Hammond, Alison Prior, Yeliz Revisiting the disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand (DASH) and QuickDASH in rheumatoid arthritis <p>Abstract</p><p>Background: Limitations in upper limb functioning are common in Musculoskeletal disorders and the Disabilities of</p><p>the Arm, Shoulder and Hand scale (DASH) has gained widespread use in this context. However, various concerns</p><p>have been raised about its construct validity and so this study seeks to examine this and other psychometric</p><p>aspects of both the DASH and QuickDASH from a modern test theory perspective.</p><p>Methods: Participants in the study were eligible if they had a confirmed diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).</p><p>They were mailed a questionnaire booklet which included the DASH. Construct validity was examined by fit to the</p><p>Rasch measurement model. The degree of precision of both the DASH and QuickDASH were considered through</p><p>their Standard Error of Measurement (SEM).</p><p>Results: Three hundred and thirty-seven subjects with confirmed RA took part, with a mean age of 62.0 years</p><p>(SD12.1); 73.6% (n = 252) were female. The median standardized score on the DASH was 33 (IQR 17.5–55.0).</p><p>Significant misfit of the DASH and QuickDASH was observed but, after accommodating local dependency among</p><p>items in a two-testlet solution, satisfactory fit was obtained, supporting the unidimensionality of the total sets and</p><p>the sufficiency of the raw (ordinal or standardized) scores.</p><p>Conclusion: Having accommodated local response dependency in the DASH and QuickDASH item sets, their total</p><p>scores are shown to be valid, given they satisfy the Rasch model assumptions. The Rasch transformation should be</p><p>used whenever all items are used to calculate a change score, or to apply parametric statistics within an RA population.</p> Rehabilitation Outcomes;psychometric tests;Rheumatoid arthritis;Rehabilitation and Therapy (excl. Physiotherapy) 2020-06-25
    https://salford.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Revisiting_the_disabilities_of_the_arm_shoulder_and_hand_DASH_and_QuickDASH_in_rheumatoid_arthritis/7637600
10.17866/rd.salford.7637600.v1