Reliability of Longshi scale with remote assessment of smartphone video calls for stroke patients' activities of daily living.

OBJECTIVES

The impairment of activities of daily living (ADL) has brought a heavy burden to the life of patients after stroke. Timely and accurate assessment of patients' activities of daily living is very necessary, which determines the whole process of diagnosis, rehabilitation and prognosis of patients. However, the patients with limited mobility or transportation are difficulted to gain high quality assessment services. This study aimed to explore the reliability of remote Longshi Assessment Scale of Activities of Daily Life (Longshi Scale) with smartphone video calls by comparing the consistency of remote assessment and bedside assessment, as well as the test-retest reliability of the remote assessment. The evaluation duration of these two methods was recorded and the level of satisfaction of patients was investigated.

METHODS

In this prospective study, a total of 129 stroke survivors were recruited and accepted a bedside face-to-face assessment and a remote assessment by video calls. The Longshi Scale was used for both bedside and remote assessment and conducted with the inquiry between patients and evaluators. A satisfaction questionnaire was also launched.

RESULTS

The result of disability level evaluated from the bedside and remote assessments was highly consistent. The intraclass correlation coefficient with weighted kappa (wK) value was 0.86 (95% confidence interval, 0.80∼0.92). And test-retest of the remote assessment indicated an excellent agreement beyond chance, and its correlation coefficient with wK value was 0.96 (95% confidence interval, 0.92∼1.00). It took 74.44±55.3 s to complete the bedside assessment and 90.86±63.30 s to complete the remote assessment of Longshi Scale. There was no statistical significance in the assessment duration between these two methods (P = 0.056). Satisfaction surveys showed more than 85% of participants were satisfied or very satisfied with remote Longshi scale assessment.

CONCLUSIONS

The remote assessment of Longshi Scale with smartphone video calls is reliable and has high acceptance. This method can be readily implemented to evaluate the ADL of stroke patients to improve the capacity of rehabilitation and health services in remote areas.