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Assessing disability status: The reliability of the Multiple Sclerosis Disability Profile
Author(s) -
Wollin Judy
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
australian occupational therapy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.595
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1440-1630
pISSN - 0045-0766
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1630.1997.tb00770.x
Subject(s) - cronbach's alpha , multiple sclerosis , reliability (semiconductor) , kappa , internal consistency , psychology , physical disability , physical therapy , physical medicine and rehabilitation , clinical psychology , medicine , psychiatry , psychometrics , mathematics , power (physics) , physics , geometry , quantum mechanics
The present study reports on the reliability of the Multiple Sclerosis Disability Profile. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an enigmatic disease that affects people differently. The Disability Profile is a 68 item assessment instrument with the aim of providing a brief overview of the health status of an individual with MS. Internal consistency was assessed using the split‐half technique and Cronbach's alpha. The findings demonstrated excellent internal consistency. Inter‐rater reliability was assessed using Cohen's kappa. Kappa was computed with four options per item and then again with two options per item of the Disability Profile. The findings indicated that reliability was satisfactory when the responses for each item were reduced from four to two options. The recommendations are that items with poor inter‐rater reliability should be reviewed and a simpler more reliable version of the Disability Profile should be adopted.