Objective: To examine the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the Energy Conservation Strategies Survey (ECSS), a tool that was specifically designed to determine if people with multiple sclerosis who attended the six-week energy conservation course actually implemented the strategies taught to them.
Design: The instrument ECSS was administered at six weeks and seven weeks post intervention to evaluate the test-retest reliability, while data from six weeks post intervention were utilized to assess the internal consistency of the ECSS.
Setting: Community locations in Illinois and Minnesota, USA.
Subjects: Data from 53 participants with multiple sclerosis living in the community were utilized for the psychometric study.
Measures: Energy Conservation Strategies Survey.
Results: The internal consistency of 0.92 reveals that all the items are consistent with each other and measure a single construct. Inferential analyses using intraclass correlation coefficient indicates good test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)=0.79).
Conclusion: Findings of the study suggest that the ECSS exhibits high internal consistency and good test-retest reliability. The study implies that the ECSS could be valuable in measuring changes in behavior over time among people with multiple sclerosis after the completion of the six-week energy conservation course provided by occupational therapists.
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