Reliability and Validity of the Monitored Functional Task Evaluation (MFTE) for Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

This article describes the development of a new functional measure — the Monitored Functional Task Evaluation (MFTE) — a symptom-limited evaluation that is used to measure the functional performance of an individual with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and to document a client's physiological changes through repeated testing. Stage I of the study included developing the content validity of the instrument. Stage II consisted of establishing the performance profile, test-retest and inter-rater reliability using a convenience sample of 27 inpatients and outpatients who had COPD. In stage III, the criterion-related and discriminative validity of the instrument was verified in a retrospective sample of 124 inpatients and day patients who had COPD. Results indicated that there was high intra- and inter-rater reliability for the total score of MFTE. Significant correlation of the MFTE was found with parameters such as Moser's Activities of Daily Living (ADL) class, COPD disability class, 6-minute walking distance, work capacity in terms the ratio of the metabolic rate associated with a given activity to the resting metabolic rate, and the fatigue dimension of the Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire. In addition, prediction of group membership to Moser's ADL class revealed that 52.4% of the original grouped cases could be correctly classified by the MFTE alone. In conclusion, the MFTE is a useful measure to evaluate functional performance as well as document physiological changes in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD from both conceptual and empirical perspectives

Psychometric Properties of the Chinese Version of the Kid-KINDLR Questionnaire for Measuring the Health-related Quality of Life of School-aged Children

Objective/Background: The reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Kid-KINDLR questionnaire were examined with school-aged children in Hong Kong. Methods: A total of 112 healthy children were selected by convenience sampling from two primary schools and 30 children with global developmental delay were selected from an outpatient occupational therapy department of a convalescent hospital. The Kid-KINDLR questionnaire was translated using independent forward and backward translation. The content validity of the translated instrument was evaluated by four experts. Internal consistency, factor analysis, and construct validity were examined in the healthy children group, whereas known-group comparison was performed in the group with global developmental delay. Results: The significance value of the Shapiro–Wilk test was greater than 0.05, indicating that the sample displayed a normal distribution. The total score had good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .77); however, the consistency of the subscales varied (Cronbach's alpha ranged from .47 to .70). The children and parent questionnaires did not load onto the six factors originally hypothesized. Instead, seven factors were generated. Evidence supporting the questionnaire's validity included a lack of age and sex bias and positive known-group differentiation (Wilks' lambda = 0.906, p = .035). Conclusion: The Chinese version of the Kid-KINDLR questionnaire exhibited good psychometric properties, but the internal consistency of the translated instrument needs further improvement. It is recommended that practitioners focus on the Kid-KINDLR total score when interpreting the Kid-KINDLR data. Overall, the study findings indicate that the Chinese version of the Kid-KINDLR is an important tool for use in clinical practice