Author:

Keywords:

Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Rehabilitation, Sport Sciences, Dual task, Gait, Multiple sclerosis, Patient-reported outcome mea- sure, Reliability, Validity, PERFORMANCE, WALKING, FALLS, COGNITION, TALKING, COSMIN, MS, Patient-reported outcome measure, Humans, Multiple Sclerosis, Female, Male, Reproducibility of Results, Cross-Sectional Studies, Middle Aged, Self Report, Activities of Daily Living, Adult, Disability Evaluation, Surveys and Questionnaires, Psychometrics, Task Performance and Analysis, 1103 Clinical Sciences, 1106 Human Movement and Sports Sciences, 1117 Public Health and Health Services, 3202 Clinical sciences, 4201 Allied health and rehabilitation science, 4207 Sports science and exercise

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the reliability and validity of the dual-tasking questionnaire (DTQ), dual-task screening list (DTSL), and dual-task impact on daily life activities questionnaire (DIDA-Q). DESIGN: Multicenter, cross-sectional study SETTING: Persons with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) were recruited from 7 multiple sclerosis centers across 6 countries (Belgium, Chile, Italy, Israel, Spain, and Turkey). PARTICIPANTS: A total of 356 pwMS (mean age 47.5±11.5y, expanded disability status scale, 3.79±1.83) were enrolled. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The reliability (internal consistency, test-retest, and measurement error) and construct validity (structural and convergent) were assessed. RESULTS: The DTQ, DTSL, and DIDA-Q demonstrated excellent test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients [95% CI], 0.84 [0.80-0.87] to 0.90 [0.87-0.92]) and internal consistency (Cronbach α: 0.86-0.96). As hypothesized, the 3 questionnaires showed a strong correlation with each other, moderate-to-strong correlations with other self-report questionnaires (perceived walking difficulties, fatigue, and fear of falling), and low-to-moderate correlations with cognitive information processing speed, manual dexterity, and dual-task walking performance (walking with word list generation task), showing convergent validity. The DIDA-Q exhibited systematically superior properties. These results were also verified in subsets from 6 different countries. In the structural validity analysis, all questionnaires displayed 2 main factors, allocated as "motor-driven" and "cognitive-driven" subscales. CONCLUSIONS: The DTQ, DTSL, and DIDA-Q have good-to-excellent measurement properties, with the highest properties observed in DIDA-Q. The use of these self-reported questionnaires can be used in research and clinical practice to assess the effect of dual-task difficulties on the daily life of ambulatory pwMS.