Development and content validity of the caregiver assisted transfer technique instrument

ABSTRACT

Informal caregivers often provide transfer assistance to individuals with disabilities; however, repeated transfers are associated with a high risk of musculoskeletal pain and injury, and training and education around transfers is minimal. The purpose of this study was to develop and assess the content validity of a new tool, the Caregiver Assisted Transfer Technique Instrument (CATT), which could be used to provide an objective indicator of transfer performance. Item importance, clarity, and appropriateness of responses were rated on a five-point Likert scale by clinicians (n = 15), informal caregivers (n = 10), and individuals with spinal cord injury (n = 5). The content validity index and modified Kappa of each item was calculated. Participants also provided qualitative feedback on item content. In general, items were rated favorably for their importance (4.47 to 5.00), clarity (4.33 to 4.90), and appropriateness of responses (4.38 to 4.90), and most items had excellent content validity (k* ≥ 0.75). Feedback from participants led to the creation of two versions of the CATT: one for manual lifting techniques (CATT-M) and one for transfers performed via lift-based technologies (CATT-L). Future work will focus on establishing the reliability and validity of the CATT as well as developing training and education interventions surrounding assisted transfers.

KEYWORDS:

• activities of daily living
• informal caregiving
• outcome measures
• patient handling
• wheelchair

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Funding was provided by the Paralyzed Veterans of America Research Grant [#3137], NSF Award [#1852322], and NIDILRR grants [#90SI5014] and [#90DP0078]. Dr. Leykum receives salary support from the Health Services Research and Development service in the Department of Veterans Affairs. The views expressed do not represent the position of the Department of Veterans Affairs.