The sport Injury Rehabilitation Adherence Scale : a reliable scale for use in clinical physiotherapy

<b>Objective</b><br />To evaluate, through two studies, the factor structure, inter-rater agreement, and test–retest and inter-rater reliability of the Sport Injury Rehabilitation Adherence Scale (SIRAS).<br /><br /><b>Design</b><br />Repeated measures design in both Study 1 (video evaluation) and Study 2 (clinical evaluation).<br /><br /><b>Setting</b><br />University department (Study 1) and outpatient physiotherapy department (Study 2).<br /><b><br />Participants</b><br />Sixty physiotherapists and physiotherapy students in Study 1 and 45 patients undergoing physiotherapy treatment for a musculoskeletal injury in Study 2.<br /><br /><b>Intervention</b><br />In Study 1, participants rated the adherence of a simulated videotaped patient demonstrating high, moderate and low adherence during rehabilitation. In Study 2, two physiotherapists rated the adherence of patients at two consecutive rehabilitation sessions.<br /><br /><b>Main outcome measure</b><br />The SIRAS.<br /><br /><b>Results</b><br />In Study 1, principal components analysis confirmed a single factor for the SIRAS, and inter-rater agreement values ranged from 0.87 to 0.93. In Study 2, inter-rater and test–retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.76 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.54 to 0.83] to 0.89 (95% CI 0.79 to 0.95), and from 0.63 (95% CI 0.36–0.82) to 0.76 (95% CI 0.55–0.88), respectively.<br /><br /><b>Conclusion</b><br />The SIRAS is a reliable measure with high inter-rater agreement when used to evaluate clinic-based adherence to physiotherapy rehabilitation for musculoskeletal injury.<br />