Jerosch‐Herold, C, Bland, JDP and Horton, M orcid.org/0000-0002-6675-7335 (2021) Is it time to revisit the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire? New insights from a Rasch model analysis. Muscle & Nerve, 63 (4). pp. 484-489. ISSN 0148-639X
Abstract
Introduction:
The Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) is a patient‐reported outcome measure (PROM) used to measure symptom severity and function in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Despite its wide usage, investigation of its measurement properties using modern psychometric methodologies is limited.
Methods:
Completed BCTQ data collected routinely in the Canterbury carpal tunnel clinic was used to investigate the structural validity and measurement properties of the BCTQ through application of a Rasch model analytic approach.
Results:
A total of 600 patients with electrodiagnostically confirmed CTS in their right hand were randomly selected from the database and analysed. Mean age was 48.8 years and 73% were women. Initial analysis showed that the 19 items could not be reliably added up to form a single linear construct. All subsequent analyses were done by subscale only.
The Symptom Severity subscale (SSS) displayed a large amount of local dependence. This could be accommodated through the creation of four clinically‐derived testlets, allowing for the ordinal SSS raw score to be transformed to a linear measure.
The Function subscale displayed a number of issues regarding its psychometric integrity. These include scale and item fit, targeting, differential item functioning, and dimensionality.
Discussion:
This study shows that a single total score generated across all BCTQ items is not psychometrically valid, and that the Symptom and Function subscales should be treated separately. We propose a modified scoring system for the Symptom subscale, resulting in a linear measure that can be used in the analysis of future and existing datasets.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC. All rights reserved. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Jerosch‐Herold, C, Bland, JDP and Horton, M (2021) Is it time to revisit the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire? New insights from a Rasch model analysis. Muscle & Nerve, 63 (4). pp. 484-489. ISSN 0148-639X, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/mus.27173. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. |
Keywords: | Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire; Item response theory; outcome measures; psychometrics; Rasch Model |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Institute of Rheumatology & Musculoskeletal Medicine (LIRMM) (Leeds) > Rehabilitation Medicine (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 26 Jan 2021 12:57 |
Last Modified: | 19 Jul 2022 10:19 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/mus.27173 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:170377 |