The Radboud skills questionnaire: construction and reliability in patients with reflex sympathetic dystrophy of one upper extremity

PURPOSE: To construct a questionnaire to measure skills in which notably both hands are active, which is suitable for patients with a disease of one or both hands and to research its response stability and possible improvements. METHOD: Using the Dutch elaboration of the ICIDH and then experts in a Delphi round, the questionnaire was constructed. Thereafter, test-retest and inter-observer reliability was examined. Fifty-four patients with RSD in one upper extremity and a normal contralateral extremity participated in the study, the first twenty to evaluate the construction of the questionnaire and the others to test reliability. RESULTS: The constructed Radboud skills questionnaire was reliable in terms of response stability (median coefficients of variation 2.2% to 6.6%). Correlation's between categories of items were fair to good. CONCLUSIONS: A useful questionnaire was constructed to map alterations in the level of disability in patients with a disease of one hand or both hands.