Validation of the Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment (Tinetti Test) Scale in Russia for Stroke Patients

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. Balance disturbances are frequent syndromes after a cerebral stroke (CS). The availability of a validated tool for balance and walking functions comprehensive assessments is very important part of real clinical practice, for rehabilitation diagnosis and individual medical rehabilitation plan.
 AIM. To determine the psychometric properties of the Motor Activity Performance Assessment Scale (Tinetti Test, TT) for measuring balance and walking in patients with ischemic stroke (IS).
 MATERIALS AND METHODS. 200 patients were included, 100 in the early (ERP) and 100 in the late (LRP) recovery periods of IS. The average age of patients was 55 [51; 57] years. The average of IS-duration were 99.3 ± 30.9 days (ERP) and 267.7 ± 27.8 days (LRP). Clinical and demographic characteristics of patients in two groups were comparable. The median and interquartile interval of TT were 20 [14; 24] points out of 28 possible. Content validity and intra-rater reliability were assessed by 10 clinicians. The test-retesting method was used to determine the intra-rater reliability. The Berg Balance Scale (BBS), the Stand Up and Go for Time (TUG), and the 10-meter walk test (10MWT) were used for concurrent validation.
 RESULTS. Two-stage linguistic and cultural adaptation made it possible to construct a Russian-language version of TT that was tested in a pilot study of 30 patients. The subsequent study of the psychometric properties of TT demonstrated high level of content validity and internal consistency of TT (α-Kronbach: 0.74 for TT-Balance and 0.72 for TT-Gait). BBS data significantly correlated with TT-Balance scores (r = 0.73, p = 0.001), TUG showed a negative correlation with TT-Gait (r = −0.69, p = 0.02). Retest reliability ranged from 0.72 to 0.86. The Bland-Altman plot showed the loss of one data point for TT-total beyond 95 % CI.
 DISCUSSION. The Tinetti test indicates high substantive validity and internal consistency of the scales (the α-Kronbach for the balance and walking sections are 0.74 and 0.72, respectively), which is consistent with the data of foreign authors.
 CONCLUSION. The linguistic and cultural adaptation and psychometric testing of the Russian version of the Motor Activity Performance Assessment Scale demonstrated the validity and reliability of this test as a tool for balance and walking assessment in patients with IS.