A Questionnaire-Based Survey: Therapist’s Response towards the Upper Limb Disorder Learning Tool

Previous studies have shown that there are arguments
regarding the reliability and validity of the Ashworth and Modified
Ashworth Scale towards evaluating patients diagnosed with upper
limb disorders. These evaluations depended on the raters’ experiences.
This initiated us to develop an upper limb disorder part-task trainer
that is able to simulate consistent upper limb disorders, such as
spasticity and rigidity signs, based on the Modified Ashworth Scale to
improve the variability occurring between raters and intra-raters
themselves. By providing consistent signs, novice therapists would be
able to increase training frequency and exposure towards various
levels of signs. A total of 22 physiotherapists and occupational
therapists participated in the study. The majority of the therapists
agreed that with current therapy education, they still face problems
with inter-raters and intra-raters variability (strongly agree 54%; n =
12/22, agree 27%; n = 6/22) in evaluating patients’ conditions. The
therapists strongly agreed (72%; n = 16/22) that therapy trainees
needed to increase their frequency of training; therefore believe that
our initiative to develop an upper limb disorder training tool will help
in improving the clinical education field (strongly agree and agree
63%; n = 14/22).

• Noor Ayuni Che Zakaria
• Takashi Komeda
• Cheng Yee Low
• Kaoru Inoue
• Fazah Akhtar Hanapiah

• Upper limb disorders
• Clinical education tool
• Inter/intra-raters variability
• Spasticity
• Modified Ashworth Scale.

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