Patterns of therapy activities across length of stay and impairment levels: peering inside the "black box" of inpatient stroke rehabilitation.

Objectives: To classify therapy activities and to describe the type and pattern of activities provided during inpatient rehabilitation to persons with stroke.

Design: Descriptive study.

Setting: Eight acute and 5 subacute rehabilitation facilities across the United States.

Relative importance of rehabilitation therapy characteristics on functional outcomes for persons with stroke.

Background And Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative importance of therapy focus, intensity, and length of stay on greater than expected functional gain, controlling for stroke severity.

Methods: This observational study included 198 first-stroke patients who were recruited from 8 in-patient rehabilitation facilities and 5 subacute programs. Stroke severity (motor, sensory and cognitive impairment) at admission was measured using an instrument combining all 3 aspects; self-care, mobility, and cognitive status at admission and discharge were measured with the Functional Independence Measure.

A comparison of the separation ratio and coefficient alpha in the creation of minimum item sets.

Background: Short-form outcomes measures are becoming common in response to demands for increased efficiency in health care. This study examines Rasch measurement as an aid to selecting items for short form tests. The focus of this paper is on maintaining test quality while reducing items.

Reconceptualizing poststroke activity level using the Frenchay Activities Index.

Modifications of the Frenchay Activities Index were implemented in a study of postacute stroke rehabilitation outcomes. These modifications incorporated the prestroke activity levels and postrehabilitation goals and assessments of activity importance of 136 persons with stroke who received services in either a single modality or comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation setting. Prestroke activity levels were assessed retrospectively at admission to postacute rehabilitation, and current activity levels were assessed at discharge and 3 months post discharge.

Developing an initial physical function item bank from existing sources.

The objective of this article is to illustrate incremental item banking using health-related quality of life data collected from two samples of patients receiving cancer treatment. The kinds of decisions one faces in establishing an item bank for computerized adaptive testing are also illustrated. Pre-calibration procedures include: identifying common items across databases; creating a new database with data from each pool; reverse-scoring "negative" items; identifying rating scales used in items; identifying pivot points in each rating scale; pivot anchoring items at comparable rating scale categories; and identifying items in each instrument that measure the construct of interest.