The development and preliminary validation of the Taiwanese Manual Ability Measure for Burns.

Objective: To develop and validate the Taiwanese Manual Ability Measure for Burns (T-MAM for Burns), a task-oriented functional evaluation tool to assess self-reported manual ability in burn patients.

Design: A longitudinal study.

Participants: A sample of 45 burn patients from burn rehabilitation centers with varying degrees of hand involvement.

Methods: The preliminary testing version was formed by adding burn specific items to the Taiwanese version of the Manual Ability Measure. A field test was then conducted for item reduction and psychometric properties testing.

Results: Out of 55 initial items, 20 were selected into the final version of the T-MAM for Burns. Psychometric analyses indicated that it was reliable (test-retest ICC=.99), with adequate concurrent validity with various other hand function tests (r=-.79 with the short form Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand, or, the QuickDASH) and discriminative validity (significant difference (t=2.99, P=.005) between groups with unilateral vs. bilateral hand burns), and responsive (ES=.24 and .44 at one- and 3-month evaluations).

Conclusion: This study shows that the T-MAM for Burns has great potential to be a functional outcome measure for burn rehabilitation. Additional research with a larger sample should be conducted to further confirm its validity and reliability.