists undertook a study to establish their intra and inter-rater reliability. Intra-rater reliability was tested on asymptomatic hands whereas inter-rater reliability was investigated using patients. For the latter, 138 finger joints were measured in extension and flexion. The results showed that intra-rater reliability was 0.999 for both raters. For inter-rater reliability, the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was calculated to be 0.993. A second calculation, of percentage agreement, was carried out to help establish how many degrees of movement a patient is required to achieve to produce a reliable conclusion that there had been a change.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.