Purpose: To assess measurement properties and construct validity of health status measures.
Method: Forty-three patients with surgically managed ulnocarpal impingement completed a self-report mail survey, including regional (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand [DASH] questionnaire), disease-specific (Brigham Functional Scale), and generic (Short Form 36 [SF-36] Acute Health Survey) health status measures and questions on condition severity and work status.
Statistical analysis: Scores were transformed and frequency distributions constructed to compare the distribution of responses to the measures. Correlation analysis and analysis of variance were applied to assess construct validity.
Results: The DASH and Brigham questionnaires had similar distributions of scores, with a slightly greater spread of responses and no ceiling effect on the DASH. Patients appeared slightly less healthy on the basis of the SF-36 scores, which reflected in part the effect of comorbidities. Both the DASH and the Brigham discriminated across levels of severity and work status; the DASH also discriminated on the basis of type of surgery. The SF-36 was able to discriminate some constructs but not as well as the regional and disease-specific measures.
Conclusion: This study provides evidence of construct validity for the DASH and Brigham questionnaires in patients with ulnar wrist problems in the late post-operative period.