Clinical utility and validity of a new outcome measure for hand burn injuries

Andrea Mc Kittrick¹, Louise Gustafsson², Tenelle Hodson², Amelia Di Tommaso²,
¹Royal Brisbane And Women’s Hospital, Herston , QLD, Australia
²Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia

Abstract

Introduction
A new person-centred hand outcome measure was developed using co-design within a Participatory Action Research framework (Baum et al., 2006) with expert clinicians and individuals with hand burn injuries. The outcome measure includes 18 activities which are designed to review activities which are commonly interrupted post hand burn injuries (Mc Kittrick et al., 2023). The aim of this study was to establish the clinical utility, face, and content validity of the measure.

Methods
Questionnaires were developed to gather information on the three constructs of interest from clinicians and individuals with hand burn injuries. Individuals attending a burn centre within one tertiary hospital and clinicians working in burns centres around Australia and New Zealand trialled the outcome measure. Each participant then completed the questionnaire.

Results and Conclusion
Eight clinicians and 20 individuals with hand burn injuries trialled the outcome measure. There was 100% agreement from clinicians and 85% agreement from individuals for face validity. Content validity was tested in terms of relevance and clarity. Clinicians rated 16 activities and individuals rated all activities as relevant. Clarity of activities was high for both participant groups (>75% agreement). Clinical utility (measured as appropriateness, accessibility, practicability, and acceptability) was high for clinicians (87.5% and above for each), and 95% of individuals reported agreement for practicability and 100% agreement for acceptability. Further validity and reliability testing is planned, including Rasch analysis.

Biography

Andrea Mc Kittrick is the Advanced Specialist Occupational Therapist in Severe Burn Injuries at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. Andrea’s PhD through Griffith University focuses on hand burn outcomes. She is the current chair of the ANZBA Allied Health committee and the International Society of Burn Injury (ISBI) Rehabilitation Committee. She is a casual academic at The University of Queensland and a session lecturer at Australian Catholic University. She is passionate about collaborating to improve long term outcomes post burn injury.