Item hierarchy-based analysis of the Rivermead Mobility Index resulted in improved interpretation and enabled faster scoring in patients undergoing rehabilitation after stroke.

Objective: To enable improved interpretation of the total score and faster scoring of the Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI) by studying item ordering or hierarchy and formulating start-and-stop rules in patients after stroke.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: Rehabilitation center in the Netherlands; stroke rehabilitation units and the community in the United Kingdom.

The Rivermead Mobility Index allows valid comparisons between subgroups of patients undergoing rehabilitation after stroke who differ with respect to age, sex, or side of lesion.

Objective: To investigate differential item functioning or item bias of the Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI) and its impact on the drawing of valid comparisons with the RMI between subgroups of patients after stroke who differ with respect to age, sex, or side of lesion.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: A rehabilitation center in the Netherlands and 2 stroke rehabilitation units and the wider community in the United Kingdom.

Measuring upper limb capacity in patients after stroke: reliability and validity of the stroke upper limb capacity scale.

Objective: To investigate the interrater reliability and construct validity of the Stroke Upper Limb Capacity Scale (SULCS).

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: Inpatient department of a rehabilitation center.

Measuring upper limb capacity in poststroke patients: development, fit of the monotone homogeneity model, unidimensionality, fit of the double monotonicity model, differential item functioning, internal consistency, and feasibility of the stroke upper limb capacity scale, SULCS.

Objectives: To develop an easy-to-use scale that measures upper limb capacity, according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health definition, in patients after stroke, and to investigate certain psychometric properties of this scale.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: Inpatient department of a rehabilitation center.

Excellent cross-cultural validity, intra-test reliability and construct validity of the Dutch Rivermead Mobility Index in patients after stroke undergoing rehabilitation.

Objective: To investigate the cross-cultural validity of international Dutch-English comparisons when using the Dutch Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI), and the intra-test reliability and construct validity of the Dutch RMI.

Methods: Cross-cultural validity was studied in a combined data-set of Dutch and English patients undergoing rehabilitation after stroke, who were assessed with the Dutch version of the RMI and the original English RMI, respectively. Mokken scale analysis was used to investigate unidimensionality, monotone homogeneity model fit, and differential item functioning between the Dutch and the English RMI.

Measuring activity limitations in walking: development of a hierarchical scale for patients with lower-extremity disorders who live at home.

Objective: To develop a hierarchical scale that measures activity limitations in walking in patients with lower-extremity disorders who live at home.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Orthopedic workshops and outpatient clinics of secondary and tertiary care centers.

Improvement of a questionnaire measuring activity limitations in rising and sitting down in patients with lower-extremity disorders living at home.

Objective: To improve a self-administered questionnaire that includes 42 dichotomous items and measures activity limitations in rising and sitting down (R&S) in patients with lower-extremity disorders who live at home.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Outpatient clinics of secondary and tertiary care centers.