![CMOR, University of Otago][1]
The Patient-Specific Functional Scale is a widely used measure of physical function in musculoskeletal condition (1). The scale asks respondents to identify 3-5 activities they have difficulty with as a result of their health condition and rate it on a scale of ‘0’ (unable to do) to ‘10’ (able to do at the same level as before injury or problem). Horn and team systematically reviewed the measurement properties of the PSFS by synthesizing findings of studies published until May 2010 (2). The study concluded that the PSFS was valid, reliable, and responsive in a limited number of musculoskeletal conditions, but was also used in cardiopulmonary and neurological conditions without prior evidence of validity in these populations. The study, however, was published before the introduction of guidelines for systematic review of patient-reported outcomes and risk of bias assessment (3).
The clinical and research use of the PSFS in different countries and health conditions has increased significantly since the systematic review on the measurement properties of the PSFS. For example, PSFS data is routinely collected for all musculoskeletal conditions for national insurance cover of personal injury in New Zealand and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario, Canada (4). Furthermore, various guidelines recommend the PSFS as a core outcome (5,6). Given the increased use of the PSFS in the past decade, and the introduction of guidelines for systematically reviewing patient-reported outcomes (6), an update of the measurement properties for the PSFS is justified. Therefore, the primary aim of our study is to systematically review the measurement properties, feasibility and interpretability of the PSFS. The secondary aim of the study is to review the current uses of the PSFS.
Specific details of the project are available in the file attached.
**References:**
1. Stratford P, Gill C, Westaway M, Binkley J: Assessing Disability and Change on Individual Patients: A Report of a Patient Specific Measure. Physiotherapy Canada 1995, 47(4):258-263.
2. Horn KK, Jennings S, Richardson G, Vliet DV, Hefford C, Abbott JH: The patient-specific functional scale: psychometrics, clinimetrics, and application as a clinical outcome measure. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2012, 42(1):30-42.
3. Prinsen CAC, Mokkink LB, Bouter LM, Alonso J, Patrick DL, de Vet HCW, Terwee CB: COSMIN guideline for systematic reviews of patient-reported outcome measures. Qual Life Res 2018, 27(5):1147-1157.
4. Nicholas P, Hefford C, Tumilty S: The use of the Patient-Specific Functional Scale to measure rehabilitative progress in a physiotherapy setting. The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy 2012, 20(3):147-152.
5. Klokkerud M, Dagfinrud H, Uhlig T, Dager TN, Furunes KA, Klokkeide Å, Larsen M, Nygård S, Nylenna S, Øie L et al: Developing and testing a consensus-based core set of outcome measures for rehabilitation in musculoskeletal diseases. Scandinavian journal of rheumatology 2018, 47(3):225-234.
6. Verburg AC, Van Dulmen SA, Kiers H, Nijhuis-Van Der Sanden MWG, Van Der Wees PJ: Development of a standard set of outcome measures for non-specific low back pain in Dutch primary care physiotherapy practices: a Delphi study. Eur Spine J 2019, 28(7):1550-1564.
[1]: https://files.osf.io/v1/resources/htr3k/providers/osfstorage/5f308c77021ce2009bf447e9?mode=render
