Assessment of upper extremity role functioning in students

• Published in: American journal of industrial medicine 2002-01, Vol.41 (1), p.19-26
• Main Authors: Katz, Jeffrey N., Amick III, Benjamin C., Hupert, Nathaniel, Cortes, Marissa C., Fossel, Anne H., Robertson, Michelle, Coley, Christopher M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arm - physiopathology; Biological and medical sciences; college; Female; functional status; Humans; Injuries of the limb. Injuries of the spine; Male; Medical sciences; Musculoskeletal Diseases - physiopathology; questionnaire; reliability; Reproducibility of Results; responsiveness; Severity of Illness Index; Students; Surveys and Questionnaires; Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents; validity
• ISSN: 0271-3586; 1097-0274
• DOI: 10.1002/ajim.10027

Background Upper extremity symptoms associated with use of computers and other upper extremity activities are common in students. Research on these disorders requires psychometrically sound measures of health‐related student role function; no such measure is available currently. Methods Based upon input from students and clinicians, we developed a 10‐item scale to measure student health‐related role function. The measure was administered as part of a survey of 193 undergraduates at one university. A follow‐up survey was administered 1 month later. The student health‐related role function questionnaire was assessed for internal consistency, ceiling effects, convergent and discriminant validity, and responsiveness to self‐reported change in functional status. Results Eighty‐two percent of students who were given the survey completed it and 65% completed a follow‐up survey 1 month later. The new measure was reliable (Cronbach's α 0.87). Forty‐six percent of respondents reported “no difficulty” on all items of the health‐related student role function measure while 64% reported “no difficulty” on all items of a generic upper extremity functional status measure. This finding indicates that the new measure was better able to detect functional limitations; it had a less prominent ceiling effect. The new measure had moderately high correlations with measures of symptom severity and pain, documenting convergent validity. It distinguished students who utilized clinician services, medications, or academic accommodation from students who did not utilize these resources, documenting discriminant validity. The measure was responsive to self‐perceived change, as demonstrated by a highly significant association (P