Colleagues,
The University of Washington is developing a new measure of mobility for persons who use lower limb prostheses to be called the Prosthetic Limb Users Survey (PLUS). Existing measures of prosthetic outcomes have shortcomings including considerable floor and/or ceiling effects and no solid evidence that the scores are responsive to clinically meaningful changes. With PLUS, we aim to address such limitations and create a valid, reliable, and meaningful instrument for measuring prosthetic users’ mobility.
As you can imagine, it takes a considerable amount of work to develop a new outcome measure and it cannot be accomplished without the assistance of prosthetists, therapists, physicians, and persons who use lower limb prostheses! As one key step in the development process, we are currently seeking 1,200 volunteers who use lower limb prostheses to fill out an online survey about themselves, their health, and things that they can do with their prosthesis.
We would greatly appreciate any help our fellow O&P providers across the United States might offer to let persons with lower limb amputation know about this survey (www.mobilitysurvey.org). Eligible respondents will receive $25 for taking the survey.
If you are interested in helping us get the word out, we have created IRB-approved informational posters, flyers, and cards that we can send you free of charge. You can fill out the PDF order form (http://uwcorr.washington.edu/mobilitysurvey/files/PLUS_order_form.pdf ) or contact us directly. The materials you order will be mailed to you so that you can display, post, or provide them to prosthetic users as you wish.
You can find out more about this ambitious project in the following articles:
http://www.oandpbusinessnews.com/view.aspx?ridƒ673
http://www.oandp.com/articles/2011-03_02.asp
Please consider promoting this project to people with lower limb amputations and sharing this information with your colleagues who treat or interact with persons with lower limb amputations. The more people who participate in this survey, the better the outcome measure will be. The measure that we are developing will be made freely available, so you can look forward to using it in the future in your classrooms, clinics, and research studies!
Thank you,
Daniel Abrahamson, L/CPO, [email protected]
Sara Morgan, L/CPO, [email protected]
Brian Hafner, PhD, [email protected]
University of Washington Department of Rehabilitation Medicine
